The Pageland Journal

Farmers Win In Fight on Secret Fertilizer Trade

Washington, Sept. 7.- "Independent" firms in the fertilizer industry, actually operated by large concerns, or the so-called "fertilizer trust," will hereafter be fully identified with the parent interests, according to a report made public today by the Federal Trade Commission, which has been investigating the fertilizer situation. The report says the companies concerned have agreed to show their various relationships on their containers and letterheads.

The commission's investigation was made in compliance with resolutions introduced last year by Senator Simmons of North Carolina to whom farmers had complained regarding the high price of fertilizers. $150,000,000 worth of which was consumed by the American farmers in 1914. In a letter to the Senate, accompanying the report, the commission asserts that there are in the United States 800 concerns operating some 1,200 plants, but that seven of the large companies, the largest being the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company and the American Agricultural Chemical Company, control 58 per cent of the total output. It is asserted that the prices paid by farmers for mixed fertilizers have been high in comparison with the cash value of the constituent elements, partly because of credit conditions and expensive distributing methods of the large companies.