The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1918-12-28
PLENTY or NITRATE
It viii Be Ready for Fertilizers for
sprlna Of 1919.


stead Of 100. 900 tons, through the $lO-
100000 appropriation made by Con
gress was revealed today by c. II.
I Mcdowell, Director OF the Chemical
Division of the War lndustrics Board.
( The remaining $4,000 tons &C nitrate
were Communicated by the War De-
partment when the German drive be-
came menace last spring. Military
necessity heretofore kept the details
a secret. In telling them, Mr.. Mellow
ell remarks that through the sacrifice
of the fertilizer ingredient the plant
ers contributed to the supply of e.
plosiyes on the French front and thus
aided materially IN winning the war,
There will be plenty of nitrate for
fertilizer for the spring planting OF
1919, for the importers, who were re-
CURED to turn over their consignments
to the War Department, were released
from that obligation upon the sign
ing of the armistice and are now free
to sell to fertilizer manufacturers
Mr.. Mcdowell gave out this state
ment tdoay:
In the fall of 1917 the Congress APP
lpropriated S10,O0O,00O to be used by
the Agricultural Department in inn
porting nitrate of soda 10 be sold by
them to the farmers at cost. This
was later made revolving fund. I'm
der this the War Industries Board
procured for the Department of Agri-
culture some 100000 long tons of nj
trate for shipment from Chile during
the winter and spring
"Owing to disturbed shipping con
ditions in the early spring ii was i'm
possible to bring in for February.
March arrival the tonnage expected
and with the needs developed by the
expected spring offensive OF the Ger
mans it became necessary to divert Ia
France large tonnage of nitrate for
manufacture of explosives in that
country and for further increasing
production OF explosives in this coun
try for use in France. This immedi
ate need made It impossible for tn,
Department OF Agriculture to secur,
DOdt1 oAiiiSttnt w blin6 III iHt lui
100000 tons so that 66,77S tons wal
= actually imported in time for use b.
q the farmers for spring planting.
!. Owing to military necessity, pull
4 licity could not, OF course, be given I,
: the reason OF the non-arrival OF TIL
h nitrate sold to the farmers, and thi
inability to deliver was the cause 0
: considerable feeling on the part @
l. the users OF nitrate of soda The mi
/. itary necessity was the greatest on
= and the planters who were unable I
4, get the nitrate were In this way COZ
: tributing to the supply of explosive
y In France. which later led to the VIII
ming Of the war
: The nitrate OF soda situation IN tn
United States up until about Aug.
was serious one, and although ever
= explosive and chemical plant was ker
k. supplied with sufficient nitrate
nt maintain full operations at all time
this was done by drawing from go,
or eminent arsenal reserves and transfe
10 ring stocks from fertilizer manufa
: lurers and other holders to plant
nd where stocks were about exhausted
al Owing to the shortage OF nitrat
r. IT was deemed wise to ask the impo
n, ters to discontinue sales of nitrate
IF fertilizer manufacturers other than Il
a. the making of sJilphuric acid and aft,
r. July /, all consignments OF nitrate a
es irving in the country sold to such ma
"a ufacturers were Communicated by Il
a. Ordnance Department and turned ov
tn ton. III -. q
= turers. These contracts thus handl,
were made between the importers al
the fertilizer people in the fall OF 19l
Immediately on the signing of L
IN armistice all restrictions were TAX
raj of the importers as far as sales
to- nitrate to fertilizer manufacturers a
- agricultural users was concerned,
re that there will be no difficulty in 81
to- plying the entire needs Of the Unit
-, Safes for agricultural use for spri
~ planting
on. Nitrate OF soda Is the foundati
9to of smokeless powder and high exp
me- sives as well as of other needed che
or icals and the purchase and impor
ana ton of nitrate to the United Sta
1877 was controlled by the United Sta
government through the War Ind
= tries Board in cooperation with
importers formerly handling this
terial, the importers buying in Chile
in times past The government
day ceived their nitrate through the
ne porters at cost and the profit char
sSt9 by the importers to private users
controlled by the government so I
- uniform cost to all users was secui
? q this cost being based on the aver
~ monthly cost in Chile plus the freiJ
n't storage, exchange and other eleme
of cost
- "a committee known as the Nj
- Committee OF the United Staes was
ablished with Offices in New Y,
and New York representative of
, War Industries Board represer
that board in the offices OF this c
mittee. Government needs for
trate were increasing rapidly and
1913 requirements would have
very large. During the entire pc
of the war all needed nitrate was
- cured and there was no let up in
N manufacture of war materials
pending upon this article
NEW PROBLEMS ARISE