The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-20
SCREEN
SEEN IN OIL
FIGHT
Hard Finds Competitors at
Work in Caribbean, While
Diplomats War in East.
CONTINUED from First Page,l

Continued from First Page,l
Dutch and American all at the
same time.
Thus the following instructive
situations are revealed.
l. An alleged discrimination in
| the United States by the American
Interior Department, against The
British Dutch Roxana Petroleum
Corporation in revenge for alleged
discrimination in the Dutch East
Indies by the Dutch government
against the Standard Oil Company
Of New Jersey.
Q. The prospect thereupon of
reverse revenges against American
oil companies in. original regions
controlled politically by the Dutch
or by their oil allies the British.
All Work in Harmony.
8. Meanwhile, in Venezuela, IN the
famous Maracaibo Basin, thick
throng Of oil companies of all rsa-
tons totally surrounding the waters
Of Maracaibo bay and living to-
gether in amfty with American and
British and Dutch investors combin-
ing to organize and operate the
leading local producing company,
which goes under the name of he
Caribbean Petroleum Corporations.
Further instructiveness is ad led
to these situations by the following
fact:
The British Dutch interests which
are most attacked in the United
States are the Royal Dutch.SheH
interests. Those interests are today
the greatest single oil influence
behalf OF one of their subsidiaries
the concession which the Standard
Oil Company OF New Jersey want
ed in the Dutch East Indies. They
control the Roxana Petroleum Cor
poration. In return for what they
accomplished in the Dutch East
Indies the American Secretary Of
the Interior took some leases away
from their Roxana Petroleum Cor.
poration in the United States.
Meanwhile, however, a large issue
of their stock has been floated for
them in the United States by LIE
Higginson & Co., which is suf-
ficiently American firm, and in
Venezuela it is they that have
helped to establish and develop tine
Caribbean Petroleum Company
along with that also sufficiently
American firm the. General Asph-
alt Company.
Light was thrown on the reason
for our difficulties in Asia and At
rica by an interview given to this
writer today by a leading Royal
Dutch-Shell official in residence in
New York He pointed out that
not until few years ago did we
Americans attempt to do any ex-
ploration in the Orient. BY that
time the Dutch and the British
had been doing explorations there
for two. decades. When, however.
we isisted on coming. the Royal
Dutch-SheIl interests in the Dutch
East Indies Immediately returned
the compliment by crossing the
Pacific and entering California and
starting business in the United
States.
Seen As AggressOrs.
From the standpoint of the Brit
ish and of the Dutch oil interests
we are people who are not satisfied
with having one-fourth of all the
worlds oil supply lying in the
ground within our own borders and
who are not satisfied even with
having another one-fourth of them
lying within the ring Of land around
the Caribbean right next to US
but who nevertheless and in addi-
tion insist on sailing across broad
oceans to demand access to scat
tered and relatively meager fields
sv, fCIo yadC oFP Cin0o nnrn
From the foreign standpoint we
are the aggressors. From our own
standpoint it seems that we get
lots Of trouble and little oil out of
the Orient and little trouble and
much more oil in our own hemis-
phere.
In Venezuela, around Maracaibo
Bay. we now, besides the Amer
lean British Dutch Caribbean Pc
troleum Corporation, have the
American Standard Oil Company of
New Jersey, the American New
England Oil Corporation, the Amer
lean Texas Oil Company, the Amer.
lean Pure Oil Company, the Amer
Creole Syndicate, the American
Maracaibo Oil Corporation, the
American Bermudez Company and
others.
In the offices Of the Texas Oil
Company an official of the highest
responsibility informed this writer
today that in the South American
field there was no discrimination
against oil companies on any
ground of nationality and that the
struggle between the companies
was a purely business struggle be.
tween companies and not in any
way diplomatic struggle between
governments.
The sum of the. situation can be
expressed in the following way:
Half of the worlds Oil is within
easy and safe striking distance of
us, in our own hemisphere. The
! remaining half is either within
British or Dutch possessions or else
certainly much closer to them than
to us. We, nevertheless, are the
worlds gluttons in the consumption
of oil, and we need more than
our safe and easy one-half of the
| worlds supply. Our problem is to
get more than our one-half and we
have to solve it either by achieving
new intensive developments and dis
coveries in our own hemisphere or
else by mourning new enlarged
| jealousies and hatreds and dangers
in the others
! Copyright. Washington Press service.)
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