The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 30, 1924, Page 8

Oil and International Politics By LOUIS ZOOBOCK. The imperialist powers of the world have an oil policy. Oil has become the great international issue of the hour. Its importance is such that even the “most solid political alliances” are subordinate to it. troleum conditions of the territory af- fected. World politics has become the politics of oil. No move is made on that chessboard where imperialist diplomats disport themselves with the fate of nations that is not tinctured with oil, The situation in the Near Hast is saturated with oil, Oil rules the fate of Mexico. Every revolution for the last 30 years in Mexico has been in- stigated by the large oil corporations of the world. O#l made the United States pay Colombia $25,000,000 repa- ration for the loss of Panama, Oil keeps the British in Messopotamia. Oil ultimately makes frontiers, wars and peace. “The country which dominates by means of oil,’” said Elliot Alves, head of the British controlled oil fields, “will command at the same time the commerce of the world. Armies, na- vies, money, even entire populations will count as nothing as against the lack of oil.’ Where does oil, then, de- rive this formidable power? What has made it more precious, more pene- trating and more influential than gold? The Importance of Oil. Until 1880 the United States was al- most the only important producer of oll. After 1880, Russia came into the field. Mexican production began in 1901, but was of little consequence until after 1910. Up to date the Unit- ed States has produced about 70 per cent of all the petroleum known to have been produced in the world. At present the United States produces nearly two-thirds, and the United States, Mexico and Russia are produc- ing nine-tenhts of the whole of the world’s annual production. Persia has recently swung forward to fourth place, and the Dutch-East-Indies hold the fifth place, For half a century oil was used pri- mainly for illuminating purposes; its use was confined to the lamp, and oc- casionally the domestic stove. And even in this modest sphere it had to contend for mastery with gas and elec- tricity. Between 1900 and 1910, the invention of the gas motor and the prodigious development of the auto- mobile gave it a new lease of life. A few years later a German engineer named Diesel invented the internal combustion engine for heavy oil. Crude oil (mazut) when admitted to the cylinder under high pressure, forms an explosive mixture which, without sparking-plug or magneto, drives the pistons precisely as in an explosion motor; and since it comes from a worthless by-product (mazut), the Diesel engine can be operated very cheaply. The Diesel invention produced a revolution in fuel. Oil, confined at first to industries on land, began to conquer the seas. The advantages of the Diesel engine are enormous. With this machine there is no longer any need for boilers, and it takes up less space than a steam engine of the same power. A vessel fitted with a Diesel engine can sail for 57 days without refueling, while with a steam gngine it could not sail for more than a fort- night. Weight for weight, crude oil furnishes 70 per cent more heat than coal, It is less bulky; & is cheaper. It is easily manipulated, for it flows by itself into the machine, and per- mits a marked economy in the engine room personnel as well as quicker changes in speed. Admiral Lord Fisher drew attention to the fact that on the Mauretania the adoption of oil fuel allowed the reduction of the crew by 300 men. Be- sides, by giving more heat in propor. tion to the bulk of fuel carriod, it en- larges the cruising radius nearly 50 per cent, while making possible, at the » There is no discus- sion of a treaty among the great pow- ers of the world today that can be un- derstood without considering the pe- a Ce ere - same time, a saving of 30 per cent in bunker space. This last mentioned fact is especi- ally important for armored vessels. As the ships gain considerably in light- ness. it is possible to increase the thickness of the armor plate and thus equip the ships with more pow- erful guns, fleets acquire an extreme mobility. Half an hour after receiving the or- der to raise steam the ship is ready to start. The imperialist governments under: stood these advantages. vil has been introduced into battlehips. At pres- ent, the British and American dreaa- noughts, which keep millions of peo- ple under subjection, burn nothing but crude oil, And as for the merchant marin’, the most powerful companies have equipped their steamers to use liquid fuel and Diesel engines. In a word, mazut is dethroning coal. “The nation,” as one writer stated “which controls this precious fuel will see the wealth of the rest of the world flowing toward it. The ships of other nations will soon be unable to sail Moreover, with oil fuel] plied their armies with oil. It suc: ceeded because it was able to guaran- tee the co-operation of the Royal- Dutch and the Standard Oil in the cause of the Entente. “Thanks tothe Inter-Allied Conference,” as Henry Berenger remarked, “never at any mo- ment, have our soldiers lacked a drop of this spirit which gives them the necessary means of rapid movement and of cornering and defeating the en- emy.” This time the military and political importance of oil was apparent to every eye. On the morrow of the Arm- istice (November 21, 1918), it was celebrated in enthusiastic speeches. And Lord Curzon, the arch-imperialist, was able to declare: “truly posterity will say that the Allies floated to vic- tory on a wave of oil.” ayy The Struggle of the Great Powers. Now, everybody knows that British Imperialism rested upon a Youndation of coal. Thanks to the numerous coal- ing stations which England had scat- tered over all the steamer lanes of the world, not a single ship, whether of war or commerce, could move upon WORKERS ALL By JAMES H. DOLSEN “Dago,” “Hunky,” “Chink”— Each of them, I think, : After all are workingmen like me. And the “nigger,” black, Really does not lack Heart and brains, as far as I can see. Yellow, red, or brown, May be sage or clown, Just as white men may be bad or good. English, German, French— Put them in a trench, They will fight as any Yankee would. E’en that chosen one, Dubbed a “Native Son,” Is no better merely for the name. Call a pig a pearl, Or a thief an earl— Yet the pig and thief-are quite the same. So let’s’ put aside Prejudice and pride, And as brothers all, Whether it be that of race or birth; Let us ‘stand or fall In the workers’ struggle for the earth. ee without recourse to its stores of oil. Should it create a merchant fleet, it becomes at once mistress of ocean trade. Now the nation which obtains the world’s carrying trade takes toll from all those whose goods it carries, and so has abundant capital. New in- dustries arise round its ports, its banks become clearing houses for in- ternational payments. At one stroke the controlling center of the world’s credit is displaced. This is what hap- pened already in the eighteenth cen- tury when, with the development of British shipping, it passed from Am- sterdam to London.” The War and Oil. The last war, which has just rav- aged the world, proved the truth of this statement. In 1917, Clemenceau sent a despairing appeal to President Wilson. This historic appeal, among many: other things, contained the fol- lowing: “At the decisive moment of the war, when the year 1918 will see military operations of the first impor- tance begun on the French front, the French army must not be exposed for a single moment to a scarcity of pétrol necessary for its motor-lorries, aero, planes, and the transport of its artil- WNT aie ace “The safety of the allied nations is in the balance. If the Allies do not wish to lose the war, then, at the mo- ment of the great Germon offensive, they must not let Franee lack the petrol which is as necessary as blood in the battles of tomorrow.” In response to this appeal the allied governments had set up the Inter-Al lied Petroleum Conferences which sup the seas save by her grace. Her coal, moreover, assured to her vessels a cargo of outward-bound freight which was certain to find sale in any land. British steamers could always sail, therefore, with full holds—a fortunate circumstance which enabled them to give lower return rates than the ships: of any other country. And British in- dustry benefited correspondingly by this genuine advantage in the pur- chase of raw materials abroad. This was a great advantage in the cam- paigns for the conquest of interna- tional markets. It may be said that the whole commercial and industrial prosperity of England, for a century past, had rested on this heritage of coal, But from the moment that crude oil became available for use by steam- ships, dil this was susceptible of change. England has produced no oil, whereas the U. S. furnished some 70 per cent of the world’s supply. Luck- ily for the English, America had no merchant marine; but during the war and immediately after, the U. S. con- structed one of the greatest merchant fleets in the world. May not America, then, possessing both ships “and: oil, be tempted to wrest from Great Brit- ain her century long role of mistress of the seag? f One can only marvel at the irony of fate and the fragility of empires. For four years England waged a bur- densome war with the prime object of destroying the German navy forever At the cost of enormous losses she gained her end. The only maritime rival that Britain formerly had to fear ¥ oe is vanquished; but from the very struggle which destroyed this rival, a new one has arisen, twice as formid- able as the first, because America adds to her superiority in tonnage a quasi- monopoly of the fuel which England lacks. American oil in the furnaces of great steamships—may not that be the beginning of the downfall of the British empire? The British imperialists realized this situation. They made up their minds, and, having made, up their minds, they began to act. By clever twists, by silent scheming, by political, commercial and diplomatic maneuver- ing, they succeeded-in acquiring al- most all the oil reserves of the world. Prospectors and representatives of British high finance have scurried all over the world, With full consent of the government, in quest of new oil deposits to conquer. The most im- portant oil concerns engaged in active exploitation, except the Standard, were quickly assailed and conquered by British capital. Under cover of various cemmercial companies, the Shell. Transport, the Mexican Eagle, the Burmah Oil, the Anglo-Persian Oil, have added to their number since the armistice the powerful trust of HoHand, the Royal-Dutch. Very clev- erly the English have, at need known | how to associate themselves with Am- erican firms by. investing capital in the U.S. And, as a result of @“these maneuvers, British companies ate now in exclusive control of 95 per cent of - the futurue world production of oil. The British government learned at least one lesson from the recent war. That is to say, that the nation which controlled the oil industry controlled commerce by sea, in view of the fact that no coal burner can compete with an oil-burning ship. Realizing this, the imperialist government-of Great Britain is no longer content today to encourage, favor, and defend its na- tionals. Better then this, it makes conquests or establishes protectorates having as essential object the reserva- tion exclusively for its flationals of new oil-bearing territories, such as Persia and Messopotamia. It is suf- ficient to read the Treaty of Sevres to see-the underlying motive of British negotiations: the desire to monopolize the oil of Asia, and the anxiety to eep out the U.S, i The British oil policy is not uniform, Sometimes, when it seems possible, she gets possession of proved oil fields. Sometimes, in the case of a country which would hold its own, she negotiates for an advantageous share in the profits—this is what hap- pened by the San Remo agreement,— or she makes contracts ensuring abun- dant supplies of the precious mineral oil. ~ In general, when a state does not fall in with her views quickly enough, imperialist Britain does not recoil from’ any means of pressure. ~This is what led Admiral Degouy to write: “as a corollary to well-known negotia- tions with one of the richest coun- tries in oil in the Near East, the Brit- ish Admiralty has organized and main- tained on the Danube a numerous flo- tilla of gunboats and river monitors.” All this brot the desired result. At present there is not a single oil pro- ducing country where the English have not obtained a footing. At pres- ent, England has oil stations at all strategic points of the world. She controls the Suez canal at both ends, She has establishments at the Anti- podes, in East and West Indies, on the west coast of South America, on the coast of Africa, and at the Azores, ete. Even the Panama canal itself is ser- iously menaced: The Royal-Dutch Shell has a depot at one end of the canal and another at the entrance to the gulf. As a result of this activity, other nations, particularly the U. S. and France, have found themselves out in the cold. The imperialtms of this country without losing time began to spread propaganda to make the Am-. erican people become more “oil: minded” than the oil men. Admiral (Continued on page 11) ee ee ees