Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-03-31
The Fertilizer Question.


tags and many other circumstances OF
daily development are very we'll cal
culated to confuse the farmers as to
what 49, balance Of the cotton plant
ing world may be doing, and to get
at the exact truth Of the matter Is
well-nigh impossible; but nevertheless
we honestly believe that there Will be
a material reduction in the use OF
commercial fertilizers this year as
compared with last year.
The question as to why the fertilizer
companies should try to deceive the
farmers as to the quantity Of fertilizers
being used Is a very natural one, and
we are unable to answer 1t In full; but
It is not difficult to give at least few
reasons that seem to be more or less
plausible.
In the first place, there Is little rea-
son to doubt that while there Is more
or less rivalry between different fer
tiIizer companies, there Is but little
real competition. For instance while
there Is contention between the Ar
mour people on the one hand and the
Virginia Carolina Chemical company
on the other hand as to whether blood,
bone and tankage Is a better source OF
ammonia than cotton seed meal, both
people ask exactly the same price for
goods OF equal commercial value
They quarrel and quarrel over the
80
one or the other even suggest the
cutting Of prices and the war clouds
begin to lower Immediately.
1t would be foolish to lose sight
Of the fact that the fertilizer compa-
MES are not in business for their
health. They make fertilizers for the
same reason that the farmers make
cotton-for profit. Both the big con-
Germs are backed by tremendous ag-
gregations of capital. and both are
seeking dividends. The Armour peo-
pie are comparatively new In the
southern field, and the Virginia -Caho-
lima Chemical people have been here
longer. That is the principal differ
ence between them; but for the pur-
poses of this article we will refer
more particularly to the affairs Of the
Virginia Carolina Chemical company,
with which we are more familiar.
While the VIC. concern is generally
considered as a southern trust, 1t Is
not we'll to waste a great deal Of SEN
timent along that line, for its manage
ment is entirely controlled by the fl
nancial rnagnates of Wall street, and
it's interest in stock manipulation Is
so closely identified with it's sales of
fertilizers it is impossible for the way
faring man to say which interest Is
the greater. 1t Is very we'll understood
that the stock goes down and up In
price, and fortunes are won and lost
at each turn.
For instance 1t will be remembered
that about two years ago there was
story to the effect that the VIC. peo-
pie, requiring some five or six million
dollars, had to pay about 16 per cent
interest on a loan. ]. P. Morgan nego-
tiated the loan. VIC. stock was then
worth from 20 to so. On the strength
of the hard luck story, the stock went
down to l6. There is reason to be-
lieve now that the whole affair was
merely a stock manipulation trick,
that Morgan and others on the inside
sold stock short, arranged the hard
luck affair, and as the panic stricken
southern public unloaded, the manipu-
lators took their holdings, and made
back millions. The VIC. common stock
is now selling at about 40.
In January last the VIC. people put
out a story to the effect that their
sales this year were already 80 per
probable reason of the story was two
fold. In the first place, they sought
to depress the price Of cotton and In
the second place they sought to ad-
vance the price Of stocks. But the
story proved a boomerang. 1t de-
pressed the price of cotton all right
and from that spectators reasoned
that fertilizer notes would be more
difficult to collect next fall, and they
hammered the VIC. common stock
down five points.
AS a matter of fact, while the story
of the 80 per cent increase in sales
was nominally true, 1t was really mis-
leading. The trade very well under