AGRICULTURAL RELIEF 247 In return for that, the city would have some control of the farming in the vieinity of Washington, guaranteeing it a proper supply in the line of perishable goods, that they shall not be subject to one man planting a very great glut or surplus of sugar corn, we will say, or any one commodity. And that should all be submitted to the board, and it can supervise it and advise this man and say, “Don’t plant so much corn. Plant something else that the city will need more. Mr. WirLLiaMs. Does your bill deal with perishables? Mr. BoorH. Yes, sir. It is world wide and reaches everywhere. But in the start it would principally concern the truck farmers in the vicinity of the city, but would eventually reach every phase of farm- ing, I think. That agricultural board, I believe, could take the surplusses. It would take, I would say, potatoes at 75 cents a bushel; and then sell them to the consumers of the city at the price that they pay for them, plus, say, about 10 per cent or something of that kind, after- wards to be agreed upon, which would cover the expense of handling. There are thousands of trucks in the city that might be put to use; and the woman in the kitchen can take up her telephone and say, “Please send me 1 bushel of potatoes, two dozen ears of corn,” and whatever she wants, and have it delivered to the door, at a cost for handling of 10 cents instezd f coing to the corner grocery store, as I do to-day. althe—- ” ~~ + =-wving 400 per cent more for things I hr~ ‘verybody knows that there is no fic! Mr. Winn: city? Mr. Boots. Understand, 1 ain. because that is all that Congress cau deal follow the plan, I believe. Mr. WirLiams. What particular commodity 1s it you pay 400 per cent more for than you get? Mr. Boots. I have had sugar corn that I have gone to the stores for. that I have been charged 5 cents an ear; that is, 60 cents a dozen. I brought my corn in—possibly I do not know the precise date— and I got 15 cents a dozen. I have sold my corn for 5 cents a dozen. More than that, I brought my tomatoes into market and many times I have hauled them out and dumped them on the ground because I could not get anything for them. This last season I dumped barrels of beans. I could not get the cost of picking the beans. At the same time I go to the store to buy them I pay heavily for them. I said 400 per cent; it is 1,000 per cent sometimes. I pay the regular price for anything that they choose to charge me. One store will have one price, and another store will have another price. There is no fixed price for anything. That is the situation: and every consumer does that very thing to-day. That is not right. There is something wrong about it, and 1t can be regulated. There is no doubt about it. Let this board have authority to regulate the planting, and let them have the authority to regulate the selling, and sell to every consumer that wants to buy from it. It does away with the long talked of middleman; he is gone out of the game. I do not mean to say it will break every corner grocer up. It will not, because they do not deal in vegetables wy