The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-05-31
Daily Wall Street Gossip
BY HOLLAND.

! BY HC
 New York, May .-(Special.)-Sir Auckland Geddes. whom Great Britain has sent to the United States to serve as ambassador from that country, is not an orator. yet when he spoke at considerable length to the members of the Pilgrims Society of the United States, he held the attention to the end, chiefly because he made 1t clear that he is now in the United States in diplomatic capacity, so that he may do all that he can to maintain 1 and increase friendship between the United States and Great Britain. Fur thermore. he spoke the voice of the British leaders when he said that 1t Is their desire that the United States make firm cooperation with Great Britain with intent to secure as early as possible the peace of the world. 1 Sir Auckland is not an orator, as his predecessors, Viscount Grey or Lord Reading, are. Lord Grey is master | of the polished spoken word and of the rhetical art which conceals rhet- oric and of subtle skill in conveying compliments Yet there was nothing in his rather short service in this l country which revealed to Americans what all England knows to be the fact l that his is the profoundest mind in 1 the English empire, not only profound, | but broad and that he is man of 1 exceptionally high cultivation in many fields. Earl Reading was also skilled in the use of compliment and there | !, ,f,,er iAtt1 ftla l. ity in his spoken word. His voice was | excellent, although at times it seemed as though he was speaking from the bench upon which he so long sat, rather than to a considerable company of hearers. Both of these representa- tives of Great Britain went back to England without having gained in pop ular estimation the belief that they were successful. Perhaps they were not failures. but their diplomatic work has left no lasting mark.
 Therefore, 1t has been conjecture whether or not Sir Auckland Gedde5 would succeed greatly in his service as ambassador from Great Britain sur passing any influence which Lord Grey or Lord Reading may have gained. For this reason his address at the dinner given by the Pilgrims at which he was a guest of honor, was regarded at the time he spoke and since then has been regarded as a test of his capacity as a diplomat of high degree.
 His voice is that of a man who has been accustomed to plain, everyday speaking, and he adopted exclusively a conversational tone. It was as if he had each of his hearers by the button | hole and was almost whispering to him in semi-confidence. When he said he was Scotchman pure and simple. he put into words all that his personal [ n fa.N a,+r, -ttsr t11 tsaaJ type is the true Scottish type But his use of English was excellent. reveal ing in no way excepting one, that he was born and schooled in Scotland. The one exception lay in his pronunciation of the word oil. As he spoke the word it sounded as though it was spelled isle. And as much of his address con sisted of an attempt to put an end tc the suspicion and to deny the accusa- tion that Great Britain is seeking to control the oil supply of the world there were many reiterations of the pronunciation of the word isle
 HE IS A DEPARTURE
 If his address at the Ptgr-n,'s din. ner be accepted as test. and it haa been so spoken of many times since he delivered 1t. then it is certain that he Is departure from the conven. tional diplomatic type. It might nor be improper to call him commercial diplomat of high degree, and that is something new in the diplomatic rela- tions between the United States and Great Britain.
 Evidently Great Britain, speaking through her new ambassador. is anx- ious that there be no apprehension in the United States that Great Britain Is seeking to monopolize the oil sup ply of the world. as she did, at least, until recently, monopolize the tin sup l,,1,r c A,,o oIr1o pf which is confined to the oil question, has been carefully studied. and seems not to bear the test. He spoke as though he was in possession of facts which could not be denied, but if what the oil leaders in this city say be cor rect, then he told no more than half truth His assertions were plausible but they were also regarded as having been specious
 First of all, he asserted that 70 per cent of the worlds oil output is from the soil of the United States, although well informed men know that this was not a correct statement. But after all. it is said to be not a question oi where the oil output comes from, but who owns it. There is no doubt that Great Britain together with the Dutch and the so-called Shell corporations control absolutely no small part oi the oil output in the far west. 1t Is true that the oil comes rom our own soil but 1t is not in the exclusive own ership of United States capital, but q large part of it is British and Outer capital, which is acting in full cooper ation In fact, one of the statements | made by the Dutch company veal or two ago asserted that the corpora, ton represented British, Dutch ant Rothschild capital and interests.
 ONLY 2H PER CENT
 Furthermore, in order to press homo the point, Sir Auckland stated tha the British empires total production of the worlds supply of oil is only 2h per cent It is undoubtedly true tha in the British empire the actual pro duction of oil is comparatively small But it is not a question of the soi production but of the ownership ant of the increasing ownership which hal caused such anxiety to prevail in th' United States lest Great Britain be no" attempting to secure monopoly O lo oil or the control of the greater par Iof 1t. and especially lubricating oil The question is, How much British capital is now invested in and ho" great is the British capital which 1T the future will be invested in sucf 7 productions of oil and under such con ditions as will enable Great Britain { to secure partial monopolyT'
 | Already 1t Is a matter or genera knowledge that the British and Dutcf l tbo a a r