This is indeed a work of conquest. Mr. Deterding follows the commercial example of Great Britain. _He has stations at all the strategic points of the world._ He also controls the Suez Canal at both ends. The capacity of the refinery at Suez has been increased by 7,000 barrels a day, on account of the increase in the tonnage passing through the canal during the War. Mr. Deterding is building a station on the Cape Verde Islands, situated just half-way between Africa and America. He has establishments at the Antipodes, in the East and West Indies, on the west coast of South America, on the coast of Africa, and at the Azores. The European market, in particular the French, is dependent on him. Through the instrumentality of M. Deutsch de la Meurthe, the oil deposits in Asia, owned by the Rothschilds, have come under the _Royal Dutch_ trust, which possesses 90 per cent. of the capital of the oil companies of the Caspian and Black Seas and 25 per cent. of that of the _New Russian Standard Company_ of Grosny. In August 1920 the _Shell_ bought the _Mantasheff_ and the _Lianosoff_, together with a 40 per cent. interest in the _Tsatouroff_, fearing to see the _Standard Oil_ acquire the Nobel properties at Baku. The contract was signed in London, but was incompletely carried out, for Great Britain hoped to treat directly with the Soviets at Genoa and to have no more responsibility towards the former owners.[11] A large part of the Rumanian production is controlled by the _Royal Dutch_. In Germany the _Royal Dutch-Shell_ has an interest in the _Erdol und Kohle Veränderung Aktien Gesellschaft_, the _Aktien Gesellschaft für Petroleum Industrie_ and the _Deutsche Bergin Aktien Gesellschaft_. Since 1912 it has established itself in Sweden as the _Anglo-Swedish Oil Company_, to drive out the _Standard Oil_, until then mistress of the market. Everywhere the _Royal Dutch_ insinuates itself into the good graces of governments, thanks to its elastic methods and to the cleverness of some of its directors, such as the brilliant Armenian Gulbenkian, who has been well named the "Talleyrand of Oil." In co-operation with the Belgrade Government, it has just formed a new company at Agram, with a capital of 50 million crowns, to exploit the oil of Jugo-Slavia. As the _Financial Times_ wrote: "Following the creation in France of the _Société Maritime des Pétroles_ and the _Société pour l'Exploitation des Pétroles_, the _Royal Dutch_ is able to obtain from the French Government an important interest in the oil-fields which remain at its disposal." Its last triumph was its entry into Spain. The eminently suggestive list of companies controlled by the _Royal Dutch_ will give an idea of the network which it has spread over the whole world:--