Narrator 11,000 miles from San Francisco. 8000 miles from new york. Desert, a a primeval mass of drifting sand and sunbaked earth, one third the size of the United States, a place of ancient glories, long ago a center of thriving trade where kmart and from india and china to barter wheres to spices, and for fell into eclipse and remained until recent years remote, unknown and isolated. Most of its people were the anduin camel herders shepherds who roamed from one oasis to another in the wake of scattered rains that produced shortlived patches of vegetation. Monotony and poverty were the common lot. But in their abiding faith, they isnd solace, for religion not worn like a cloak in the arab land. It is a vital part of every good moslems life. Mohammed united the arabs, purified their customs, bound them into one people and filled them with a great faith. Five times a day, even the humblest arab stops his work, faces mecca, and intones the sacred words of the koran. ]speaking arabic allah, and god but mohammed is his prophet. Wherever the limited water supply permitted, wheat was grown and the arab, goodhumored in spite of his hard life, would make a little dance and song as he thrashed the grains. As he threshed the grains. He winnowed out the wheat by letting the wind blow the chaff away, but crops grown by modern standards judged by modern standards were pitifully small, and life was an endless struggle. None of them knew that this desert, baron of Natural Resources to the outward i, had been blessed by nature beyond the wildest dreams of those who rated and smuggled across to raided and smuggled the crossed its windswept land. Is 5. 5ful leader unified Million People and set out to achieve a renaissance. Z, kingesty, abdul azi of saudi arabia. He had faith that somewhere within these farreaching stands was a key to the richer life for saudi arabs who for so long have known scarcity. Perhaps this country, so unproductive on the surface, might contain minerals below the surface, including oil. But vast sums would be needed for certain development, four forch and Development Certain development. In the 1930s and American Oil Company obtained a concession on Bahrain Island in the persian gulf, the venture was successful and there was speculation as to whether there was even greater opportunities across the green opportunity across the green waters of the gulf, in saudi arabia. Geologists saw the low rise along the coast that could mean oil, or could mean nothing at all. They debated and debated, and finally recommended that the risk be taken. But whether these unknown sands would justify the outlay of millions of dollars was still a decision that had to be made by Company Directors in San Francisco, 11,000 miles away. Mean sinkingwould into the desert, the money if thousands of stockholders in a project that might well and incomplete loss. Such decisions are not made ofhtly, and many an hour study and debate occupied many men before the company sent lloyd hamilton, one of the great figures of middle eastern oil, as an emissary to arabia. On may 20 9, 1930 three, after weeks of discussion, there was a meeting at a palace on the outskirts of jetta. It was there saudi officials signed a concession covering 320,000 square miles. This was the starting point of a new American Business venture abroad. But ahead, there was a Long Distance to travel, a huge andstment, years of effort, no end of patients and perseverance. Ando wind of patience perseverance. Most of all, the job would required determined men who were willing to leave families and friends and journey halfway around the world on a quest that might end in failure. Men who could face hardship and monotony and still take it, men like paul strong. Paul strong had never heard of saudi arabia when he was asked in 1938 if he would like to go there. That answer was easy for him. He would not like to go. For his money, give him the peace and quiet and comfort of the small american town where he had lived since he finished college just a few years before. The company sought out other men, sought them where men are always found when the chance of pioneering is offered, across the breadth and depth of america, on farms, in small cities, and each andhas in great cities, each man had his own decision to make, for they were asked to make a life career of oil in saudi arabia. They decided and gradually began to arrive. Carpenters, machinists, rigors, technicians, drillers , technicians, drillers, executives, eager to extend a hand to the new arrival. Who is that . Sure enough, paul strong. Paul had forgotten back in the states that he had that traditional american characteristic, hunger for adventure and challenge. He and the others had come to learn of the middle east and they found the going was tough. Few outsiders had ever before been beyond the fort of jetta, and arabs were suspicious of these strange newcomers. Many of them were hostile and quite ready to show their feelings. Ofn the extended hand friendship was extended grudgingly in the early days. ,n top of all this, it was hot 120 in the shade on many a day and summer, sometimes 140, and with high humidity to make it even worse. , the were flies, dysentery housing was makeshift. There was little to do except work, and life seemed rugged indeed. Here in such a setting, they prepared the search for oil. Crews combed the blistering desert month after month, searching for places most likely to yield petroleum. Instruments and calculations indicated the best prospects, but they geologists what many lame and dont, that the only way to know whether oil exists in any place is to drill for it. Finally, they drilled the first well. They found oil, but not in commercial quantities. It was not encouraging. They drilled again. No luck. And again. Still failure. , and here dismal days and there, a voice would say, we are licked, lets admit it. But there were stubborn men, in the field and in the San Francisco office, who did not have enough sense to quit, the kind of senseless men who, alter history, have done such foolhardy things as believing a steam believing that steam could run an engine or the crops would grow on the deserts of california, or that a voice could carry over a wire. It was men like these who said, we will drilled deeper. Who drilled, failed once more, and saw their careers and reputations burning away beneath the desert sun. And then, it happened. Oil in commercial quantities had been brought in after three long, discouraging years. This is the goal toward which they had striven, this was the victory faith and sweat had bought. A long road has been traveled since those early years. There have been changes and great expansion. The original concession has been an largest and now embraces an area of 440,000 square miles, equal to the states of california and texas combined. Since that first paying well established the Major Oil Field in saudi arabia as an oiled country oil country, other fields have been discovered. Production in 1947 reached close to 19 million barrels, from less than 4 million in 1939. In the prolific out take field, production by the end of 1947 was averaging 200,000 barrels a day. Oil is sent by pipeline about 40 miles away. 100 there, more than thousand barrels daily flow through one of the Worlds Largest underwater pipelines to the Bahrain PetroleumCompany Refinery on Bahrain Island. The rest is moved by pipeline for shipment abroad, or for processing in the Company Refinery at on the mainland. Planned to plant was demandsrmous wartime for military petroleum products. The project was approved i the joint chiefs of staff in 1930 in 1943. It was rushed to completion in 1945 at a cost of approximately 50 million, all put up by the company. About 1000k, americans and 5000 saudi arabs were employed for one and a half years. Rated capacity was 100,000 barrels daily, but it has been turning out 115,000 barrels a day. Supplying the refinery required drilling of additional wells and building of pipelines to deliver crude oil from the fields. Other pipelines carry the finished product from the verb finery to the terminal and loading wharf. The Marine Terminal can handle four tankers at once, loading at a rate of from 10,000 barrels to 12,000 barrels per hour. The average tanker can be loaded and on her way in about 12 hours. Much of the refinerys present refinery output is going to the u. S. Navy for use in the far east. By 1950, production of crude oil is expected to be double what it was in 1947, or even higher. To handle this huge volume, greatly expanded transportation facilities will be needed. Materials have been arriving in the persian gulf for the Worlds Largest pipeline, a project of the transArabian Pipeline Company. The first leg has been completed. The transarabian Pipeline Route lies across 1075 miles of desert and coastal ranges to the mediterranean. When completed, it will carry about 300,000 barrels daily. Total Saudi Arabian crude oil theseoducts available at terminals will amount to seven hundred thousand barrels daily by 1951. By that time the investment of the company on the transit Arabian Pipeline Company will have exceeded 400 million. Program requires an increase of permanent personnel, to a total of more than 2500 americans and 15,000 arabs. Such is the story of the oil itself. But there is another story, the story of people. Or all the time the oil job was being done, there was the problem of making my making life more livable. In spite of heat, flies, hardship and monotony, these men had that they would stay and they set about to make good their vow. Halfway around the world, the company had brought everything, from food and housing to drilling equipment. It brought American Technology and skilled craftsmanship. Men planned and worked and cleared and dug, and slowly, reared a modern community on the desert beside the persian gulf. Bahrain, irrigation has wrought its magic, tapping the desert and bringing forth trees,. Rass, flowers these houses and offices are completely equipped and airconditioned. As hot as saudi arabia is, it is a healthy climate and children thrive on it. They go to school as they would in america. About as they would in their hometowns, paul strong and his friends visit in the cool comfort of their modern homes in bahrain. Unmarried girls who have come to arabia as secretaries, snow secretaries, stenographers and clerks, find recreation in the club rooms and dormitories. Always popular with employees is the freshwater swimming pool, where they can cool off after a round of golf or a set of tennis. In the best tradition of medicine is this modern american hospital, providing free medical and Surgical Care to all employees. The Company Retains skilled American Physicians and surgeons. Desert heat is no problem to workers in this Airconditioned Office building. There is an airport only about 40 hours by air from new york, by company plane or commercial airline. 40 miles up the arabian coast is the the arabian coast is the refinery on a gleaming stretch of beautiful, white sand. Here is another american colony, complete with airconditioned houses, two hospitals in an outdoor movie theater. Theater. Outdoor movie out of every two dollars invested in the concession, one dollar goes into housing and other Service Facilities necessary to take care of employees, americans and saudi arabs. Has never forgotten that it is a guest in the land of the saudi arabs, and that the best interests of its hosts must at all times be served. Today more than 12,000 arab workers are employed by the company, and their number is increasing steadily. Mosques,hip in their such as this one in bahrain built by the government. Recently, the arabs had little or no opportunity for recreation and sports. Now they delight in learning new games. In the producing fields, arab workers have become skilled craftsmen and work sidebyside with american drillers. In fact, the companys operations have become one of the Great Centers for vocational and industrial training in the middle east. Too, saudi arabs who only a few years ago knew deserts life of these now skillfully operate refining equipment. American engineers trained their arab coworkers well and the arabs have been good pupils. Workers with aptitude are quickly trained to handle laboratory routines. Every shipment of product or crude is tested. It must meet rigid specifications. The quality is controlled as carefully as in refineries in the United States. More than 200 arabs have been with the company 10 years or longer. The wages paid by the oil Company Provide new purchasing power for workers and their families, and a new prosperity for the region. They are paid in rials, the currency of saudi arabia. Are bought by the company from the saudi government, and this in turn makes available supplies of dollar exchange. In cooperation with the saudi Arab Government, the Company Provides schools for employees. Arab youngsters have expressed great appreciation of Educational Opportunities given them and their classmates. Water was the number one problem when the arabs had to depend on their ageold means of transportation, the camel. In contrast with this ancient caravan, a modern motor cavalcade moves into the 10 to drill new water wells along the route of the pipeline, using trails that formerly could not be traversed in summer. Impassible desert is to ordinary tires, so this special type of oversized, heat resistant tire was developed. It defies the soft and treacherous sands. Trucks, veritable locomotives of the desert, were built especially for oilfield transportation in saudi arabia. They will handle hitherto unheard of loads. As rapidly as possible, the company is getting rid of this type of temporary housing, hastily built for the arabs in the early stages of development, and replacing it with modern, wellbuilt quarters like these. Among the more important undertakings for the benefit of whollydi arabs, unconnected with Oil Operations is the fullscale agricultural experiment project underway at alkar. This Irrigation Canal in which the oil company helped the saudi Arab Government to build his bringing water to nearly 3000 acres now under intensive cultivation. Arab farmers, assisted by american agriculture experts, have been taught to use modern scientific irrigation methods. They are raising alfalfa, melons, tomatoes, onions and many other farm products. American Technical Skills and arab industry combine to produce worthwhile crops. New Agricultural Centers are planned by the saudi Arab Government, so that the benefits of modern methods may be spread to other localities. The king sees the Oil Development as the greatest single means to modernize his country and improve the Living Standards of his people. Said Saudi Arabian oil is one of its most important strategic sources of supply. The men who are working for the economic recovery of europe see middle eastern oil helping them in their labors day in and day out, because on the one hand, it is keyed perfectly to the goal of self support for the nations of the world, and on the other, it is making available the vast volumes of petroleum needed to fuel the job of rebuilding the warscarred eastern hemisphere. To the american citizen in boston or jacksonville, or seattle, all of this has real importance in his day to day present, larget volumes of oil are moving from the western hemisphere, mostly south america, to fill the whileg needs of europe, other south american oil goes to the United States. Shipments to europe from the middle east have increased since the war ended, but still are only a small part of what can come from there. Theping oil to europe from western hemisphere is not only uneconomic, but puts a drain on resources we may need over here. However, this situation is changing. As soon as eastern hemisphere facilities are ready, any shipments from western hemisphere reserves can be stopped. The middle east can easily supply all of europes requirements. The oil of south america can be used for the job of industrializing our neighboring lands to the south and to supplement the supplies here in the United States. Now that the risks of been taken , now that the pioneering has open for, the way is other American Companies to join the middle east and join in developing its great resources for the benefit of its people, and the world. A guiding principle in aramcos venture has been the belief that foreign capital cannot justify its presence in any land unless it operates in the interest of. Hat land fully vindicating that principle has been the mutual trust and goodwill that have grown up between the american oilman and the saudi Arab Government. Thus, american Venture Capital is developing new standards of life in an ancient realm, who are a people of a glorious past are now building a glowing future with their partners from the other side of the world. United inest are bayou nearing a new frontier of united in are bringing a new frontier of progress, serving the interests of the United States and demonstrating the vitality of the american system of free enterprise, a system which, from this new frontier, is helping in the trade of the world oil. One of the materials that is making a truly great contribution to our modern civilization. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] you can watch archival films on Public Affairs in their entirety on our weekly series reel america, saturday at 10 00 p. M. And sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv. A, theand Smithsonian Institution on the history of managing tariffs in the u. S. Economy. The Supreme Court ruled a tomato is a vegetable instead of a fruit because of a tariff. Any botanist will tell you a tomato is a fruit, but in fact, the 1883 tariff put a tariff on vegetables and not fruits. An importer of vegetables pointed out that the tomatoes he was bringing in from the caribbean were fruit, and he did not have to pay a tariff. The battle went on for quite some time, and eventually the Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes are actually vegetables. It is an interesting ruling in that it had repercussions beyond tomatoes themselves. Easterny night at 8 00 on cspans q and a. Next on American History tv, from the economic history Associations Annual meeting, the outgoing president presents an illustrated talk titled social insurance and public assistance in the 20th century. The professor traces the history of spending on social insurance programs, from their early 20 century beginnings at the local and state level to the new deal programs to more recent trends in policy spending and outcomes. Hello, everyone. It is a real honor and pleasure celebrate today to see of former president the American History association. The first eha