-DISTANT DANGERS.
There is another more serious, if more distant danger, which, fortunately, it may still be possible to avoid. It is clear to any one who calmly considers the facts of the case, undisguised by the courtesies of official terminology, that the economic struggle between Britain and the United States has now begun.
By deliberately throwing in our lot with the former, are we not driving America to seek an eventual alliance with Germany ? On the morrow of the day on which our Commissioner for Oil, M. Laurent Eynac, delivered the reply mentioned above to the American Ambassador, the Standard Oil Company re-opened commercial relations with its former German subsidiary. Besides, it is known that the United States Shipping Board has concluded an agreement with the Hamburg-America Line, and that large amounts of American capital are now invested in enterprises beyond the Rhine.
At Berlin this movement is encouraged by every possible means. The Germans are turning to account the mistake of France, who, by alienating such help from herself, gives them a hope of revenge.
Of course, it is not only the question of petroleum which has brought the American people to this state of mind. Those who allow themselves to be led astray on one such important matter may be led astray on another. The most serious thing about the Agreement of 24th April is that it shows a tendency on the part of French leaders to fall into the British orbit. Now this may carry us too far. Let us beware of the role of " brilliant second." Experience has proved that in victory or defeat, for Austria as for ourselves, it is a martyr's part.
The men who set us upon this path, whether through idleness or inertia, in the simple object of gaining dividends for themselves without building up industries, run the risk of compromising not only the special interests of the nation, dear to patriots, but at the same time the cause of universal peace, dear to internationalists.
But we may ask what is to be done. For, indeed, the situation seems to be one of peculiar delicacy. If by forming close relations with Britain we run the risk of em broiling ourselves with America, do we not also risk the enmity of Britain by forming relations with the United States ? Whichever course we choose, the danger is equal.
Well, we need only refrain from making a choice. First, let us note that the Americans claim no exclusive advan tages. Certain for many years to come of being the greatest petroleum producers in the world, but knowing that their consumption increases even more rapidly than their pro duction, they desire freedom of access to those of the world's oil fields which remain still undeveloped. But if they do not wish the door to be closed to them, they have no intention of closing it to others. What they demand is equal treatment for all. " Leave the field free to the prospectors and financiers of the Shell—Royal Dutch group," they say, " but give the same opportunities also to those of the Standard Oil. And whoever may be the discoverer of an oil field, let him have the concession on the same terms as his competitor." And if it suits us to develop our own petroleum deposits, the Americans have no objection. They are quite ready to lend us their plant, but they do not forbid us to make use of that of their rivals. Theirs is a liberal policy ; it is that of fair play.
This is for us a great advantage, for the Anglo-Dutch trust has now acquired so many reserves throughout the world that it cannot dream of developing them all. If i,t seeks concessions everywhere, it is less to exploit them than to keep out its competitors. We have no guarantee that it will begin with our own. Rather, the very con ditions which Parliament has imposed in the interests of our supplies and of our money market will drive it to make first use of foreign concessions which are not encumbered with similar conditions. The United States, on the con trary, are in urgent need of increasing their production. If, therefore, they obtain from us oil fields in Algeria or Morocco or Madagascar, there is a good chance of their being developed without delay. In particular, it is by American co-operation that we may best hope for a rapid development of our colonial wealth.