AGRICULTURAL RELIEF 215 Mr. Mences. When you sell tobacco to foreign countries, you guarantee that the grade you sell shall be as claimed? Mr. Moran. We certainly do; yes, sir. Mr. MEeNGEs. You are not adulterating or mixing it up with other stuff, are you? Mr. Morcan. I did not catch that last question. Mr. MEeNGEs. You are not adulterating the tobacco or mixing it with other stuff? Mr. Morean. No. We have these 405 grades, and we guarantee every hogshead to stand up to that grade. For instance, we sold the Portuguese Government three-quarters of a million pounds. We guaranteed every hogshead to come up to standard on the dock at Lisbon, and every hogshead did. Mr. MexGEs. Did you ever have any trouble about having tobacco thrown back on your hands because it was not up to the grade you had sold? Mr. Morgan. Very, very little. We have had a few hardsweated hogsheads, or some similar trouble. But we have a report from the inspectors that the tobacco from the Dark Tobacco Cooperative Association was the best graded and the best-handled tobacco that they have ever had in London. Mr. Kercaam. A little while ago when you were explaining how the equalization fee would work out with tobacco, you stated, as I recall it, that you thought 1 cent a pound would be sufficient. Mr. MorcaN. Yes, sir. Mr. KercHaM. I asked you to explain in detail how that money would naturally be collected, and how paid into the Treasury. Did I understand you advanced to the committee the theory that that would not be reflected back to the producer himself? Mr. Morcan. Oh, no; the producer will pay it. Mr. KercHaM. You frankly state that the producer pays it but the machinery does not require thrt he shall pay it. You state that very frankly? Mr. Morgan. That 1s my 1dea avout iu. Ir. Kercaam. I did not think that point was made sufficiently clear. Mr. Morgan. If he increases his crop, then the equalization fee might have to be 2 cents on next year’s crop. But he would know what it was, and he would understand. Mr. KErcaaM. And he pays it? Mr. MorcaN. Yes; the producer pays it. I think he should. I do not think we should load the Treasury down with that. We are not asking that. We want to manage our own business, and let the farmers bear the burden of it all. The CrairMaN. Frequently reference is made to bringing about crop reduction. Everybody seems to have abandoned the idea that it 1s not possible to bring about curtailed production. Another contention is that an equalization fee or stabilizing of the price might increase a year’s production. That is quite generally hinted at around this table. I believe that the characterization 1s that the producers possess enough intelligence to know that the larger the crop the larger the surplus and the larger the equalization fee, and the less the profit, and advancing a convincing argument to restrict production rather than to increase it.