The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1922-03-30
Stoll Carried the Issue.

IpClOiC lLS llHlIdIy audlIS SOilililIIC
O.? the house on Muscle Shoals mad
| it first of ell his business to shoy
Just what Henry Ford's proposal t.
lease the Alabama nitrate plant woul'
mean to the farmers of the countr.
and the motives of the fertilizer trus
and the Alabama Power Company il
their opposition to Ford. Mr.. Stol
is q lawyer and was for a number
Of years solicitor Of his district. HI
attended the hearing always prepared
to put to the witness few pointed
Questions just before the close Of
each session stripping bare thc issue
More than any other man on the
1ccmmittee Mr.. Stoll was moved by
the fact that the fertilizer trust has
eyacted from the farmers of his state
annually a huge sum of money IN
profiteering. South Carolina uSes one
sixth OF al. tie fertilizer manufacture
ed in this country. In 1920 the state
bought over one million tons fol
which it paid nearly $50,OO0,O00
Nth the exception Of North Carolina
South Carolina uses more fertilizer
Than any other two states in the
union, and Mr.. Stoll's sixth ccngres-
s,onal district uses more than any
two other districts in the state. Marl-
boro, Dillon and Marion counties plant
one hundred thousand tons of guano
under the Gotten and tobacco every
spring and their farmers have come
to dread the fertilizer trust as much
rs the boil weevil.
Mr.. Ford has promised that if the
government leases Muscle Shoals to
him he will reduce the cost Of fer
tilizer to the farmer by one third.
Witness after witness at these hear
ings has advanced the opinion that
If Ford got Muscle Shoals he would
make little or no fertilizer. Upon
every one such witness Mr.. Stoll has
simed his shafts as cross-examiner
end has exposed the witness pref
rdice and ignorance.
But it was In the following brief
colloquy that Mr.. Stoll made clear
the issue between Ford and the feT-
t.lizer trust. Major Burns Of the or
dinance department of the army was
on the witness stand. Major Burns
las studied the fertilizer business as
well as the making of powder.
"Would you think the Ford offer
Ccod?" asked Mr.. Stoll of the ma
jor. "It all depends on the point of
view," replied the major. "If I was
a farmer md had the farmers in
terest solely inview, I would say the
Ford offer is good. If were fer
ti!izer man and had the fertilizer in
terest solely at heart, l would say
the Ford offer is not good"
"Why?" asked Mr.. Stoll.
Because there is great possibil-
ity of the Ford offer hurting the
fertilizer business and the people who
have their money so invested" an
swered Major Burns.
"By cheapening fertilizer" Mr..
Stoll asked.
"There is the possibility of that"
said Major Burns.
Here indeed is combine evading
the law with an invested capital OF
about s1OO,OO0,000 placing its inter
ests above the whole agricultural in
dustry of the country and intact the
whole people of the United States.
There was another feature of the
Ford proposal that Mr.. Stoll never
lost an opportunity to stress. He
asked Mr.. W. B. Mayo, chief engineer
cf the Ford Motor Company, if Ford
got the Muscle Shoals plant:
"Do you think it probable he will
Increase the production of fertilizer
over the present capacity of plant
No. q"
'I think it very probable" answer
eo Mr.. Mayo.
"And it is his intention, OF course,
to give the consumer the benefit of
cheaper power?"
eyes, sir"
From another important witness,
DR.. Milton C. Whitney, chief of the
bureau of soils, agricultural depart
tgent, Mr.. Stoll established the fact
That the present productive capacity
of Muscle Shoals is 10000 tons OF
fixed nitrogen. The fertilizer COM
| anies used about 227,000 tons of fix.
et: nitrogen in the 100000 tons Of
fertilizer they made last year. Sc
that to reduce the price one-third Mr.
L L.