Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1920-12-02
AMERICAS FIGHT FOR OIL.

AMERICAS FIGHT FOR OIL.
WITH oil gushers coming in al
w most every week in the Mosby
section, Montanans find it hard to
believe that Americas supply OF pc
troleum is much less than the de-
mand. Oil men know it, however,
which perhaps accounts for the fact
that there is more excitement in the
oil regions of Texas and California
over the Montana oil wells than
there is right here in Montana.
The recent note of Secretary OF
State Colby to the British govern
ment indicates the attention the
various powers are giving to the
matter of oil supply, and of it the
Springfield Republican has this to
say:
The essence of Secretary Colby's
note to the British government re-
garding Mesopotamia and other
mandate territories is the insistence
upon the claim Of equality OF
economic opportunity for this coun-
try regardless of its nonmembership
in the League Of Nations. The note
actually covers the broader ground
of equality of opportunity for all
nations in mandate territories,
which is sound in abstract principles.
but is less defensible as claim
under the text Of article % of the
covenant than claim for the
United States as a participant in
the war.
There is no clause in article q
specifically granting equality to all
nations regardless of their men,
bership in the league, while the
article does secure equal oppor
tunities for the trade and COM
merce' of all members of the league
other than the mandatory power in
the case of all mandate territories
unless exception be made Of certain
communities formerly belonging to
the Turkish empire. These possible
exceptions are referred to as COM
rnunities whose existence as indie
pendent nations can be PROVISIONAL
ly recognized subject to the render
ing of administrative advice and
assistance by mandatory until
such time as they are able to stand
alone Mesopotamia can hardly
be placed in the class Of states
whose independence could be provi
sionally recognized. Armenia and
Palestine more readily fit that de
scription.
But not being member Of the
league, the United States now
stresses the important part it
played in the war and in bringing
victory to the allied powers as the
justification for its demand for
economic equality Of opportunity in
mandate territories. The possibil-
ity that the United States will yet |
join the league strengthens its claim
for consideration and the undoubted !
fact that America is united in
pressing for equal opportunity in
trade and the development of nat
ural resources will warn mandatory |
powers not to claim monopoly /
privileges.
THE matter is of great economic
Importance, owing especially to the
rapidly intensifying rivalry of the
great industrial powers for control
Of the petroleum deposits Of the
earth. Mesopotamia is rich in oil |
In our own country oil consumption
is outrunning oil production by many |
millions of barrels a year. In the !
petroleum age il is vital to
America to have access on equal |
terms with it's competitors to the
unexpected oil deposits of unde-
veloped regions, If access on such
terms can be brought about. No. 1t
would be a mockery if territories |
transferred from Germany and