From 1918 to 1920 an unofficial squadron of small Russian steamers, requisitioned and armed by Great Britain, dominated the Caspian Sea, so that Batum, the port of embarkation for oil on the Black Sea, and Baku, its place of production, were both in the hands of the British. They disposed of the petroleum and mazut there at their own pleasure, permitting no control over their purchases. Britain first took as much as she could; it was only afterwards that she allowed France to replenish her stores in turn, provided there was any petroleum left.[29] Thus ends the work of Lord Fisher, who applied himself for more than thirty years to the problems of oil. Thus end the experiments and observations conducted modestly and quietly for so long at Portsmouth. Henceforward the British Navy is sure of its supplies of oil for a century. But the position is such that the United States can avoid war only at the price of industrial servitude. Hemming-in of the United States While Great Britain was pouncing upon nearly all the oil remaining in the world, the United States basked in a false security. Had they not supplied 80 per cent. of the needs of the Allies during the War? It is true that if the War had continued the United States would not have been able to satisfy those needs. "In September and October 1918," declared Mr. Deen, who played such an important part in the alliance of the _Royal Dutch_ with the _Shell_ and who now directs the oil industry of Oklahoma, "the Allies were taking each day 194,000 barrels of petrol, while the average daily output was 191,000. Adding together the consignments sent to Europe by Mexico and the United States, we reach the figure of 1,200,000 barrels a day, while the United States was producing only 960,000 and Mexico 140,000. The daily deficit was thus 300,000 barrels." The United States sacrificed themselves in the cause of the Allies during the War.[30] Great Britain has shown no gratitude. They had already reached the point at which they could not supply their home consumption, since 25 per cent. of the petroleum consumed in the States used to come from Mexico, and they sent the Allies more than their own production. The War contributed not a little to placing them in their present position. According to Walter Teagle, the new chairman of the _Standard Oil_, if their consumption continues to increase at the present rate they will consume, in a few years, 630 million barrels, or double what they produced in 1919. Since 1914 alone the number of motor-cars in the United States has increased from 1,700,000 to 8,000,000 (Ford cars swarm there). These alone absorb 85 per cent. of the national output, leaving only 15 per cent. for the railways, shipping, manufactures and export.