The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-04-12
MEXICO MAY SUPPLY
ONE-FIFTH OF OIL

Dr1lnng IN the Mexican OIL Ileius
has been resumed since President
Carranza's decree permitting work by
foreign companies pending final in
depreciation of the provisions of the
new Mexican Constitution. Ralph II.
Turner, staff correspondent of the
City of Mexico for the United Press
Association, who recently made
tour Of the Tampico district, esti-
mates that facilities for production
will be increased in 1920 to the ex-
tent of $50,000,000 and that not less
than one-fifth of the oil requirements
of the whole world will be filled from
Mexico, where most of the capital IN
vested is American. The following
article comprises excerpts from his re-
port: 1
When President Carranza issued
his recent decree allowing the re-
sumption of oil we'll drilling under
provisional permits he did more than
relieve the tension that had arisen
over the INSTRUMENTATION oil con-
troversy. He permitted glimpse
into Mexico's future as an oil produc-
ing nation.
Due to the involved situation as re-
CARDS titles, pending the final inter-
probation of Article 81 OF the new
Mexican constitution, the new drilling
will not be as general as it might, !
but that does not prevent the Oil OPP
orators from looking around" nor
does it prevent speculation as to the
extent of the undiscovered wealth
which still lies in Mexican subsoil.
1t is estimated that in 1920 Mexico
will produce 135,000,000 barrels of Oil
and that 120,000000 barrels will be
exported. Thus Mexico will fill about
20 per cent of the worlds oil require
ments.
Must Augment Facilities.
To achieve this, Tampico must
greatly augment her facilities for
handling oil. This undertaking al
ready is under way. New pipelines,
storage facilities and other installa-
ton is being constructed, or is con-
templated, to the value of $4,000, 900.
United States currency. When the
new pipelines are completed Tampico
will have capacity for handling
520,5OO barrels of oil daily from the
fields to tidewater.
The first of the year, there were
523 steel or concrete storage tanks In
the Tampico district, having total
capacity of 24,S91,500 barrels. But
there are being constructed today
forty-siX steel tanks, with capacity of
1886, 900 barrels, and plans have been
Hldue lOT eighty eight Otlcl 1oAhS'
with a capacity of 4,S40,000 barrels.
Double Prices for Everything.
The visitor comes to Tampico full OF
tales about the bandit operations in
this vicinity. He hasn't been here
long, however, before he begins to feel
that the bold, bad highwaymen out in
the wilds must be poor pikers COM
pared to the outfit which confronts
him in the form of tradesmen, cafe
proprietors and hotel men whose
methods, perhaps, are less dangerous
but certainly as effective.
It's a common saying throughout
Mexico that if salaried man is con-
templating a move to Tampico from
any other part Of the republic, the
human instinct of self preservation
demands that he receive the same
number of American dollars, as
stipend, that he has been receiving
previously in Mexican pesos. And the
reasoning doesn't seem to be far from
wrong when it is considered that
prices are about the same in dollars as
they are elsewhere in pesos.
The continuous growth of the Amer
lean and British population has
created a demand for houses, apart
ments and hotel accommodations that
far exceeds the supply. with the re-
have undertaken to provide quarters
for their employees, either by new con
struction or the remodeling of old
buildings.
And then the housewives recount
how native servants, formerly employ
ed for So and 81 month, now demand
SIS and 500. Chinese cooks, who pre-
vail in the best kitchens, are receiving
from $50 to S65 a month, 200 pei
cent. increase over the old days.
Two sources of trouble CONFRONTED
allied interests in Tampico during the
war. They were the Germans and the
I. w. w. At many times it appeared
thew were one and the same. Petrol
cum was vital to the allies conduct O
The war and German agents strove
with radicalism as a medium, to Oh
struct the flow of oil through alliet
channels.
|. w. w. Also Present.
All that is history, but it is interest
ing today to observe the present status
of the Germans and their former ally
to note how they have Jared since tn
capitulatiOn on the western front.
The Germans are still here. but tn
support Of an imperial government
has vanished and with it has gone
considerable amount of the Teutol
Self-dSSurdnCe. All tHS ICihi Soi
hope to do now-all they are trying t
dos to regain bit of their OIL
trade and their old prestige.
The |. w w. also is here. 1t
rot always referred to with that desis
nation. 1t is sometimes called tn
Communist party. or the Left Wing, o
Rolshevism. Under any name, how
ever, it's aims are the same. But tn
German backing has deserted tn
I. w. w, and today the movement
neither German nor Mexican. Rathe
II is an international organization