The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-02-19
FERTILIZERS HIGHER
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 Charlotte, ~ -
sa-"er. oon ~
Richmond Va, FEBRUARY = -,
the Editor: Ny attention mas oee'
TO a communication in The News 80 -
Obrar,,er published under date OF
49,, Ianuary n. 1900 in reference 70
the advance in the price OF IeI -
wherein Il is stated that the larh'eS
pitt countv North Carolina, propose
orpaniza and fight the advance III
rrica or fertilizers. and by insiiiu01io
our companv IS censured as -"0
of this advance. $500. 20
desire TO make plain stateiie"
facts and conditions as now oD'aiiieU
tho fertilizer trade. and TO snow 10 l"0
daoIar, and consumers Of fertilizers that
the advance IN the price OF mahulac I-..5
fertilizers - net only Just and warTdi'te''
hut IS absolutely necessary, ana llat 40
manufacturers of fertilizers cou-o NJ
afford TO sell them at the price FulIiIo
last wear unless they did so al He''
heavy loss. o--,,-o..
Nov To- oct down 70 facts and hgofes-
We will see what has really causeu tho
price of fertilizers 20 be advanced ms
year over last. -,
Acid pbosphate being one Of the princi-
nal Ingredients IN all complete fertlilzeIs'
/ desire to show here how much ms
article costs 10 make in excess OF inc
cost price for the same thing las year
The advance IN pyrites. from winch -
phuric acid Is made Is more thah D peA
ton over last year. The advance ~ "a
trate Of soda, which IS necessary us
6Ier. ,n the manufacture of sulphur-c
acid. IS fully s. per ton more IiiaI -
wear. Phosphate rock has advanced
minimum OF $l.75 per ton at the mines
end in some grades OF rock the advance
IS more than 81 per ton These thIeo
articles constitute what = necessary 10
make acid phosphate. Put them 10
getEer I'm the proper proportion anu
ton OF acid phosphate will cost wv more
than f. did last year
Bags are costing Us % cents per l'l1
more than they did last year. SO tAaL
the crude material going into a ton 81
acid phosphate is costing approximately
s. p more than Il did a year ago.
Every piece of factory supplies and ma
chiuerv. coal and everything necessary
to operate a factory IS from p TO 10 per
cent higher than II was year ago. IRIS
viii add certainly an additional 10 cents
to the cost Of a ton Of fertilizer MAINS
IN the most conservative and reasohaole
estimate possible ton OF j per cent
gc.d phosphate. bagged and ready Tor
shipment. cost the manufacturer 49,
more than II did twelve months ago
Now. let US look at complete ammoni-
ated fertilizers: We Will take what -
commonly known as standard grade or
complete fertilizer. running. say - per
cent of ammonia. S per cent OF aFti.ao''
phosphoric acid and l per cent OF potash
As / have above demonstrated, acld phos-
phate costs S2.O7 more than last year
This is equivalent 10 little more than 10
cents per 100 pounds. In making Inc -,
< and I fertilizers. l.200 pounds Of acid
phosphate would he necessary, so Al 10
cents additional cost per 100 pounds me
additional cost for acid phosphate Wodlu
be $40.
If cotton seed meal was used FOR the
ammonia, il would take approximately
eco pounds and cotton seed meal IS no"
worth IS per con more than last year,
which is equivalent 10 50 cents per u"
pounds. and 200 pounds would cost $--Io
mora than Il did last year Now, add -
cents for extra cost for the bags and
,ou have 500 per ton more for the mate
riaIs than we paid for these same mae
rails last year
If tankage or blood was used for che
( source OF ammonia instead OF cotton seed
meal the advanced cost over last year
would be s. % per ton, as ammonia from
tarxaee or blood IS now 60 cents per unit
higher than last year. 50 for ~ per ceu-
of ammonia the extra cost over last year
would be $50
sulphate Of ammonia is the only other
sol-rre Of ammonia commonly used IN
the manufacture os fertilizers Twelve
months ago this article was selling a.
about SIS per ton. We paid for It this
week So per ton.
Now / assert that the price or IertiI-
fzars has not advanced nearly 50 much
as the price of raw materials going into
them. Let us see who IS 10 blame. II any
one for the advance of these crude mate
rials. Take pyrI-es. We buy from Spain
more than three-fourths Of all we use
Nitrate OF soda. We buy entirely frorn
south America Potash salts; We buy
entirely from Germany. SO It cannot be
said that cur company controls or - IN
any wise responsible for the advance or
these materials. as we have no interest
whatever In any of these properties. eth
er directly or indirectly.
Take phosphate rock We do mine
small proportion Of our wants Of phos-
phate rock, hut 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 phosphate 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 art.-
Gle Blood and Jankage are made by
the large packers in the west, and Wa
have no interest and no control over these
products in any way
Why. then. should the Virginia-Caro-
INA Chemical Company be blamed for the
advance in the cost or crude mate rails,
and would IL be busiuesslike for US 10
want an advance i'm crude materials, Of
which we have TO buy almost entirely all
of our needs. and of which we produce
absolutely nothing, except small guam
tity % phosphate rock
Ii is our am ana purpose % manufaCt-
ure fertilizers as cheaplv as possible and
to sell them AZ as low price as we can
afford. thereby stimula ing a large con-
sumption of fertilizers and their general
use for all crops
Let us see how the farmer is situated:
He IS getting this year from 2i5 to
cents a pound for his cotton more than
last year. and we understand that for a
great deal of the cotton seed the cotton
seed oil mills are now paying p cents
per bushei. Are these advances wrong,
and are the manufacturers who are hav-
ing To use this product cOndemnIag the
rarties who produce them, simply because
the demand : such that the price has
increased 20 enormously over last year?
At present prices the farmer can sell the
cotton seed from one acre of land AMI
buy as much fertilizers as he usually puts
over two or three acres, even though
there is a small advance in the price OF
fertilizers caused by the manufacturers