AGRICULTURAL RELIEF
whole 20 years, and there would have been $100,000,000 more, in
collecting the $1, than you had to expend in losses?

Mr. BLEpsoe. That shows in the statement. Co

Mr. Jones. To be more exact, I think it is $107,000,000. In other
words, the 56 cents, during the twenty year period, taking the whole
average, would have paid all of the losses and expense, and you would
have in the fund $107,000,000 left over, and the grower would have
the average price for the entire year, instead of taking what it was
for the average period during the selling season at a lower price.

Mr. BLEDSOE. Yes, for the 19 year period.

Mr. KercaaMm. Tell me this: Have you made any computations
to indicate what the loss is by reason of the fact that the cotton
growers during that same period did not receive that price?

Mr. BLEDSOE. I can not tell you what they received. I could tell
you what they would receive, by taking the total baleage reported
by the Department of Agriculture and taking the prices indicated by
the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. I can give you that answer,
but as to what they did receive I can not say.

I want to call this to your attention, Mr. Jones, you did find in
that statement the profits shown—but, from that profit would have
to be taken the storage, insurance, and interest that was paid.

Mr. Jones. Yes; but, that would not use up the entire fund; you
would still have money left over in the 20 years if the cotton had
been sold, as it actually was; they would have gotten the yearly
average instead of the season average; and at the same time you
would have paid all the losses and had money left over in the fund
for the whole twenty years.

Mr. BLEpsoE. Yes. I want to call your attention to another item
that would be in there. It costs something to leave that weight on,
and not take it off the future exchanges; naturally with the insurance
plan in operation all of those prices would have been higher; in other
words, the average would have been higher, because you do not have
so much weight in your harvest surplus season. There are two
surpluses, the harvest surplus, which comes at the time of harvest,
and the annual surplus, the amount that is left over at the end of the
year.

Mr. Kercuam. Going back to the question I asked you a moment
ago, it would be quite a problem to work the proposition out that I
proposed for the whole 20-year period. Take your figures, what would
have been the result had your plan been in operation this last year?
What would have been the saving to the producer of cotton on that
price he received for the whole year?

Mr. BLEDSOE. During this present period, now? This year is not
completed.. You will find out that this decline comes on the aver-
age—let us take last year; that is a completed season. You will
remember we had to take a decline of six and one-half cents, thereby
there would have been an apparent loss in the insurance fund, but
when you finish the season out there was no loss last year, although
my market declined six and one half cents: and the underwriters

Mr. KETcHAM. (Interposing) I am not talking about the under-
Wer; I am talking about the producers.
hr BLEDSOE." Well, they would have gotten a better average

{10