The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-11-23
GRAY SAYS r FARMER FACES SHORTAGE OF NITROGEN IN 1924
States ForHs Muscle Shoals Offer Would Solve Problem and Bless Farmers of
 Entire Country

Atlanta, November 22.-Ihe f2f .S CTS of the United States face s Q; ous shortage of nitrates <
 tilizers in 1924 and the oo, e to overcome the situatis .s> e im- portation of thal unless means are found X smedy the situation, according 70 the opinion of Chester H. Gray, chairman of the Muscle Shoals committee of the American Farm Bureau federation, expressed in a statement given out here tonight.
 Mir. Gray's committee made study of Muscle Shoals last April and he sees in the offer of Henry Ford to take over and operate the nitrate plant there a blessing to the farmers of the country.
 "If Muscle Shoals is not immedi- ately put into operation" the state ment said, '1t will require either the importation or the doing without of
  Imagine train 30 miles feng, each 4o-foot car carrying 40 tons of nitro- gen and it will be seen how the con sumption exceeds the domestic sup ply of nitrogen, even at the high prices prevailing for commercial plant food If the price could be cut in two by the continued opera Ic would cd greatly increase the use of ferti- lizers as to enable farmers more adequately to maintain a high point of efficiency in production.
 Ford's Plan Best
 At the present time the tender made by Henry Ford it's the best plan that presents itself for an immediate and continuous operation of this plant Undoubtedly the plan of Mus cle Shoals on the scale that Mir. Ford proposed would be a blessing. not only to the states of the south but to the whole nation. We must get cheap fertilizers and lots of them, which can be done only by putting the plant at Muscle Shoals in oper- ation
 Muscle Shoals is a Gibraltar to protect agriculture and Big Bertha to bombard the entrenched interests. It is a reasonable estimate to state that ca ch year the soil of our nation loses approximately 100000 tons of nitrogen in growing our crops and that not one-half of this amount Is replaced for future crops. Tn course of time unless nitf3te plants. such as we have at Muscle Shoals. are pu; into operation, there will be sucR a To- .f iY, cCfl ta vent farmers making a profit or even .raising enough food for our nation The use of sufficient fertilizer tc good crops is dependent upon the price at which such fertilizer can bs purchased. The main factor in keep ing this price up is the price of nj trogen content which is used. From | figures O. cost operation at Muscle Shoals we know that 21 per cent am monium sulphate can be produced there when the hydro de- velopment is completed for trif,s over $50 per ton, whereas the whole sale price of this commodity usually exceeds double that amount. We also know that the primary product of the Muscle Shoals plant. lime nitrogen l which is 21 per cent nitrogen. can be produced for approximately s31 per ton. The wholesale price of this product in 1920 was s65.36.
 Another feature that most not b. forgotten in connection with Muscle Shoals Is that the use of nitrogen in agriculture normally doubles every if years Unless air filtration plants such as Muscle 5hoals are developed we can arrive a only one conclusion 1 which is that the fertility of our soi' will be in the future more seriously drained of its strength than has beer the case in the past. This condition will cause an impoverished agricu,- l ture and an undernourished popula- | tion