The Japanese Government is formulating plans to exercise. State Sontrol over the. oil business Sepen ands atthe" same time, ponder Japan independent of Amer Eanvand British by exploit few esourees "and. seeking fea markets wherefrom to pefetase dent and readily accessible sources ery portant. fuel Endepene
of oil, the Japanese hold, are absolutely essential for the country he expansionist poly on which az denfnieely embarked succeed "because without oil a modern, scientific war cannot be; successfully waged."
The world war, the Japanese say, was a war of oil and add that American oil supplies enabled the Allies to emerge victorious. Since the great war, publicists here aver, the Powers have paid great atten: tion to the matter of oil, so much 80, that oil to-day profoundly Affects international diplomacy and has given rise to the expression imperialism." ment given to the boring of wells, the study of oil substitutes, low temperature "carbonisation" and Tiquefaction. of coal, the extraction of shale oil at the Fushun collieries and other measures have not proved economically workable. "This set down to bungled management.
"There was, a time," says one Tokyo paper, "when iron and coal were indispensable' for. the fan industrial nation, "Coal has now been divested of much of its value with the growth of electric' power and the discovery of big sources of oil. Oil is essential for warships, aeroplanes, tanks and automobiles, fand, so.long as Japan has no ready ind' sufficient oil resources, she can never hope to tackle country. We are terribly fon American and British ai and. ye their merey. That is one of the principal reasons why Japan must Wye oil resources independent
she has. these two countries, especially since League of Nations japan's oil sources are very|and is determined now to formulate fancy. The total production from her own foreign Japanese sources and from North before, following the lead given policies, instead of, Saghalien hardly suffices to meet 20 by London and Washington." per cent. of the country's needs.
Attention is being directed to ex-plaiting possible oil wells in South Saghalien, which is owned by Japan,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.