Evening star., 1927-05-10

| An era has passed in world indus,
/ trial development with the death of
| Viscount CoWdray, who. as Sir Weet-
man Dickinson Pearson led English
| capital into oil field development and
accomplished notable engineering
| feats, including building Of the Penn
| sylvania Railroad tunnels under the
| Hudson River.
| AS the Baltimore Evening Sun
| points out, "When Lord CoWdray be-
gan his career and almost to the end
Of it, Great Britain was the leading
factor in promoting great enterprises
all over the world. America turned
to her for capital and British share
holders often predominated on the
books Of our railroads and other in
| dustries." But the war brought a
change, and the Evening Sun adds;
"Gradually Americans not only have
gained control of their own industries
| but have extended their interests to
| include British concerns as well. In
the circumstances, it is doubtful
whether Great Britain will, at least
| in the near future, produce another
world figure like Lord Cowdray."
His firm built the Vera Cruz har-
Dor works and reconstructed the
! Tehuantepec Railroad in Mexico in
the time of President Diaz," recalls
the Buffalo Evening News. THE dis
coveries of oil in Mexico were then
| new, and the late Lord Cowdray OBJ
tanned valuable concessions. They
| proved to be a valuable asset to the
| British government during the World
War, furnishing considerable part of
| the oil supply of the British Navy.
| The rivalry between Cowdray and
| the Standard interests of this coun-
! try figured in the public discussions
| in the early days of the revolution
against DiaZ. In later years Lord
| cowdray sold most Of his Mexican
| holdings, though he retained one i'm
| portant company. Struggles for oil
concessions in Colombia, Persia, Rus
sia and elsewhere also kept the name
of Cowdray conspicuous in interna-
| tional business and sometimes gov
ernmental affairs"
| "He was one of the pioneer figures
| in a world contest more important
than a famous war;" according to the
New York World. which says "the
mere size of the British Empire IA
Fvored the grandiose plunges by which
| Lord Cowdray made the contracting
| firm of Pearsons, Ltd, famous. An
admiralty harbor in Malta, dry dock
| in Halifax, a breakwater in India, a
ship railroad across Tehuantepec with
| finished ports lat each end, the re-
! modelling of Dover-Such enterprises
We're all in the days work. Britons
have taken pride in recalling that, for
all our Yankee skill and push. it was
| Lord Cowdray'S firm which walked off
| with the contracts for the Pennsyl-
| vania Railroad tunnels. 1t was big
| task, and Lord Cowdray's experience
in tunneling the Thames enabled him
| to do it in a thoroughly competent
way. But it was not engineering but
oil with which Lord Cowdray's daring
has long been identified in the public
mind"
| Describing him as zone of the chief
beneficiaries of the regime of Porfirio
Diaz, a regime of the mailed fist to-
ward the Mexican people and the open
palm toward the foreign concession
aires" the Louisville Courier-Journal
! declares that his death recalls the
story of exploitation, a story of
/ tyranny and dollars and OIL" That
| paper explains that Pearson un-
| loosed the flood of foreign capital
| which was to spread over one of the
richest oil fields in the world. AS a
result, no less than $4,000, 900, 900 was
invested in Mexico during the Daz
regime. In the wake of Pearson went
Edward l.. Doheny and an army of
| others. all lured by the promise of
MeXico's mineral land and the easy
access to the close corporation that
controlled the country"
British industry had no more
] Snta rIoN 4tNxa
dray," in the opinion Of the Philadel-
phia Public Ledger. For many
| years he was world figure, always
mentioned in terms of millions.
He became one of the
largest foreign landowners in Mexico.
! a rival of Rockefeller and the reputed
power behind some Of the shoCt.lived