Passing to India, the Standard had to fight for years with the Russian oil exported in bulk through the Suez Canal, and is now pressed hard by the Burma Oil Company, an under taking mainly under Scotch control, which has until recently had a monopoly of the Burma oil output. As there is a tariff on American oil in India from which Burmese oil is exempt, it was obviously to the interest of the Standard —which thoroughly believes in tariffs at home —to get behind that obstacle by being able to refine Burma oil and vend it in India. There is another reason, and that is the large per centage of petroleum wax which the Burma crude contains. There is a large and increasing demand all over the world for wax, which is used for candles, chewing-gum, the water proofing of fabrics without rubber, and for many other commercial purposes. In its desire to get a footing in this promising field the Standard Oil Trust applied to the Indian Government for an oil-prospecting licence in Burma, and was much grieved when the Indian Government refused it. We come across that same Mr. W. H. Libby flitting about India. In November, 1902, the Calcutta correspondent of the Financial News reports that this gentle man was trying to induce the Bengal Chamber of Commerce to support his little scheme against the Indian Government. The corre spondent gives us a pretty picture of Mr. Libby's virtuous protestations :— The representative of the Standard Oil Company seems to wish the Bengal Chamber of Commerce to believe that the motives of his Company were not wholly mercenary—that, on the other hand, they were philanthropic, inasmuch as he says that " it was the intention of the Standard Oil Company to en courage as many Burmese natives as possible to enter the pro ducing business, by aiding them in the employment of modern machinery and modern methods, by providing them with an immediate cash market for their crude oil, and by loans, if necessary, at very moderate rates of interest, to the end that production might be stimulated and an important industry created. The Standard hoped to derive its own profits by
economies in refining, by materially improving the quality and value of the manufactured products, and by distributing the said products in India and other Oriental markets, where aggressive efforts might largely increase existing consump tion." We know, of course, that the Standard has always been willing to encourage other people to undertake the risks of oil-well sinking, but the idea of stimulating this speculative business for the benefit of the natives of a semi-bar barous country is novel as well as captivating. When Mr. Libby's campaign failed in India he came to London, and his claims were pressed on the India Office by the United States Am bassador in London, the Hon. Joseph Choate. As the Ambassador had often appeared for the Standard when at the American Bar, and as he had himself once stated that he was a shareholder in the Trust, we may be sure that his advocacy of the Standard's schemes in Burma did not lack either zeal or ability. But it failed, and the Trust cannot get into Burma. The imports of all classes of oils from Burma into Madras Presidency during 1909-10 amounted to £317,868, as compared with £212,982 in 1908-9. In the same period the imports of American oils decreased from £241,128 to £189,362.