[54] Ibid., June 26, 1916.
[55] Article 27 of the articles of association of the Société d'Études, de Recherches, et d'Exploitation des Pétroles en Algérie, registered at Algiers, December 18, 1918.
[56] The majority of firms operating in Algeria are British companies registered under French law, just as the Mexican Eagle (El Aguila) is a British company registered under Mexican law. The most important is the Société co-intéressée des Pétroles algériens, which Pearson founded with a capital of ten million francs, and in which he has retained a considerable interest. But the one which has given the best results is the Société algérienne des Pétroles, de Tiliouanet, whose oil yields 15 per cent. of petrol, 65 per cent. of illuminating oil, and 20 per cent. of paraffin residues.
[57] The Royal Dutch-Shell contemplates the formation of a French company with a capital of twenty-five million francs for the exploitation of the oil deposits of Madagascar. This company would take over the concessions of the Sakalava Proprietary Oil-fields, which is already working there.
THE STANDARD AND FRANCE
On May 17, 1921, Mr. Hughes Wallace, the United States Ambassador, handed to France an official statement of his Government's grievances. He pointed out all the obstacles which American companies encountered in France, and asserted that British companies did not meet with the same difficulties.
Now, as Mr. Hughes Wallace observed, France needed ten times the quantity of mazut that she was getting, and many French factories were idle for want of fuel. Thus there was room in the French market for both British and American firms. Mr. Wallace therefore asked that they should be treated on an equal footing.