The Washington herald., 1920-04-01
Prosperity of Chle's Leading
Industry, Nitrate Production,
Depending on Foreign Demand
F. W. w.

belt begin to need artificial ferti-
lizer.
We are also liberal consumers of
explosives. Dynamite is rapidly
becoming our cheapest hired man.
1t is used not only in mines, quar-
ries and construction work. but the
American farmer is learning to
keep a box of 1t, handy for innu-
mersble ODD jobs Of clearing. ditch
ing. draining, planting trees. crack
ing up hardpsn, road repairing and
the like.
For farm purposes the Chilean
nitrates will undoubtedly hold their
own over nitrate extracted from
the air. There are low grades suit
able for fertilizer and they do not
spoil. like the synthetic article.
and are more easily distributed
over the soil. and cheaper While
the wars of the nineteenth century
have exerted some influence upon
production and sale. Chile's best
customers have been the farmer.
the horticulturist, the vineyardist
and the planter. From 1880. when
the expectation was 226,00O tons,
the sales abroad have steadily in
creased year by year at the rate of
about 10000 tons, annually. 1t is
not possible to trace the influence
OF any war except the world con-
hict. because agricultural demand
has fuctuated from year to year,
sometimes causing a setback, and
then spurt which brought the
average up. At the outbreak of
the world war exports had reached
nearly 100000 tons. 1t fell off to
100000 I'm 1914 and 1915 because
agricultural customers could not be
supplied or were not buying. In
1916 war demand brought exports
up I" the record of nearly 3.OO0,-
600 tons, which was continued dur
ing tho last year of the war.
With the armistice-bing!
End OF War Changed Things.
Nobody wanted nitrates for war,
and the peace demand held back.
Besides, there were no ships to
carry the stuff to American farm
ers, and our war ban on agricuI-
The Chileans had only 100000 tons
on hand above their normal pre-
war stocks. which represented no
more than a good-sized order from
fertilizer manufacturers in a coun-
try like Belgium. Production had
to be cut down. men laid off and
labor lost from the nitrate fields.
The companies did not suffer. be-
cause they had all made money dur
ing the war. The loss OF labor
was most serious, because workers
are not easily attracted to the
waterless, hot, unattractive nitrate
region.
However, the Chilean government
came to the rescue, advancing
money upon the nitrate which was
produced. and waiting customers
and the producers found themselves
stronger in teamwork than they had
ever been as a result of association
during the war.
This new habit of working to-
gether they now propose to apply
to their propaganda in other coun-
tries.
Increased sales Of nitrate to for
eigners have often been checked in
the past by fluctuations in the
price. If nitrate is reasonable in
cost when the time comes around
to buy his fertilizer. the farmer will
use 1t. But IL the price is high,
either he or the fertilizer manufac-
turer will cut down the quantity
or turn to notwithstanding
being made up of so many different
this is easy in the case
"a Ia
sttutes than either potash or phos-
phate, the two other chief ingredi-
ents OF chemical fertilizer.
Price Manipulation.
Fluctuations in price, the pro-
ducers believe, have usually been
due to the manipulations Of mer-
chants who buy and distribute the
nitrate and to surplus stocks or
shortage in different countries. To
remedy this and encourage steady
Increase in agricultural use, their
association plans to maintain stocks
OF nitrate in consuming countries
and use these to stabilize prices.
Some of the Chilean nitrate men
say that the United States now has
an excellent opportunity to replace
the Germans as a nitrate distrib-
utor in other countries. We have
the money and also a knack at ad-
vertising which would wonderfully
the Chilean associations
propaganda. We buy a great deal
of nitrate in the course of the year.
they point out, but in comparative
ly small lots-50.000 to 100, 900 ton
orders. II we would stock up with,
say. 100000 tons at a crack, and
set up shop on a wholesale scale,
we would save money on our own
and be able to sell to 9TH
er countries, besides keeping our
new ships busy. The British have
already bought such a big order,
despite shortage of shipping. 1t is
evident that the new lines of nitrate
will be worked out this
year. and either the United States
or England will take over Ger
many's trade-the Chileans wonder
why we don't get ipta the game.
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