The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1919-06-27
THE POTASH BILL AND WHAT
1T MEANS TO THE FARMERS


1T MEANS TO THE FARMERS
charleston News and Courier.)
One of the most important meas
ures which has come before congress
in long time, so far as the agricul-
tural interests of the south are CON
cerned, is the bill now in the hands
of the ways and means committee of
the house of representatives. which
would fix the price of potash in
America for Il series of years at 50 so
per unit of actual potash and at the
same time restrict the importation
Of foreign potash until the Ameri-
can production is consumed
This bill if enacted into law would
have the gravest effects upon agri-
culture in this section. 1t is espe-
Cially imperative that the farmers OF
the Atlantic seaboard in general,
and of this immediate section in par
ticular, realize at once just what the
results would be.
Potash is one of the essential in
gradients Of plant food in the culti-
vation of certain staples. There are
vast stretches of country in the
United States which do not have to
use commercial fertilizer at all. In
the states of the Atlantic seaboard
its use is vital; and without potash
the growing Of cotton successfully
could not be continued very long on
most of the lands of this part Of the
cotton belt. Lack of potash is one
Of the main reasons why the yield
of cotton fell of as it did during the
war years.
For long while prior to 1914 the
potash used in the United States in
the manufacture of fertilizers came
from Strassfurt and Alsace. The
war shut off the supply. When it
was seen that the war would prob
ably be a long one interests in this
country at once undertook to manu-
facturc potash here. All sorts of eX-
pcrimcnts were made. the most sue
Ccssful being those with natural
brincS in Nebraska, California and
other western states. Sevcnty-tive
per cent of the domestic potash put
on the market has been from this
source.
These various interests which in
tho war period Went into the manu-
facturc of potash in this country are
now asking that they be given pro-
lection by congress for the contin-
uation of the industry they sought to
establish. Their plea on its face has
a measure OF plausibility. 1t is in
line With the aemtimCn; in this coun-
try to take care of the dye industry,
for example, so that we will not have
to look to Germany for our CONNER
cial dyes. But the analogy, in fact,
does not hold. There are funda-
mental objections to the plan which
the potash manufacturers urge.
First of all. is the fact that the
German potash was not German
manufactured product, as the Ger
man dycstuffs were. 1t is natural
product The foreign potash salts
came from mines, some OF the richest
OF which, those in Alsacc, will now
be in French territory. Potash eX-
lists in these mines as raw material
in incXhaustiblc quantities; so much
so. indeed, that for years past the
chief concern of the German Alkili
Syndicate which controlled the mines
was to hold down the output so as to
keep up the price. To reject such a
source of supply would be to ignore
a basic law OF economies Such a
policy could be dictated only by
other than economic reasons. and TO
govern they ought to be conclusive.
DO any such reasons exist? They
have not been advanced 1t is true,
OF course, that a good deal OF money
was put into the potash plants estab-
lished in this country in the past
four years. Those who put it there
did so with their eyes wide open to
the risks they were taking 1t is
claimed that such of them as have
succeeded have already made enough
TO cover their investment and pro-
vide handsome profit besides.