MORE LIGHT ON OIL

Maoriland Worker, Volume 13, Issue 26, 27 June 1923, Page 9

MORE LIGHT ON OIL

\ The Chester Concessions

More lig<ht on Oil! Under this caption Uncle Dudley writes very interestingly in the Boston Daily Globe, as follows: One of th| e things that makes the study of foreign affairs such a * as " dnftting game is th>&' constant surprises. After reading one's way through a ream of despatches laibout] tbo Noar Eastern Wangle, for instance, for c&rtain suspicions seep into thtij mind. Half obscure trails tur n u*p leading one wonders whither. Sonietimjes a bold guess and so one dare not trust it too far. As for hope that somebody in the know may spell outj any. of tfrese mysteries publicly—that; seems always about the last ' thing j likely. | Yet that is exactly what happens. l And that is (exactly what keeps on! happening. In the publication of memoirs, An disco v> e ; r>3d| secret diplomatic documents, and in public utterances by personages who are a little more frank now that war times have passed, we havj© bessfc. getting a steady stream of these surprises. And just on the <ewo of the resumption of the Lausanne Conference, the thing has happened again in no insignificant fashion. Mr. Coilby M. Chester, retired Admiral of the United. Stjatss Navy and member of the company which has just been granted oil, railroad and construction concessions .in Turkey that have set Europe by. the ears and brought official protest from Par's to Hid American Department c° State, ha<3 lifted th, e Hd off many questions fl£ world import—principally oil.. Fit'st oC all hg contributes a very: frauk statement abuut "the war to cud waft" Not a very pleat-ant state-j meu-L to bo sure, tut he speaks jiul.horaliv.ely. "IT MUST BERE-j MiiMBEriED," he declared iv Wash-; ington, "THAT THE V/ORLIJ ,¥AR WAS FOUGHT OVER OIL." Tb : a follows one of the mystery trials slam bang 10 the end, and checks up, it is most interesting to note, with sttilsements made during the pust five years by other rather important folk wh o seem to know whence they speak. On the heels of i.hia s(,ab at what many have long considered a war conducted on feeihalf of Hie, highest altruistic principles Admiral Che-sU-" duy.--- someliiu.!,''equally important BRITAIN INVADED TURKISH TERRITORY IN THE OIL REGION TV/0 MONTHS HKKORE THE GERMANS CROSSED THE BELGIAN LINES. , " , Now if this is true, then 3, good ami o>l recent: wrfl-fca-fa history will revision. The statement will rc-verborat?. Very iikoiy .It will bring a of dealials, especially as iit-iLLer England nor Franc? ar ß celeb over Chester Concession wU' : cli v/ipes out; many of the-ir own iv Asia ftXino?. J Next we turn to more* recent eve.nAa.. The Admiral dives through the s'ia: o£ propaganda and new.< and brings m> these mi.?&■-'• "THE 1 AMERICAN PUBLIC DOES NOT! KNOW THAT THE KURD:- HAVE DRIVEN THE BRITISH OUT OF KURDISTAN AND BACK TO THE! TIGRIS RIVER IN FOUR DIFFER-j ENT UPRISINGS DURING THE; PAST THREE MONTHS." . . . "CEN-j SORED ARTICLES ARE NOT Air! LOWED TO TELL THE TRUTH.": "COUNTING THK WORLD WAR, GREAT BRITAIN HAS SACRIFICED j 100,000 LIVES IN HER DETERMIN-j ATTON TO MONOPOLISE TURKISH OIL." The .significance of this i> -ot tlia* th? Admiral gtets back to fh? mod-: crn consideration which aa- , tions to send niun forth to tlaiiti'ner; oil. RaiUier it lies in. II: 6 fact ihat the utterances lifts ' a curtain from 1 some extremely Important events.; VVhe n lite first of the Lnusann ;e . Conference broke- up, both France and England were frankly, frighten**! about .something- ihat they refused to explain, beyond calling it "certain tremendous and imponderable foveas" which '-gave concern

a life of degradation and want. For three-fourths of this misery and decline the guilt falls not on Russian heads, but on the men in London and Paris, who prolonged the Great. War amid th,e agony o£ th&'r ally, invader] his territory, armed and subsidised , the devastating hosto in his civil war. and blockaded his coasts till farriiinp sjcisea: his children by the throat. Lord Curzon v/11l not assume th,j direct responsibility for th.© renewal of these horrors. But to every jealous neighbour, to every plotting Monarchist, to every interest eager to push its gains beOa'-ad the banner of Church and Throne, liis Note will be the signal to. attack. For the coa!'sequences , to humanity in Russia and thoyond it, we unless we baotl our-[selv-es- togetlusc to oppose h'wx* ehall

______ _____ . __ } &>r th-a pcfaco of Europe." The ceasful uprisings of the Kurds, &&& fcho example they s«t for Turkey a__ fumhig India, would seem to thmW light upon the Allied alarm, and to explain, in part Tat least, the sudden stiffening O f the Turkish attitude. Admiral Chester's other . deSc'lawrtions one likewise* interesting. 13m says that if England or Franco wapfc to obtain oil in Turkey, THBT WIE_ HAVE TO FIGHT FOR IT. BE* vows that ho is willing ito hie lifo" that tho Depiartment of State o_ this country will bade up t3ie Chester concessionaries "to the limit." And h<B remarks that, having boon refused cjx'!aiance to Turkey by the front door, America lias gone in "at the back door" for "the policy of the 'op'en door , " will be "maintained." Friends of tha "open door and all lovers oC peace will suffer a shock when they road such utterances, after - being told by th_ sam* spisaker that oil rov/s havo been r«r sponsible for the greatest holocaust in li'eitory. For most Americans had an ides, that the ''ojvsn door ,, poll<y of the United States is no f biased upoe a garm of "back doors" and thneata. Tlilsv thought of it as a policy frank, friendly and (entirely unafraid ol front stoops, anywhere, because its s-ancMon rests not en sabre-rattling , , but upon the strength of the rules of fair play recognistfd among civilised peoples. They ar 8 extremely unliJcely to tolerate any interpretation ol thp policy of th,£i "open door" whicH docs not rest first arir] foremost uDoa tho foundation of peace.