The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1920-12-24
FARMERS AROUSED OVER
HIGH FERTILIZER PRICES
Farmers of Five Counties to Meet January IL to
Organize to Fight What They Believe to
Be Conspiracy to Keep Up
Fertilizer Prices

Believing that something ap-
preaching a conspiracy is being
employed to keep the prices of
commercial fertilizers up to
something like last years ex-
cessive prices, the farmers of
northeastern North Carolina are
up in arms and a movement has
been started to bring the manu-
facturers to terms Or boycott
their goods. The movement is
being directed by the Carolina
Potato Exchange with headquar-
ters at Elizabeth City and the ex-
change is calling meeting of
the farmers of five counties for
the purpose of giving them the
facts and enabling them to or
ganize.
The meeting will be held in the
courthouse at Elizabeth City at 1890
F. NJ. Wednesday, Jan. u, 1921. Ex-
perts from the state department of ag-
riculture will be present to give the ex-
act facts as to present day costs of the
chemicals entering into the various fer
tilizer mixtures used in this section.
Fertilizer manufacturers have been in
vited to be present and give their side
of it. The meeting should be of un-
usual interest.
The Carolina Potato Exchange is
sending out thousands of circulars thru
out the counties of Currituck, Camden,
PaSquotank, Perquimans and Chowan,
urging the farmers of these five coun-
ties to attend the meeting here on Jan.
u The circular is headed: FARM
ERS! UNITE! FIGHT THE FERTI-
LIZER CONSPIRACY" And the cir
cular goes on to say that with chemi-
Gals selling at SIS a ton under last years
prices the manufacturers of fertilizers
purpose to reduce the price of fertilizers
only 81 ton for next year. The farm
ers say they can not undertake to put
in crops with fertilizers at anything like
last years prices.
a ton of potato fertilizer last year
cost S66.95. A reduction of only a
dollar a ton means S65.95 next year
The farmers contend that the chemicals
entering into the mixture of this fer
tiizer have fallen S15 a ton within the
past few months and that $50 a ton
is enough to pay for such fertilizer.
The Carolina Potato Exchange which
has achieved wonderful results in the
marketing of the produce of its mem
ber< says that the farmers, can save
this S15 a ton by buying their nitrate
Of soda and other chemicals in the open
market and leaving the fertilizer COM
pani"S with their goods. in their ware
hou>eS The Exchange says the
farmers of this section vii
not have to experiment in this
direction. as they can be guided by the
experience of the potato growers of the
state Of Maine who saved themselves in
the same way last year. The farmers of
Maine have shown what the farmers of
North Carolina can do; the only thing
i organization, declares n. Howard
Smith. manager of the Potato Ex- J
change.
The fertilizer manufacturers will. of |
course. tell their side of the story. To |
begin with they do not admit that prices |
for 1927 have been fixed yet. J. Fl. Lee
Roy. manager of the Albemarle Ferti-
l!zNr Co. of this city, says that his com
pany has not yet announced its price
He would make no comment upon the
proposed meeting at Elizabeth City
other than to say he regretted that he
hadn't got wind of it before his COM
pany loaded up with high price mater
1alS for next springs mixtures.
The fertilizer men will say that they.
as well as the farmers, are up against
IT. In sections solely dependent upon
corn. cotton, peanuts and tobacco, the
fertilizer men are having a hard time
making any sort of collections They
can't get a settlement for fertilizers
sold tho farmers last spring so long as T.
Inc farmers can't sell their crops for
enough to pay the fertilizer bills.