Montana labor news., 1934-05-17
Merchants of Death
Busy in Arabia

NEW YORK - QFP) Word that
the armies OF Ibn Saud, new Arabian
Napoleon, are equipped with western
rifles and ammunition is no news TO
those who have long studied the SIMS
ter traffic in arms in this sector OF the
world.
Ii is, however, news that these arms
are new and up-to-date. Formerly
Remington, Vickers, Zaharaff, Schnei-
der ct al were a little disdainful OF
such clients. They left the business to
the hand-me-downs in internal wea-
pons. Such firms as Francis Banner
mans < Sons whose store on lower
Broadway, New York, and impressive
island arsenal on the Hudson opposite
West Point amaze civilian and army
men alike, made a specially of these
far-off countries who could not afford
brand new guns.
In the chapter of our book, Mer-
chants Of Death Book of the Month
Club choice for May Dodd Mead &
Co., $3.50, entitled Second Hand
Death, we show how large a business
this was in former years. In the last
decade of the last century the north
east border of India was a danger spot
in the far-flung battle line of imperial
istic Britain. A sore spot for its sol
diers but a splendid sales area for
British dealers in secondhand arms.
Over 100000 rifles were supplied to the
tribes until the British government put
a stop to this. But the traders in
these arms, possibly with an eye to a
time when the British blockade might
not be SO tight, went right on ccumu-
lating war material. In 1911 about
10000 rifles and 100000 rounds of
ammunition were stored by these in
ternational statesmen waiting for an
opportunity to sell them to the tribes
in the hinterland.
Why the first-hand Merchants of
Death are now exploiting this market
is another and much more obscure
story. There's oil in those sandy
wastes and whenever there is a war
between sheiks, one can we'll surmise
that it is a fight between forces friend
ly to Sir Henry Deterding's Royal
Dutch Shell Oil Co., and those back
ward" nations who either want to re-
main backward or who are melted
by enemies of Shell.
1t would seem hardly likely that Sir
Basil Zaharoff, great friend of the
Shell, would have a hand in this; but
then that is not so certain. Antoine
Zischka is the authority for the state
ment that Sir Basil surreptitiously
supplied German submarines in the
Mediterranean during the war with
fuel-for a price, naturally, just as he
was making millions selling arms to
the Allies.
Zischka has just written a fascinat-
ing book showing how these wars in
far-off places of the earth are more
than mere incidents; he claims that
they are the result of a gigantic fight
between the Royal Dutch Shell Oil
Co., on the one hand and a curious al
lance on the other composed of Soviet
oil interests and the Rockefeller COM
panies the Shell for many genera
tons has been in the ascendants in
Persia, Irak and Arabia but recently
Russia and Rockefeller have been
pushing them hard. In fact Shell is
fighting for its life in this sector.
What the outcome will be, it is diff
cult to say at present. However, one
may well expect that many emirs and
sheiks will battle f%iercely and if the
oil interests of one side or the other
do not profit, it's a sure thing that
Messrs. Vickers, Remington and
Schneider will.