The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1894-10-04
PHOSPHATE INDUSTRY.
The Growth in the South Is Com
merciaI Marvel.


The growth of the phosphate indus
trv in the past four or five years mas
been immense. 1t is located in tine
States of North Corolina, South caro-
lima. Florida and Georgia. But niue
is done, however, in the first and last
named States. The commissioner
report covers 1877 phosphate mining
establishments, JOG being in Florida,
thirty in South Carolina and one IN
North Carolina. Phosphates were
discovered in South Carolina in looi-
6S and the Importance of the discov-
erv was promptly recognized and APP
preciated both by scientific ana by
business men. In 1868 the South
Carolina mines produced II, 262 tons,
while in 1891 they produced 572. 9i9
tons.
The Florida phosphate deposits
were discovered in 1888, and their
last annual output was 532, OF tons.
The last annual output of the South
Carolina mines was SOS, 976 tons, and
the North Carolina mine reported
700 tons. or a total for the whole in
dustry of ,231, FOB tons. This guam
tity was valued at the mines at w.
1913, POI.
As IN other valuable things coun-
terfeits will accompany real values.
There have been bogus phosphate
lands and bogus phosphate compa-
MES and much money has been sunk
bv investment in such. But the
figures here given represent actual
nroducts and not mere estimates:
The operators in all the four States
men toned control 26o, 63S acres OF
land and 1703 miles of river. OF the
land 1873, 34S acres are in Florida.
The total value of capital invested in
plants in the industry is IL, 100, oS2
and in land $14, 1866, 067. The total
number of hands employed in the
industry is 9,165; of this number
5,242 are employed in South Caro-
lima mines. The total expenditure
for labor for the last year was
So, Alb, 265. The average earnings in
the Florida land mines was $2l4 for
each person employed, and in the
river mines, 1855, higher grade OF
skill being required in the river
mines than in the land mines. In
South Carolina the earnings in land
mines were $2S7 per annum, and in
the river mines 1878.
In addition to the wages paid in
the mines, a large body of longshore-
men have been brought into employ
ment through the phosphate in
dustry, the amount of wages paid to
this class of men being for 1892,
$121, 6S5, while the wages paid for
manipulating and converting Pho
phate into superphosphate are estim-
ated at 81, 5S7, 800, or a total wage
roll added to the industry of the
State named through the discovery
of phosphate of 81, 1872, 80, the pay
ment of this large sum being due to
the new industry of phosphate min
ing, and it is of course constant
yearly addition to the economic force
of the States in which the industry
is carried on. 1t should be noted
also that labor is benefited through
the cost of transportation, drayage,
warehousing and other handling
which, in the aggregate, amounts to
a very considerable sum.
With so enormous a development
in so few years it might be imagined
that this industry must soon play
out. But in the first place the need
of fertilizers is constantly on the in
crease. The soil not only needs more
as the years go by, but the benefits
and uses of the various fertilizers and
their adaptation to produce the re-
suits desired in agriculture are be-
coming every year better known. In
the second place, the supply OF the
raw material seems to be compare
lively inexhaustible. A careful ex-
pert estimate gives for the State OF
Florida the amount of phosphate in
sight as 1873, O55, S35 tons, for other
States 1000, 900 tons. These various
estimates give total of 149, 0o5, 1856
tons of phosphate in sight, and this
statement shows better than any
other the future opportunities for the
employment of labor in this industry.
= Farm, Field and Fireside.