Evening star., 1941-05-11
BY MarQnis ". Chlds.

ish-owned through the Anglo-Iranian
Oil Co., which was formerly the Anglo
Persian Oil Co. The name of the COM
pany was changed when Persia became
Iran.
Behind the formation of this govern
ment-controlled corporation is an inter-
esting story. Persia oil wealth was dis
covered by an adventurous English pros
pector and explorer named Knox Darcy,
in 1901. Not only did he discover it at
considerable hazard from fierce Arab
tribes, but he got from the reigning Shah
a fabulous concession covering virtually
the whole country.
Peace Surplus No Worry to Him.
There was much angling for this prize.
But early in the century the British gov
ernment named a royal commission to
look into the whole question of fuel for
the navy. Naturally the commission con-
centrated on oil and naturally the oil of
Persia, which could be piped to strate-
gic port or the so-called empire lifeline
to India. came in for a great deal of
study While the ROYAL commission hesi-
tated, Winston Churchill, then First Lord
of the Admiralty, acted. Ignoring talk
about private enterprise, he put the
British government into the oil business.
On July II, 1918, ne rose in the House
of Commons and in remarkably sue
cinct speech defended his action. He
frankly admitted there would be prob
lem of disposing of surplus oil in times
of peace. but added that this form of
state enterprise caused him no con-
Germ whatsoever. I'VE are already max
ing our cordite, which is a most complex
and difficult operation he said, "and I
see no reason, nor do my advisers, why
we should shrink from making this fur
ther extension of the vast and various
business of the Admiralty : we must
become the owners, or at least the con-
trollers at the source, of at least a pro-
portion of the supply of natural oil
which we require &. ="
Again, ir the tense days of early 1914,
he declared: For many years, the policy
Of the Foreign Office, of the Admiralty
and the Government of India has been
to conserve Independent English interests
in the region of Persia, and above all TO
prevent this region falling under the
control of the Shell or any other for
eign or cosmopolitan company"
Admiralty Retained Hold.
There was a struggle after 1918 to
preserve the independence of the Anglo
Persian company. The late Sir Henri
Deterding, founder of the vast oil en-
pire of Shell, wanted to get Anglo-Per-
sian within his domination. 1t outraged
his sense of the proprieties that the great
bonanza of the Near East should remain
outside his control. But while in many
Shell reached working agreement, as
in Iraq, the Admiralty kept its hold over
the oil riches of Persia.
One of the most remarkable figures
OF our time, Deterding, Dutch by birth,
took perhaps the leading part in oil
politics from 1918 to the time of his death
early in 1899. A great deal of his atten-
ton centered on the huge oil deposits at
Baku in the Caucasus, another of the
earth's major oil treasures. That this
should 20 to the Soviet Union following
the war and the Bolshevik revolution,
was a source of profound unhappiness
to Sir Henri.
Fearing and despising the Bolsheviks,
he was convinced that Baku should
somehow be pried loose from the Soviet
state. There were curious abortive
efforts to this end while Russia was still
in chaos ir '18 and J9. Deterding never
lost sight of this goal He was convinced
that successful foreign policy for Brit
ain lay in turning the Germans against
the Russians, with the Germans to have
as a reward for their troubles the oil Of
Baku and the wheat of the Ukraine.
Deterding was powerful influence In