The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1920-07-12
OIL IS WORLD
PRIZE AND j. S.
MUST SEEK IT
Standard Oil Head Tells Corre-
spondent that Companies Re-
quire Support of Nation
BRITISH EXTEND CONTROL
Financiers in London Claim She
Has Control Of Most of World
Supply Outside U. S.
BY II. p. BURTON,

N. e. A. Staff Correspondent
New York, July 12.-Three famous
Engllshmen have recently said these
things about oil:
Admiral Fisher-"The oil-en-
gine will revolutionize commerce
and alter, the whole art of sea
war"
Earl Curzon, British Foreign
; secretary-"The allies floatcd to
victory on sea of oil.
Walter Hume Long, First Lord
of British Admirality--"If we
secure the supply of oil now
available in the world, we can do
what we like. If others take it,
with it goes the key of future
national success"
BY these words it is shown that
coal, copper and rubber-the old
stakes Of diplomacy, the things fol
which nations fought-have been su
perseded, and that oil is the new
prize in International poker. The
economic sphere, in other words, has
found that oil is the worlds new driy
ing power, needed alike for ships
trucks, trains, power plants and man
ufacturing, and so politics, which re-
present industry, must maneuver for
this most powerful of national as.
sets.
Where U. S. Stands
Where does the United States
stand in this silent world-war for OIL
without which nation of the future
cannot exist? 1t is true that soon we
must buy our oil from the British
Empire, paying billions of dollars
yearly to the oil magnates of Lon.
don? .....o
Perhaps the man best qualified to
give the American people adequate
answer to this question-to tell them
just how important oil has become
in the modern world, and how much
of this power the United States con-
trols--is Walter Teagle, the 4O-year
old president of the STANDARD Oil
Co. Of New Jersey, the greatest of all
the Standard Oil companies.
This is what Teagle had to say
in an exclusive interview he has jus,
given me, the first authoritative
word he has said on this important
subject, touching, as it does, interna.
tional relations in their tenderest
spot:
Wars Demonstration
"The World war; which was a
demonstration Of industry on all
unprecedented scale, has shown us
that the Importance of oil in the fut-
ure cannot be overestimated. Oil
drove our submarines, our submarine
chasers and many of our new battle
ships. Gasoline driven trucks trans
ported our supplies and our armies.
and gasoline fed our airplanes.
peace now finds the gas engine
supreme in industry; transportation
companies use it; farmers till their
lands with it; and even the lumbe:'-
man logs with it. And so as the lack
of oil handicaps a people in war or
peace it has now become a national
question of no small importance to
inquire just where the United Stat IS
will get it's future supply.
America has been aroused lately
by European financiers who proclaim
that British interests are in control
of practically all Of the visible and
potential fields outside Of the United
States, and by the presidents report
to Congress on May II, 1920, which
presented the problem as sufficiently
Impressive to demand serious public
and construction.
"If we are not to leave our future
oil supply to chance but are to put
ourselves upon an equal footing with
the British oil companies in relation
to their government it is imperative
that the government cooperate with
the industry in grasping the situation
and acting resolutely.
Far From World Control
when, in 1914, the British oil in.
terests, realizing the indispensability
of oil to modern civilization, started
their campaign to obtain the unde-
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