Page:Mexico's dilemma.djvu/98

80 Doheny camp. The Standard Oil Company, the Mexican Gulf Company and the Texas Company are the largest refiners of oil. They purchase the crude oil from many of the small producers and make gasoline, fuel oil, kerosene and thirty other products, which they ship to all parts of the world.

"Who is Pelaez?" I asked in Tampico.

"An ignorant Mexican rancher," was the universal reply. "He is a revolutionist, like all of us, against the Carranza Government. He has a loyal army that protects our property and workers. Pelaez is king of the police in the oil districts."

"And Enriquez?" I questioned.

"A Mexican doctor," answered the foreigners, "cultured, educated, refined, and a thorough gentleman. He had a drug store in Tuxpan— another port on the Gulf of Mexico, pronounced as if spelled T-u-s-p-a-n. When the revolution broke out the Carranza troops burned his store. He lost forty thousand pesos and joined the forces against the First Chief of the Constitutionalists. He is fighting in the field to-day, awaiting the time when a responsible government will be established in Mexico City. Then he will go back into business."

I was talking to one of the producers one day when he asked whether I would like to meet Pelaez and Enriquez.

"The oil king?" I asked. "Certainly! Long live the king!"