Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)
STUDIES - Tamás Magyarics: The (Re) creation of the Relations between the US and the Successor States in Central Europe after the First World War
and in Peru, Columbia, and the Dutch East Indies handled host-country crude-oil for foreign sale. Despite the relatively good record of these years, the period between 1921 and 1925 were lean years for the company in Rumania. Due to a decline in the share of domestic crude oil produced by Standard's subsidiary, Romana-Americana, from about 22 % in 1921 to 7 % in 1926, the company's profits dropped to a large extent. Standard Oil accounted for the loss for "discriminatory restrictions on foreign owned companies in Rumania." 5 5 The whole affair shed light on the American government's obsession to promote economic interests abroad. The American Minister at Bucharest, Peter A. Jay, after receiving information about a proposed new Rumanian Mining Law, raised several objections as regards it in his letter sent to Duca, the Rumanian Minister for Foreign Affairs. 5 6 The first and foremost American grievance was that the new law would have required foreign petroleum companies operating in Rumania to convert, within a period of five years, all their capital stock into nominative shares, 60 % of which should be owned and controlled by Rumanian citizens. Secondly, the new law would have required that the rights to oil producing properties already acquired by foreign companies should be submitted to the appropriate authorities for registration and validation. Nor was Standard Oil delaying with protestation and asking for protection from the State Department They indicated that "the security of the investment of this Company in the Romana-Americana is threatened with confiscation" 5 7 and repeated the arguments Jay had put forward two months before. Nevertheless, the Rumanians did not seem to bother themselves very much about the acute American concern and they attempted to prevent a concerted American pressure on their legislators and cabinetmembers by rushing the mining bill through during the spring session instead of 5 5 Harold F. Williamson, et al. The American Petroleum Industry (Evanston: Northwestern UP, 1963) 520. ^The full diplomatic correspondence regarding protests by the U.S. against the unsatisfactory attitude of the Rumanian Government toward American petroleum and other interests is to be found in Papers, 1924, Vol. 2, 597—647. 5 7 March 29,1924. 90
