It is now admitted that in the Spring of 1917 the Allies were closer to disaster than was known to any, save a few men at the head of affairs. It was a turning point in the world’s history. Next to man-power and munitions the resources needed above all others were petroleum and its products. The French coal fields had been lost. There was a labour shortage in Great Britain; Russian, Roumanian and Galician sources of supply were now definitely in the hands of the enemy. The Mediterranean Sea, through which the Far Eastern supplies must come, was a hot-bed of submarines; and indeed losses of oil steamers in all dangerous waters were so great as to show that they had been named as special targets by the German high command. An exchange of confidence between the Allies and the United States naturally followed the decision of this country to defend the freedom of the seas. Immediately after President Wilson’s declaration of war, urgent despatches from Great Britain warned our government that reserve supplies of petroleum in Europe were so low that unless immediate assistance were rendered, a partial demobilization of the British fleet must ensue. “We must have oil” said Marshal Foch, whose prescience had not yet been rewarded by elevation to the Supreme Command, “or we shall lose the war.” Italy was in no better position, fuel oil, aviation naphtha, gasoline and lubricants had been so seriously depleted. When the secret of the situation was confidentially communicated to the leaders of the American oil industry, there was an instant response. The National Petroleum War Service Committee was formed, with Mr. A. C. Bedford, Chairman of the Board of the Standard Oil Company, (N. J.) as its presiding officer. The organization embraced all the oil companies of the United States. Those who had been life-long keen business rivals joined hands to keep the great war machine in Europe in action. Profits became a minor consideration. Agreements to stabilize prices and curb speculation were formulated and observed. Production on a scale previously unprecedented in this land of enormous oil production was organized. Soon it was recognized that the work of the National Petroleum War Service Committee, though unostentatiously performed, was the most efficient and the most fruitful in results for the cause of democracy of any industrial institution in the war. It achieved the remarkable feat of meeting every war demand for petroleum products of all kinds, of conveying these products across the Atlantic, despite the submarine scourge. When the war came to an end there were larger stocks on hand in Great Britain and European countries for the use of the armies and navies of America and her allies than at any previous time in history. These results were achieved by the voluntary efforts of thousands of men serving in every phase of the oil industry, crude production, refining and transportation. After the armistice the