In the neighbouring country of Roumania the Standard has waged a bitter war for the control of the oil industry. The output of oil in Roumania has been increasing very largely— it trebled in quantity between 1895 and 1900 and as it has a high flash-point the Standard wanted to get control of the field in order to supply its Italian and Mediterranean market. When its agents appeared first on the scene, Roumania had one large refining company—the Steana Romana—which dealt with about two thirds of the native crude oil. The wells were all, or nearly all, in the hands of small pro prietors who were unable to sink them deep enough, and whose ability to market their oil was hampered by the high railway rates and deficiency of tank cars. The Standard came forward with a proposal to build a pipe line from the fields to its proposed refinery, but fortunately for Roumania its statesmen had heard of the Standard's American record, and they refused to allow it to thus obtain entire control of the national output. It was allowed to build a refinery, and it bought certain oil-wells from the owners, but the pipe-line project was decisively ruled out. Strange conversions went on at Bucharest when the Standard's lobbyists put in their fine work. Politicians and news papers which had opposed the Standard were converted from the error of their ways in the manner with which Mr. Archbold has made us familiar, but the Standard was unable to secure any special privileges. By this time the Deut sche Bank, which controls the Steana Romana, had taken an active interest in the matter, and formed some sort of alliance through the Euro pean Petroleum Union with the Shell-Royal Dutch combine, and the Rothschilds, the Mantascheffs, of Baku. The
terms of this alliance are unknown, but very keen rivalry has been going on in the Roumanian oil-field, and only last year the Shell-Royal-Dutch party purchased a large Roumanian oil company, the Astra, which is now valued at £1,200,000. In the spring of 1907 the Standard came to a " selling arrangement " with the European Petroleum Union, and this was followed by a similar arrangement with the Asiatic Petroleum Company, whose capital is equally held by the Shell Company, the Royal Dutch, and the Paris Rothschilds. Just how far the European Petroleum Union is involved in the " rate-war " which has broken out between its twin the Asiatic and the Standard is unknown, but as the Deutsche Bank is largely interested in Galician oil-fields where such a bitter fight has been going on with the Stand ard for some months, it is probable that the whole combination must ultimately be involved if the " oil war " lasts much longer. Sir M. Samuel has stated that the Bataafsche Petro leum Maatschappij and the Anglo-Saxon Petro leum Company, Ltd., distributed in dividends in 1909 £1,500,000, and that the profits for 1910 will not be lower, so that apparently that contest has not seriously affected the Shell Royal-Dutch combine.