The evening times., 1898-08-20
ONE BUs1Nfss Hu1r.
That of FePtillsers A4eete4 ~ the
War with Spain.

War WITH spain.
Qrom the New Orleans Times Democrat)
It will probably be a surprise to the
general reader to know that the fertilizer
business suffered quite seriously during
the war with Spain, and that the output
was for the time being threatened with
material curtailment. As may be imag-
ined. neither the dons nor the Cubans
consume any great quantity Of chemical
fertilizers. but 1t SO happens that the va
riety most employed elsewhere depends
for its acid base upon ore from Spain
Hence the trouble.
Mr.. A. A. Smith. Of Atlanta. who is
Southern representative Of Naylor 4 Co.,
cne of the largest importers OF fertilfz-
er ore in the country. spent yesterday In
New Orleans and gave Tfmes-Demo-
crat reporter graphic account of the re-
cent difficulties experienced In getting
material.
I'm the manufacture of fertilizers. said
Ndr Smith, "it was formerly the practice
to obtain the sulphuric acid, which forms
the base Of the compound, from native
sulphur, The chemists found. however.
that they could extract the acid from iron
pyrites at about 33 1-3 per cent less cost.
Accordingly the old process of sulphur
roasting was abandoned and machinery
put In for handling the ore.
This ORE" he continued, is not found
in any great quantities in America. but
there are vast mines Of 1t In Spain, ana
the supply of the makers has been drawn
entirely from that country. the mines
there are owned by the government ana
worked under leases with private specu-
lators, most Englishmen- When war was
declared we began at once TO experience
difficuIty in getting the customary guam
tity, The Spanish government was In
-
reason was perfectly willing to swallow
it's pride and keep the mines going, al
though II was known perfectly well that
the ore was consigned to the Yankee
Digs But the miners themselves and the
lower classes were more patriotic ana
raised such a row that II was necessary
IN send a strong force of military to pre-
vent the works from being destroyed.
..The trouble eliminated about six
weeks ago. when We had three shlps
loading at the port of Huelva, on the
Spanish coast. They were English YES
sells. and the captains gave 1t out that
the ore was intended for britlsn cohsun,.
ers. When the ships were about half
loaded some of the sailors incautiousiy
let drop their real destination, and the
news spread like wild-fire-
"In a few hours the docks were black
with a frantic mob. yelling. Death 10
the Yankees- and the entire iongshore-
man gang quit at once. There were huge
piles of broken ore on the docks, ana the
crowd used the chucks for pelting the
vessels. There was perfect hail OF mis-
siles and it is a miracle that some OF the
sailors were not killed. The news from
the Philippines was at that time sun
rankljnp in the public mind. and the SOL
diers made only a half-hearted effort to
disperse the rioters.
The upshot of the affair was that the
three ships were obliged to put to sea.
then and there, without attempting TO
finish loading That was the last are
that went out up to few days ago. when
some Spanish ships were secured Tor the
purpose and we now hope business VIII
soon be on a normal basis again. Whiie
the trouble was in progress the price OF
ore rose 81 a ton and seriously affected
the entire industry. Had the war con-
tinued. the necessary change back TO the
sulphur process would have involved
really enormous expense"