The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-15
LORD COHVDRAY, ENGLISH BARON OF MEXICAN OIL
 IS FIFTY-EIGHT TO-DAY

If you ask the average intelligent 'sgringos' in Mexeo what individual has exerted the greatest influence in the affairs of the turbulent republic during the last decade, he will name. not Porfrio Diaz, nor Madero, nor Huerta, nor Carranza, nor Vtlla-not Rock efeller nor Guggenheim, nor woodrow Wilson nor William Jen- lnings Bryan, = but an Englishman Baron Cowdray of Midhurst, better known as Lord Cowdray or by his for mer name of Sir sWeetman Dickinson Pearson As an example of his lord ships power, it is to be noted that of Niagara Falls peace conference, ex- actly three of them were counsel in the pay of the Aguilas or Eagle Oil Company of Mexico, Lord Cowdray's corporation. whatever interests might be overlooked at Niagara, they were not likely, to be those of the English baron who is also the baron of the Mexican oil fields. Within the last few years Lord Cowdray has sought to extend his holdings to South and Central America While Lord Murray of EIibank, acting as the Cow dray agent, rather 'gummed the works in Colombia, the Pearson firm has been more successful in other has by na means abandoned the Co- lombian Enterprise,
 Weetman Dickinson Pearson was born ifty-eight years ago to-day, July Is, 1858. He became a baronet in 1894 and a baron in 1910 The firm of s. Pearson & Son. Ltd, of which he is the head, was originally devot- ed to engineering work. The found- CT of the firm was Lord Cowdrayss. grandfather. and the rson" was his. the greatest engineering projects of the last half century were carried to completion by the Pearsons. They built the Blackwell tubes under the Thames and the Pennsylvania tunnels. under the East River at New York. The great dry docks at Halifax and Malta, the harbor works at Dover and Vera Cruz, the Great Northern railway and the London sstuppenny tube" and the Tehuantepecs railroad in Mexico were among the achieve ments of the world famous firm of engineers.
 Lord Cowdrayss interest in Mexi@ co began wish the Vera Cruz harbor works and the $15.000. 900 Valley of Mexico drainage canal. Old Porarios Diaz was so well pleased that he. awarded to the Pearsons the contract for the reconstruction and completion of the Tehuantepec transcontinentaI railway. The work was commenced in 1902, under a hfty-one year limit, but Porf1rio was still on the .'throneP
 
 ed, with an Atlantic terminal port at Coatzaccaloos, and a Pacific port at Salina Cruz.
 These contracts brought Lord Cow draw into close contact with Diaz, and the two became firm friends. Cow dray was rewarded with vast oil con- sessions in Mexico, much to the con- sternation of Standard oil, and or ganizeds a company for their develop ment in which President Diaz was a director. The English company did not fare so well during the Madero regime. and there was talk of confls- cation, and at one time it was report ed that Lord Cowdray was wiling to. sell out to Standard Oil. Huerta was more friendly to Lord Cowdray, and it has been alleged that the Huerta government has been nnanc- ed by English capital.
 F Lord Cowdray. when he was made baron, named himself after his es- tate. Cowdray Park. which he bought from the Earl of Egmont five years ago. In choosing this title the oil magnate defed superstition. for Cow dray Park has for centuries had the reputation of being haunted by par ticularIy malevolent spooks.