Evening star., 1938-07-24
BY WILLIAM E. SHEA.

leo taken from them by President Car
denas on March 18 last, has developed
into war OF curious kind. It would
perhaps not be fitting, in the light Of what
is going on today in Spain. and China, to
say that 1t is war in the modern manner.
Yet that is In several respects, precisely
what 1t Is. Certainly in the weapons that
are being used, 1t is extremely modern.
Taking part in this war are no battle
ships or tanks, no light or heavy artillery,
no bombing or pursuit planes, nor any of
the other all too familiar lethal devices Of
Mars. Up to the moment. no blood has
been shed; no single overt act Of violence
committed. Neither side has set OIL even
so much Of gunpowder as is packed in
firecracker.
This war Is a "mechanized" one, but the
machines employed are such as ordinarily
are used in the pursuits OF peace; Of them
selves, they are incapable of innicting ply
sical injury on any enemy. They consist
OF typewriters, mimeograph machines,
printing presses, addressographs 1t follows
that the missiles the machines discharge
are not bullets or shrapnel or explosive
shells, but only words. To add still another
touch of the unusual to this war, the
missiles that are fired are not directed at
the enemy; the men who fire them are
utterly Indifferent whether they reach the
enemy or not.
Rich Oil Deposits Are Stake.
Finally, the terrain of battle in no re-
spect resembles the Thermopylaes, the
Waterloos and the Gettysburgs Of war In
the traditional manner. The war Is being
fought over the stake Of the immensely
rich oil deposits in the lowlands back of
Tampico, on Mexico's east coast. Yet in
that region no fighting is taking place. In
stead Of fighting, a peacefulness that might
be called stagnation has settled down on
that once teeming region Of oil derricks,
storage tanks. pipe lines. The Gathering
and banging Of former activity has begged
down to comnolent quiet. Gone are the
American foren1en and. superintendents
who once supervised and directed opera
tions. Gone are the great tankers which
once transported Mexican oil to the worlds
four corners. Gone, too, are the colorful
American oil field "roughnecks," the hard
bitten Yankee drillers and riggers and
nitroglycerin men. The Mexican workers
are still there, but they for the most part
have taken to a life Of ease-there IL
nothing else for them to do.
Where the fighting is being waeed
Is far from Tampico. Actually, the bat
tlefield is not a battlefield at all In the
familiar sense. 1t has no physical being,
is not on any map. It exists only in
human minds, the minds of the 13o, ,oO0.- :
600 citizens Of the United States For
this is war Of propaganda. Both sides
seem to believe that to win the war they
must convince the people of the United
States that their cause is right and lust.
On the side Of the oil companies the
chief strategists apparently are the heads
Of the Royal Dutch Shell combination
at least that Is what men in the know
are saying. 1t was the Dutch Shell people,
chiefly, according to informed oil men.
who were behind Britain's writing the
recriminatory note to Mexico which re-
suited In Mexico's recalling its minister
to Britain and its sharp reminder to
Britain Of Britain's own lapses with re-
spect to war debts. 1t was the Dutch
Shell men who have persuaded the Amer
lean oil companies to take an unyielding
stand against any solution of the conflict
except outright return of the appropriated
properties. 1t was they who brought about
UNIFIED action to prevent tankers from sail
ing to Mexico, which has had the effect
Of setting up tight boycott Of Mex
lean oil.
Sympathy for Dutch Shell Easy.
1t is not difacult to sympathi1e with the
Dutch Shell for the stand they have taken
They have extensive oil holdings in Venexu-
ella and elsewhere in the rainbow republics
and they rightly fear that If Mexico gets
away with" appropriation, then their other
Latin American oil lands will sooner or
later 60 the same way. Actually. the ma
tionalization of oil lands had begun in other
Latin American republics longs before ex-
preparation was made by Mexico) And for
Dutch Shell, that, unquestionably, would be
severe II not crippling blow. The Amer
lean companies are more fortunately stu
ated. Their holdings In Mexico and else
where IN Latin America are tiny compared
with what they have in the United States.
If all their foreign holdings were lost they
would not be gravely hurt.
A steady anti-Mexican propaganda drive
is being carried on by nearly all the large
American companies-an exception is the
Mellon-owned Gulf-which suffered from
Mexico's appropriation action. The propa-
ganda takes several forms. One company
In the Southwest, which makes q spe-
cialty Of providing motorists with elabor-
ate maps and data about tours, goes far
out Of its way to discourage persons con-
templating motoring into Mexico This
company tells tourists that parts Of the
newly-built highway to Mexico City are
infested with bandits and that travellers
on this road run serious risk Of being
robbed and assaulted. The allegations have
been denied repeatedly by the Mexican
government Also the American Auto
mobile Association has issued = statement
saying that travel in Mexico is reasonably
safe. Nevertheless. the company persists
in its campaign, undoubtedly to Mexico's
considerable hurt. The Aztec republic has
desperate need Of the dollars Of gringo
tourists.
Some Of the oil company propaganda Il
carried on through addresses made by COM
pany ofnciak before such bodies - the
Institute Of Public Affairs at the University