A glimpse at the facts with regard to the oil bunkering situation shows how closely petroleum and national aspiration are allied. The estimated requirements for the U. S. Navy for the fiscal year of 1919–20 were about six million barrels. In the undesired event of war this estimate would be vastly increased. With regard to the American merchant marine, it is worth noting that about one half of the vessels constructed in 1919, representing approximately three million deadweight tons, were of oil-burning design. On the Pacific Ocean, where satisfactory grades of steam coal are not so generally available as on the Atlantic, oil has come into general use as fuel. American companies furnish most of the fuel oil which is supplied at ports outside the United States and the United Kingdom, the total number of such foreign bunker installations, owned by American companies, being 88 in a total of 114. But the possession of such foreign facilities for American shipping will prove of little value unless Americans have sufficient oil, from either home or foreign fields, to furnish adequate supplies at competitive prices. With an increasing shortage of oil for domestic consumption, bunker fuel oil supplies can only be maintained through the control of production in advantageously located foreign fields. Among the rivals to American enterprise which have arisen, the most important is the Royal Dutch Shell combination, which, though of Holland registration, has been a partner with the British Government in petroleum enterprises, and is to-day the leading factor in the Far East and in Australia in this vital matter of bunker supply. It is acquiring potential petroleum fields in Mexico, South America and the United States itself. The British Ambassador’s statements tend to allay fears that there is any deliberate attempt to discriminate against the United States in any part of the world; yet it is a fact that this country is likely to be seriously handicapped in its efforts to obtain its share of the world’s carrying trade if its ships abroad are eventually compelled to rely on foreign companies for fuel.