AN AMERICAN BALKANISM
The British Controlled Oil-fields
The _Anglo-Persian Oil_ is no longer sufficient for Great Britain,
which founded a new company in 1918, the _British Controlled
Oil-fields_, specially commissioned to fight the _Standard Oil_.
Established under Canadian law with an initial capital of £12,000,000,
increased later to £40,000,000, and capable of a further increase up
to £159,000,000, the _British Controlled Oil-fields_ will be one of
the greatest financial powers of the world. Like the _Anglo-Persian_,
it is entirely in the hands of the British Government under the system
of the voting trust. It seems that an immense tract of oil-bearing
territory exists from Mexico to the Argentine, a continuation of that
of the United States. Already Mexico has become the second greatest
producing State in the world; and oil has been found in almost all
the South American States, even in Brazil and on the plateaux of
Bolivia. Of these immense deposits the _British Controlled Oil-fields_
wishes to gain possession on behalf of the British Government, thus
completing the work of the _Royal Dutch-Shell_ in Venezuela and in the
neighbourhood of the Panama Canal. It possesses properties of very
great value from Mexico to Brazil, in Trinidad, Venezuela and Costa
Rica. In 1920 it began operations in Ecuador, and it is at present
prospecting in Brazil, in the State of Bahia, where bituminous seepages
and traces of asphalt abound. Its concessions actually surround
two-thirds of the Caribbean Sea: they are situated in the States of
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, British Guiana,
Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and the island of Trinidad. The
concessions of the _British Controlled Oil-fields_ are nearly always
on the sea coast--or rather in close proximity to the sea--which is
a considerable advantage. It has expressly chosen them, on both the
Atlantic and the Pacific, as a precaution _in case war should break out
between Britain and the United States_; for, even with the help of the
Japanese fleet, the British Navy might not be able to seize the Panama
Canal. And its units must be in a position to replenish their stores
of fuel without being obliged to make a long detour round the Magellan
Straits.
The _British Controlled Oil-fields_ is at present negotiating for the
control of important concessions in Panama and Nicaragua. It controls
all those of British Guiana, nearly all those of Honduras, but I
fear it is about to lose those it had in Costa Rica. In order to
obtain them, Great Britain did not hesitate to foment revolution in
this little Republic. Unable to obtain anything from the established
Government, it helped to place in power the revolutionary President
Tinoco, from whom it got all it wanted: more than 6,000 square miles
granted to the _British Controlled Oil-fields_. Unfortunately Tinoco
has been overthrown: the regular Government, restored to power,
hastened to annul these concessions. Great Britain, to compel it to
ratify these concessions, stirred up a war between Costa Rica and
Panama, while she sent the cruiser _Cambrian_ to the coast of Costa
Rica in order to increase the pressure. Events went against her. Costa
Rican troops invaded Panama. A landing took place on February 28, 1921,
on the Pacific coast, south of the Dulce Gulf, the eastern shore of
which is common to both countries, and another less important one on
the Atlantic, towards Bocas del Toro. Panama lost the territory of Coto.
Mr. Alves, Chairman of the _British Controlled Oil-fields_, set out
in March 1921 for Costa Rica, to study the question at issue. But the
United States stepped in; and Judge White, as arbitrator, pronounced in
favour of Costa Rica. On August 26, 1921, an American naval detachment
assisted the Costa Rican forces to take definite possession of
the contested territory, in spite of the indignant protests of the
Government of Panama against the violent measures of which it was the
victim.
There is continual warfare among the little republics of Central
America. The imbroglio of British and American affairs around the Gulf
of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea (_British Controlled Oil-fields_,
_Mexican Eagle_, _Royal Dutch Shell_, _Mexican Petroleum_, _Standard
Oil_) makes this region _the Balkans of the oil world_.
The _British Controlled Oil-fields_, the board of which includes a
British admiral and a Member of Parliament, is the result of long
investigations pursued by Lord Fisher on behalf of the Admiralty. The
results of these studies are being methodically turned to account in
order to ensure to Great Britain the supremacy of the sea by means of
the supremacy of oil.