The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-10-04

Secretary Houston stated today that the department of agriculture has for some time been giving careful consideration to the problem of securing nitrate of soda for fertilizer use Under a recent authorization of Congress there is avail able an appropriation or s10,000000 to be used, at the discretion of the President to secure nitrate of soda and to supply It to farmers at cost for cash.
 It is proposed to coordinate all the gov ernment purchases of Chilean nitrate for this country through uhe purchasing con mittee of the war industries board, under the immediate supeiN ision of MT. Baruch, so that there will be no con- petitive bidding for this material. This should very much simplify the problem and make it feasible to secure the best possible terms. The prfce of Chilean ni- trate or board ship in Chile has greatly increased within recent months without justification. Shipping rates also have in- creased. The increase in price is due in part to unfounded statements regard ing the demand for Chilean nitrate Tor munitions purposes and for fertilizer, es- pecialy in connection with the $10.0O0,00O recently appropriated by Congress to pur- chase nitrate of soda. AS matter Of fact, the demands of this country for nitrate of soda will be smaller than here tofore The navy already has placed con- tracts for this material to satisfy it's needs for the next F months The war department announces that practically all the sodium nitrate Wlfch it has been planned to procure for the gradual build ing up of the war reserve already has been contracted for The quantity which may be purchased for fertilizer use under the special appropriation of Congress will not be an addition to the quantity nor mally used. Any quantity purchased by the government and sold to farmers will simply take the place in part of quanti- ties heretofore supplied to them through private agencies As matter of fact unless satisfactory prices can be secured, it is probable that the farmers will not seek as large a quantity of this material as has been used in the last year or two. Some contracts already have been made by farmers for nitrate of soda. In view of all these facts, it is probable that the aggregate demand for the next five or six months will be below the nor mai.
 As has been stated, the purchasing will be handled directly through the war in- dustries board. The department of agri- culture will cooperate with the purchas ing committee in the effort to procure nitrate of soda. It is authorized by law to secure facts as to the demand for fer tilizers, including nitrate of soda, their supply consumption, costs and prices and the basic facts relating to their owner ship, production, transportation, manu- facture, storage and distribution. This inquiry is now being prosecuted through the bureau of markets. In connection with this the needs of farmers will be ascer- tained and all amounts purchased for their use, after the shipments reach the ports, will be taken charge of by the department and will be distributed through the department to farmers at cost for cash. The collections will be made by the department and will be turned into the treasury. To assist the department in it's activities in this direc- tion the services of Nell R. Wilkinson of Atlanta have been secured. He will he given such assistants as may be needed and will have available the services of