The American " Oil War " The centre of hostilities
in the American " Oil War " has shifted from Oklahoma to East Texas. The Governor of Texas has followed the example of the Governor of Oklahoma by proclaiming martial law in the oil-field and ordering the closing down of the wells, which number 1,600 and are distributed over an area of nearly 8,000 square miles. The use of cavalry to adjust the laws of supply and demand is perhaps more calculated to appeal to Hollywood than to Washington ; but in the past two weeks these heroic measures against over-production and waste have largely justified themselves in Oklahoma, where the campaign for oil at a dollar a barrel seemed almost in sight of victory when the big oil companies began to change their front and buy from the new and cheaply worked field in East Texas. If all goes well, the National Guard will relinquish control over this mush- room community in a fortnight's time, when a compulsory quota system, imposed by the State Legislature, comes into force. It seems tragically improbable that the equally drastic, though less spectacular, measures of " ploughing under " and the like, which represent the last official hope of stabilizing the cotton and wheat situations, can prove effective. America faces a bad winter.
Previous page
