The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1946-03-01

COntrOl OF natural
Fertilizer Resources
rs COMMERCIAL fertilizer nat
I ural resource which should be
controlled and conserved by the gov
eminent from the raw materials to
the finished product?
Your Home Town Reporter can
60 along part way on the answer
to that question, which is now a
source of hot controversy in Wash
ington. AS a matter of fact, the
government already went part way
as a matter of policy, when congress
authorized the Muscle Shoals plant
in northern Alabama.
Commercial fertilizer Is taken
from the. soil in the form Of raw
phosphate, potash, nitrate, lime and
other ingredients and, as a finished
product, put back into WORKOUT soil
which has been Invested Of these
minerals by decades Of farming
and natural soil erosion. Hence, in
solar as conservation Of soil is con-
OCAACuS ~ 10 0S MuCm q HAUL GA AZ
source as water or the top soil upon
which we are spending millions Of
dollars in conservation practices.
Without sufficient fertilizer, we
can't grow good crops and there is
widespread opinion here that the
government as a national policy
should do something about reserves
of phosphate and potassic minerals
to insure maintenance of the ma
tons soil resources. But whether or
not the government should go into
the fertilizer business on a large
scale is another and a very much
debated question, although there are
three bills now before congress
which provide that it shall.
Foundation Is Neutral
This writer has told you about the
formation and some of the opera
tons and detectives of the Founda-
ton for American Agriculture. An
other objective covers this question
of commercial fertilizer. The foun-
dation already has a committee of
experts at work going into this
question Of mineral fertilizer re-
serves and is considering on a nom
partisan and non-prejudicial basis,
all phases of need, manufacture and
distribution of commercial fertili-
ger. AS to the three bills, the founda-
ton is neutral, and is acting merely
as fact-finding and research or
ganization.
Not so the American Plant Food
council which, by strange coinci-
dence, occupies offices adjacent to
the same suite as the foundation in
the National Grange building here.
The APFC is headed by Clifton A.
Woodrum of Virginia, who resigned
his 23-year-old seat as congress
man to take the job. The APFC
represents private manufacturers
Of fertilizer, although it does have
some farmer co-operatives in it's
membership. Mr.. Woodrum says
the whole fertilizer industry is dead
against the three bills in question.
The farm bureau and the farmers
union are backing the bills un-
reservedly. The grange is more or
less on the fence and the National
Council of Farmer Co-operatives has
taken no action, adopting sort Of
tongue-in-cheek attitude, although
some of its eastern and gulf terri
tory members are opposed.
Many Provisions in Bill
One of these fertilizer bills was
introduced in the senate by Sena-
tors Lister Hill and John Bank
head of Alabama. An identical bill
was put into the house hopper by
Rep. John Flanagan Jr. of Vir-
ginia. Briefly, they provide: con-
struction of fertilizer plant at or
near Mobile, Ala, and purchase of
enough phosphate lands in Florida
to provide raw material for at least
so years by the Tennessee Valley
authority; construction of two
plants in the west and purchase Of
enough potash and phosphate re-
serves for so years Of operation by
the secretary of the interior; five
member state advisory committees
in each state named by presidents
of Immigrant colleges; 15-member
national fertilizer policy committee
to advise the secretary of agricul-
ture; free fertilizer test program on
at least rs farms in every county Of
the nation to use at least half the
output of the three plants; lease or
sale of the plants to farm cooper
ativss after five years; providing
farm security administration loan
money to co-operatives to buy them
or form new co-operatives which
will buy if there are no takers.
A bill with similar detectives is
In the house sponsored by Rep.
Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, but
places the whole program in the lap
of iva.
In the meantime the government
would control thousands of acres of
phosphate and potash lands, which
would make it tough on private
manufacturers.
A. onv ratio farm concentrations