[15] Francis Delaisi, Oil: Its Influence on Politics.
THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES IN MEXICO
There is no country in the world where the struggle for oil between Britain and the United States has been so acute as in Mexico. That this country has been for many years in a state of perpetual unrest is because of the fight for oil concessions.
The Standard Oil enjoyed practically a monopoly in Mexico up to the time when the deposits at Tampico were discovered. It was the only firm which sold oil there, so it did not scruple to abuse its position. It imported crude oil, refined it on the spot, and re-sold it at a profit of 600 per cent. Immediately the oil deposits were discovered, Porfirio Diaz, to put an end to this monopoly, granted important concessions to the British firm of Pearson, which shortly afterwards founded the Mexican Eagle. These concessions were the signal for the newspaper campaign which was let loose against Porfirio Diaz in the United States, and for the outbreak of the Maderist insurrection in Sonora and Chihuahua. Rockefeller and Pearson made war on each other with the help of Mexican condottieri. The United States supported Madero, Great Britain Porfirio Diaz.
The Standard Oil subsidized the Maderists. Lane Wilson, formerly Ambassador of the United States to Mexico, actually stated in public, on January 7, 1913, that the movement on behalf of Madero had been paid for by the Standard, and that a document lying in the archives of the State Department at Washington proved it! Manuel Liyo, an official in a high position in the Mexican Ministry of the Interior, stated, before the Committee of the United States Senate, that the brothers Madero had concluded the following treaty with the Standard:—
I. If Madero is made President, he will grant to the Standard all available concessions.
II. He will withdraw all those granted to Pearson.
When Madero was made President, the market price of the Standard rose in Wall Street by 50 per cent. But this triumph did not last long. We are often astonished at the continual changes of front of the United States, which support the feeble Presidents in Mexico and oppose the energetic ones. By 1913 the Daily Graphic and the Vossische Zeitung had discovered the key to this mystery. Ever since Pearson obtained a footing in Mexico the Standard has poured out gold in floods to drive out the British. It wishes to be the sole mistress of those immense oil-fields, which have turned out to be among the richest in the world. Only 54 million acres are being exploited at present, and already Mexico holds the second place in world production. Now the Mexican Minister of Industry and Commerce estimates the area of the oil-fields of that country at 150 million acres. Where will Mexico stand when all this territory is exploited?