The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-02-27
Sir Henry Defending, Car
of Royal Dutch She'll Is
Fighter of Grim and Per-
SiStent Type.
BY MILTON BRONNER
NEA Service Writer

LONDON, Feb. 27.-If the pro-
posed billion-dollar merger of the
Standard Oil Company Of New York
with the Vacuum Oil Company is
the forerunner of an oil war be-
tween the Rockefeller interests and
the Royal Dutch Shell Company for
world supremacy, one thing is GER
tain
Sir Henri Defending, car of the
Royal Dutch Shell, will not run
away from any struggle that the
American combine may start He
is not of the running away kind.
Europe is looking with anxious
eyes on the proposed gigantic mer-
ger of Standard Oil of New York
with Vacuum, which Attorney-Gen-
eral Mitchell has announced will be
tested in the United States courts.
1t realizes, too, that aligned with
the Standard Oil of New York is
the Standard Oil Company of New
Jersey, which is even a bigger con-
Germ, and the other Standard Oil
companies.
World Battle Seen
Thus, the prospects for a first
class oil war between the two most
powerful factors in the industry
seem far from remote.
While the various Standard COM
panies and their subsidiaries are
gigantic, the Standards power was
weakened somewhat by the famous
dissolution decree of 1911, which di-
vided them into separate units with
territorial limitations on their &C
tivities.
Against these, is the great Royal
Dutch Shell, which has entered the
American market on national ba-
sis, and whose retail stations are
Offering stiff competition for the
Rockefeller interests.
Deterding Another John D.
Sir Henri, one of the two or
three giants in the international oil
business, is the European counter
part of John D. Rockefeller. He
has competed with Standard Oil for
years. In fact, Standard once tried
to crush him.
Today he is probably the only oil
man in the world who can rival
Rockefeller in the size of his hold
ingS and the extent of his power.
Like the elder Rockefeller, he
started from scratch, building up
an enormous business with his own
hands and brain. All over the
world there are men working for
him. His interests touch every con-
tinent.
Sir Henri was born in Holland
siXty-seven years ago. In his early
youth he went to the Dutch East
Indies, and in the island of Java
he got job in the Dutch bank-an
unimportant sort of job, porting
over ledgers. There didn't seem to
be much future in it, but he liked
the country, so he stayed.
How Business Began
About 1890 Dutch capitalists in
the Far East organized a modest,
100000 corporation for the working
Of petroleum wells in the Dutch
East Indies.
The head of this organization was
J. A. KesSler. He needed an assist
ant and he asked the head Of the
Dutch bank to recommend a bright
young man.
Now young Henri Defending was
not exactly a success in the bank,
and his president thought this would
be a good chance to get rid OF him.
So the young clerk was sent over to
the new oil company, where he be-
came assistant to the managing di-
rector.
If banking had not been exactly
his line, the oil business was. He
made himself invaluable to Kessler,
and when Kessler died, a few years
later, the stockholders made young
Deterding his successor.
Then began his amazing period Of
growth, quite as spectacular as the
growth of Rockefeller's Standard Oil
companies.
Tarp,arS Hold Tusfffufa