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» The New York Times last week printed an unqualified statement that Royal Dutch-Shell and a Standard-Vacuum Oil Co. subsidiary had virtually agreed, under pressure, to supply Japan with 40% of her oil needs for the next six months out of their Netherlands East Indies wells. The pressure was presumed to have come from The Netherlands East Indies Government. East Indian oil is a politically inflammable commodity. It was not strange that the U. S. State Department professed ignorance of any such deal, that "authoritative British sources" hastened to announce that Britain had cornered the entire Netherlands East Indies supply of high-octane gas, that The Netherlands Indies officials should announce that negotiations had reached a "stalemate." Only the Japanese were silent. They had a feeling they would get their oil, a feeling that Britain and the U. S. were not ready to force a fight in the Pacific. Oil was one thing for which everyone thought Japan would be willing to fight.