American Oil in the Middle East
The decision of the United States Government, announced by the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Harold Ickes, to construct an oil pipe-line from the Persian Gulf refineries to the Mediterranean, is a new departure of considerable significance. It marks the conclusion of long negotiations with the American oil companies owning interests in the Persian Gulf and involves a contract for a limited partnership between the Government and the companies, the former constructing the pipe-line, the latter keeping in their hands the business of producing or refining. The decision should be judged in the light both of present and permanent world needs of oil. The quantity of oil in the world is limited and diminishing, and as a fuel it is a necessity for both military and industrial purposes. The British Government already owns a controlling interest in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. There has been much concern in America about the heavy calls on American oil during the war period, and also close consideration of new naval and military needs of the United States in distant parts of the world. Mr. Ickes also speaks of future naval and military needs "in view of the obligations which this country [the U.S.A.] must assume for the maintenance of collective security." The new departure, therefore, should be regarded less as a new enterprise by which the American Government enters businesi in the Middle East, than as a means of controlling the use of oil for the purposes of American policy. Under the agreement petroleum will not be sold to Governments or individuals where such sales would be deemed unwise by the State Department in the light of United States foreign policy. It is a measure which indicates the Government's sense of the necessity not only of increasing its share of control of the world's oil, but also of increasing the means by which its influence abroad can be exercised.
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