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88 Fuel oil for the navy, he says, has given increased speed and cruising radius, control of smoke-screens, reduced fire-room forces by fifty-five per cent, increased the efficiency of refueling at sea twenty-five per cent, given ability to sustain maximum speed for long periods of time without clogging the furnaces, flexibility in speed, and finally greater safety from submarines, as in modern American ships the fuel oil is disposed along the bottom to cushion the blow of exploding torpedoes.

Considering this subject, the United States naval consulting board has reported that "the Mexican oil fields are probably the most extensive deposit of oil anywhere in the western hemisphere, if not in the world. To-day Great Britain renews her oil fuel from Mexico, and is assured thereof only so long as she maintains undisputed control of the seas."

Some economists and financiers figure that the development of the oil industry is measurably dependent upon the development of oil supply stations throughout the world, notably at the great shipping ports.

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