Sinclair Concession?

Harry F. Sinclair, head of the Sinclair Consolidated Oil Co., is now in Moscow with ex-Secretary of the tJ. S. Department of the Interior Albert B. Fall, to secure an oil concession for his company in Sakhalin.

Sometime ago Mr. Sinclair became interested in the possibilities of petroleum production in Sakhalin, and his representative, Mr. Templeton, has been in Moscow for months without being able to bring the matter to a head with the Soviet authorities. Meanwhile Japan wishes to buy northern Sakhalin for $75,000,000 from Russia, who demands $500,000, 000 for it. While the Soviet envoy, Adolph A. Joffe, is deadlocked with the Japanese in Tokyo, the Soviet leaders in Moscow are apparently flirting with Sinclair in order to induce the Japanese to raise their bid.

If Northern Sakhalin is sold to Japan, Sinclair's much-discussed oil concession there will of course be worthless. The whole episode would furnish a worthy theme for a novel by Oppenheim. Sinclair's attempted penetration of the Russian oil fields follows the development project undertaken in the Baker petroleum district by the Barnsdall Corporation, another American company.