The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1900-02-15
All the Crude Materials Have
Materially Advanced.
President Morgan, Of the Virginia
Carolina Chemical Company, Says
the Selling Price is Lower Than
Cost Of Materials Warrant.
from Raleigh, N. G. News and Observer,
Richmond, Va. Feb I. 1900

been called to a communication in the
News and Observer, published sunder
date of Wednesday, January 3lst, 1900,
in reference to the advance in the price
of fertilizers, wherein it is stated that
the farmers of Pitt county, North
Carolina, propose to organize and fight
the advance in the prices Of fertilizers,
and by insinuation our Company is CEN
sured as the cause of this advance.
desire to make plain statement of
facts and conditions as now obtained
lin the fertilizer trade, and to show to
| the dealers and consumers of fertilizers
that the advance in the price of manu-
featured fertilizers is not only just and
warranted but is absolutely necessary,
and that the manufacturers of fertili-
zers could not afford to sell them at the
price ruling last year unless they did SO
at very heavy loss.
Now to get down to facts and figures !:
we will see what has really caused the
price of fertilizers to be advanced this
year over last:
Acid Phosphate being one of the prin-
cipal ingredients in all complete fertili-
zers. desire to show here how much
| this article costs to make in excess of
the cost price for the same thing last
year The advance in pyrites, from
which sulphuric acid is made, is more
than $500 per ton over last year. The
advance in Nitrate of Soda, which is q
necessaryssingredient in the manufac.
ture of sulphuric acid, is fully $500 per
ton more than last year. Phosphate
Rock has advanced a minimum of 81 rs
per ton at the mines, and in some
grades of rock the advance is more
| than $500 per ton. These three arti-
Giles constitute what is necessary to
make Phosphate. Put them together
in the proper proportion and ton of
Acid Phosphate will cost $207 per ton
more than it did last ear.
Bags are costing us 20c, per ton more
! than they did last year, so that the
, crude material going into ton of Acid
Phosphate is costing approximately
50. 81 more than it did year ago.
Every piece of factory supplies and
machinery, coal and everything neces-
sary to operate factory, is from 25 to
100 per cent. higher than it was a year
ago. This will add certainly an addi-
tional Zoe. to the cost of a ton of fertili-
ger, making in the most conservative
and reasonable estimate possible a ton
of 13 per cent Acid Phosphate bagged
and ready for shipment, cost the manu-
facturer $2.37 more than it did twelve
months ago
Now let us look at complete ammoni-
ated fertilizers: We will take what is
commonly known as standard grade of
complete fertilizer, running, say, 218
per cent Of ammonia, per cent of
available phosphoric acid, and l per
cent of potash. As have above demon
strated, acid phosphate costs 81. OF more
than last year. This is equivalent to a
little more than loo. per 100 pounds.
In making the 21a, s and fertilizers,
l 200 pounds of acid phosphate would
be necessary, so at 10c. additional cost
per 100 pounds, the additional cost for
acid phosphate would be $120.
If cotton seed meal was used for the
ammonia, it would take approximately
700 pounds, and cotton seed meal is now
worth $500 per ton more than last year,
which is equivalent to Soc per 100
pounds, and 700 pounds would cost 81. 10
more than it did last year. Now add
zoe. for extra cost for the bags and you
have $3.50 per ton more for the materi-
ais than we paid for these same ma
terials last year.
If tankage or blood was used for the
source of ammonia instead of cotton
seed meal, the advanced cost over last
year would be So 20 per ton, as ammo
MIA from tankage or blood is now 6Oc.
per unit higher than last year, so for
212 per cent of ammonia the extra cost
over last year would be $3.50.
Sulphate of ammonia is the only other
source of ammonia commonly used in
the manufacture of fertilizers. Twelve
months ago this article was selling at
about $4,000 per ton. We paid for it
this week $1,000 per ton.
Now / assert that the price of fertili-
Zers has not advanced nearly so much
as the price of raw materials going into
them. Let us see who is to blame, if
any one, for the advance of these crude
materials. Take Pyrites: We buy from
Spain more than three-fourths of all we
use. Nitrate of Soda: We buy entire
ly from South America. Potash Salts:
We buy entirely from Germany. So it
can not be said that our company con-
trolls or is in any wise responsible for
the advance of these materials, as we
have no interest whatever in any of
these properties, either directly or in
directly.
Take phosphate rock: We do mine
a :small proportion of our wants of
phosphate rock, but we mine none for
sale and we buy from other mines more
than two-thirds of what we consume.
SO no one will suppose that we were
anxious to put up the price of phos-
phate rock.
As for cotton seed meal we have no
interest either directly or indirectly in
any cotton seed oil mill, so we are not
responsible for the advance in this ar
ticle. Blood and tankage are made by
| the large packers in the West, and we
have no interest and no control over
| these products in any way
| Why, then, should the Virginia-Car-
olina Chemical Company be blamed
for the advance in the cost of crude
materials, and would it be business
like for us to want an advance in crude
materials, of which we have to buy al
most entirely all of our needs and of
| which we DrOducp abSolutalv potbipr