Evening star., 1923-06-17
u. S. FARMERS BOUND BY
CHILE NITRATE MONOPOLY
Experts Now Working on Plans to Fix
Nitrogen and Make Country Inde-
pendent of Outside Supplies.

Half Of her revenue is obtained fron
a tax of something like s12 ton on
her nitrateswIlich is paid by the
consumer. On top of this s12 tax the
farmer who buys fertilizer must pay
the actual cost of producing the nj
trate, plus a profit for the producer,
| a profit for the broker and a profit
for the distributor. This government
imports about so per cent Of Chile's
! production
The Chilean Producers Association
controls about 9S per cent of Chile's
production of nitrogen, and the Chill
can government is represented on this
association. Every spring this asso-
citation sets the prices on nitrates, and
whatever it Is. however high, the
American farmer. of course. has to
pay it, or else see his land go to
waste, while he goes broke. SO jeal-
| ously is this monopoly guarded thai
there is no chance of breaking it up
through competition for the Chilean
government sees to it by ways that
are known to governments that no
outsider can come into the field and
start business independently.
Would Fight MonopoIies.
Herbert Hoover's idea regarding
| rubber and sisal-two commodities
! for which the United States depends
| for it's supply on other countries
| applies TO nitrogen. Mr.. Hoover hopes
| to see the time when the United
! States will be able to furnish its own
| supplies Of such essential commod-
| tiles and become independent of for
! elgn government monopolies To find
| how this may be brought about the
| last Congress appropriated $500 000
| which is being used in investigating
| sources of supply. A committee is
| now working to discover the most
| feasible supply for nitrogen-a sup
| ply which will make the United States
| independent of Chile and able to
| guarantee plenty of fertilizer to the
| farmers at prices they are able to pay
Nitrogen is in the air, and the air
| in the United States is proverbially
| free. But nitrogen is stubborn
sort of an element 1t is independen mt.
! lazy and inactive, and won't combine
with anything else except under very
| auspicious circumstances-and these
circumstances are expensive. Fixing
nitrogen, or getting it out of the air
in form which will enable it to be
used commercially, is practiced To
some extent in Europe. Germany made
herself independent of all outside
sources when she built great factories
for fixing nitrogen during the war,
and by combining this source of
supply with the nitrogen obtained
lfrom her coke industries, was able
to fight the war to finish. What
Germany did, and what is being done
in Europe now, will probably prove
the solution of the problem before
the United States.
Two Plants Now Operating.
There are two small commercial
plants in operation in the United States
today for fixing nitrogen One is
, located in the state of Washington,
the other in Syracuse, y. Y. Neither
5 of these plants is engaged in fixing
nitrogen for agricultural use The
government put in operation and has
since maintained an experimental
Stheioll VI iauoi dlUEs LOT HAln5 nitro
. gen which is located at American
University. Highly successful ex-
periments have been carried out At
this station and scientists are hope
full of finding some practical method
of fixing nitrogen which may prove tn,
] basis of a new industry.
The United States offers great on
portunity for the establishment of a
new industry in fixing nitrogen, for
the water power, essential in the
production of a cheap but powerful
current of electricity, is available
The method is yet to be perfected.
:. however. which will allow for the
production of nitrogen for agricul-
: tural and industrial use on a paying
; basis. While it is now possible to
: build and equip a great power plant
for the fixing of nitrogen, the product
{ could not be sold at a price to com
: pete with the Chilean product. The
necessity for practical method of
production having long since arrived,
, those who are most interested believe
: the practical application of these meth
. ods is not far away.