AGRICULTURAL RELIEF

27

growers of the land bank district of Kentucky, down here, advising
their members of the advisory council whether to declare an operating
period on cotton or on. corn. That is what it amounts to in your
amendment.

Mr. Gray. Could you contemplate a meeting of cooperatives
called by the Federal farm board representing all the growers in your
Federal land bank district upon which council the tobacco growers
would not be represented? I could not contemplate such a thing.

Mr. KincrHELOE. Tobacco growers, of course, would be repre-
sented in my district, because they raise tobacco there. I am talking
about growing cotton.

Mr. Gray. If cotton is grown in the district it would be repre-
sented also.

. Mr. KINcHELOE. In this bill that we passed that you all agreed
to last year you not only had commodity councils, but this board,
even then, appointed at the suggestion of the farmers, much less this
autocratic board that would be appointed under this bill, before they
could declare an operating period on any commodity, the advisory
council and a substantial number of cooperative marketing associa-
tions had to agree to that.

Mr. Gray. Yes.

Mr. KincEELOE. How much more power can you give them, and
where do you give them any more power under your amendments,
or as much as you have here?

Mr. Gray. By the method of the make-up of the council, by the
permanency of the councils’ organization, and by the rearranging of
section 7 where the recommendations of the advisory councils are
taken away from the category of being findings of the Federal farm
board and put in the category of being findings of the councils
themselves.

Mr. KinceELOE. Then you take away from the advisory council
the power to vote and say when there shall be an operative period on
any commodity, under your amendment.

Mr. Grat. I think not. ‘

Mr. KincHELOE. That is what I understood you to say, then.
What did you say?

Mr. Gray. I said by rearranging section 7 and taking out of the
findings of the Federal farm board relative to the advisory councils
and putting that in a place, in revision, where the advisory councils
set out their own findings to the board, you have given the advisory
councils, by so doing, more authoritative influence over the board
than if the board itself made those findings.

Mr. KincHELOE. That is exactly what 1 am talking about, and we
had that same power under this bill that we passed last year. Why
did you do that? Now why do you object, Mr. Gray, or the people
whom you represent—and I am asking this for information, because
I can not see it—why do they seriously object to having an advisory
council for each commodity for which an operating period is to be
declared who knows all about the commodity, about its market
conditions, about whether there is a surplus or not, how it should be
handled, how it should be graded, who are experts in their own line?
Why do you favor this provision you are trying to put in the bill
now over a provision of that kind?