The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-02-08

American oil fields are owned by
British Interests.
The attitude taken by these two
senators. together with thoir pro-
posed bills. can he easily interpreted
by the British, or any other nation.
as measures OF retaliation, and the
laws proposed by them could give
lttlo real assistance to American oil
companies. but could easily cstab-
lish a precedent that would moan
death to our operations In fields
outside tho United states.
As "A matter OF fact. MCsopotamiN
is the only promising OIL producinE
country where Americans cannot
operate. The biggest oil company
i'm canada, tho Imperial with a
string of retincrics IN the statos
north of us, and some very promis-
ing territory foy the production Of
oil, IL largely owned ana manageu
by citizens Of tho United states. Wc
are operating la a number of british
POSSESSIONS, except ON land owned
and operated 10y tho British gov
crnment, And In tho United states
aliens are not permitted to own ut
operate land secured under the lcas-
ing law, a limitation that Bee even
moro drustic than that enacted hy
the Britlsh government during the
war.
NJ TO MosopOtamia. the secretary
OF state ~ sun negotiating with
England. Tho attitude of the
British ~ that since England and
France have TO finance the unstable
government there. they should be
entitled TO any profits that may oc-
crue from the Development OF pc
trulcum deposits. America enjoyed
the same privilege, without statute,
with Cuba and the Philippine is-
lands, and hundreds of native Amer
leans have become wealthy In the
sugar trade of these islands.
Tho direct results of such lcsisla
ton as that proposed by Mckcllar
and pheian would not approach the
real isuo involved. The question is
ono Of diplomacy and international
agreement rather than rctalatory
legislation. ana may drive drsirnbl"
citizens from our own country. ayd
at the same time prevent our own
citizens from expanding their busi-
ness IN foreign nations. II ls, ma
tionally speaking, a proposal to cut
off our nose 10 spite the face, q
suggestion Of remedy that can At
best do little good, and may do i'm.
mense harm.
Indirectly. the proposals and the
general publicity given the remarks
made by the senators are dangerous.
If tho bills should he enacted into
law they may establish an intCrua -
tional policy that would he suicidal
to one OF our greatest Industries
We could not expect European
md Asiatic countries to extend
trade cOurteslcs and privileges
which We ourselves deny. II we re-
servo our own oil deposits for our
own development and use, other
nations may reasonably be expected
TO do likewise. And even II o~cr
nations had taken this attitude first.
we have little to gain and millions
TO loso by retaliation. A pound Of
/ diplomacy is worth u ton of legisla-
,tion. where the issue at stake is in
/ tcrna tional.
! Mexico being our next-door neigh
/ Dor, and naturally taking her lessons
/ i'm law enactment and foreign policy
/ from us. could take tho same ntt-
/ tudo with her oil deposits that We
/ propose to take.
The same policy APPLIED In Colon
bia would cut us off from "a territory
that promises much during the ncN'
few years. and Colombia has mover
has never been too friendly with tho
United States since the Panama
canal deal.
The legislation proposed in the
senate could easily become a Frank
enstein. II would be far better If
the lawmaking bodies allow tho
question 10 he handled as an inter.
national problem. as, In fact, II
really is. and keep rotaliatory stat
utes off tho books, and prcjudiceo
parlaucc out Of the public mind
! Oil weekly