THE OIL WAR

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1577, 23 February 1927, Page 2

THE OIL WAR

MiGARASUA'S REVOLT j " : ■'■■'' '■■■'■■■ : .'■'«-■•'»' ' • ■ ■.■'■■ * /, ] - ■■:■*■■'■ '■■■: >' - ; •■ " '-■■ ■ '■■>■ \ I ' WORLD-WIDE SiGNIFICANCE * The : trouble.between the'/XJnited ! States and Mexico concerning ',the revolution jin Nicaragua inay at first seem of rather remote interest to Australians (says the Sydney 'Sun') t but there is'one word which relates it with the vital affairs of every nation, and that, word is "oil." , ,i It has not been difficult to follow the development of the Nicaraguun trouble. A cable published early jm the new. year, stated .that «' theoretic-; ally nearly £100,000,000 worth of oil lands, owned; by seventeen American, companies, reverted }'. to the* -Mexifcaji Government on January 1, although the actual confiscation has not yet bee" announced. The .United States Secre-, •tary.'of State, it was added,shad threatened to break diplomatic relations it President Calles actually ' confiscated the lands, and the message continued most significantly : : "In the offing there; is the question before the American Government whether it should; lift: the amis embargo, which would; peifmit,! revolutionists to get munitions, and seriously embarrass the Mexican .Government." ....-'■-. ■ :, : - t " . . Somehow or other revolutionists in Nicaragua did get arms, rind the cables told qt "fierce Nicaragua'fighting." There followed statements by, Borah and,several other Senators,, in the course *of which it vas asserted: " Our Government's action in permitting the shipment of;arms to the Ni-, caraguan Government is an; act of war. ' -. ' \ '■:. ;■.''"." ■.'■ '■ .

i A couple of weeks later came a special message from/President Coolidge to Congress, in which the trend- ; of United States policy was still more plainly indicated.' "There is no ques- , tion," he said, "that if the revolution 1 continues American investments in Nicaragua will be seriously affected, if not destroyed. American and; foreign - bond holders will undoubtedly 'look ,tbe United States to protect ,thoir*!interests." , ' ', . ; OUTPUT. A fuller understanding of what has been happening, however, conies front . a study of >the. struggle for oil; jn Antral America, and to this a chapter has been devoted by Professor Anton Momy lecturer in' political geography ut the University of <Jsl6,-j m a. book whichhas just reached Australia.. entitled ; 'The Oil War.' <'-- •"''.•;'• : V" 'vrC v The /first really important petroleum , wells,' he states, -were discovered in Mexico only in 1910, and yet in the course of two years "this ypung in-, dustry had risen into such importance.., that revolutions had taken place,. and N Presidents had been assassinated,. ' possibly, for its sake." He continues:' A?'.' ( foreign Power has'always been able, to '■>. count upon winning the 'adherence \of a larger or smaller .percentage or the population, either by. bribery or <ther means." One Mexican oil well in recent years reached an output of 260,000 barrels daily, worth £260,000 nt the xurreut; price of £1 a barrel. ; " This single example," says Professor'Mqhr, V is enough to show that these oilfields represent monetary values and economic possibilities for the future which are worth not one only> but several Mexican revolutions." !' President Carriahza, one of a line ,<jf., Mexican Presidents, Professor Mohr rej- , lates, imposed a number of ■ provisioiis' , > designed to prevent in future the casual '.' granting of concessions of Bjfexican ria--..'.'■ |tural resources to,foreign ,capitalists;' I including one that «ip foreigners should !in any circumstances, acquire concessions within %: zone of fifty kilometres from the coast} aiid another that Call concessions acquired after 11870. were subject to. revision, In 1919 revqlijr tions beg, Tin to hreak, out in varipuX parts of; the country, and jn the ,spriwg ...'■.■ of 1920 Carranza was obliged to escape' from the capital, 4 and was killed in the mountains west of Vera Cruz. -/What will .H&ppen to the Mexican' President. Calles, Remains to be' seen;"■"'''■ '.-": : J .r." BRITISH STRUGGLES 'BITTER., The oil war is not confined to Mexico. .'' Everywhere else,' '• Jfiys. Professor Mohr—"in Saghalien and Sumatra. Rumania and the find the oil companies; engaged in the same bitter struggle, and making use of ' every weapon." ■ And that is how the word "oil" con- ,• nects the trouble in Nicaragua- with ! the vital affairs of-every nation. -The ; fight raged 'so fiercely in the Near 1 East, concerning the' Mesopotamia n oilfields, that at one time the British Entire seemed' to be on the verge of war with the Turks, and the Lausanne Conference summoned. Itis rajting .in Australia at the 1 present % the form'' of a; contest pri the part of American and „", other importing in- v terests with'.' the'Anglo-Persian Oil Company, linked'■> with the XJoinnion-: wealth Government, for,' predominance ins the Australian petroK market;- ahd until Australia can supply her own needs by tapping tbe v oil resources which : geologists o*ll6%'exist in..Papua and elsewhere in her own territory, ,she must continue to. pay her annual tribute to overseas interests of over £8,000,000 annually for the oil she needs. ' ■ ' - ' - • />, When one reads of the titanic struggles in. which these interests are engaged, and the weapons with which their, battles are. , fought,, one foela.- : ; gratefuf that so far the ; heeds of the. Commonwealth have' been supplied till the present Without any very serious 7; trouble occurring; but one also feels' that the future is uncertain.