288 
AGRICULTURAL RELIEF 
hope to bring about—the stabilization of your market; a more steady 
market-—that would have no influence on that, would it? Is that 
your notion about it? 
Mr. KiLcorE. 1 promised yesterday to reserve an expression of 
opinion on the debenture plan until I had seen the exact proposal 
that you had. I would like to keep faith there, if you will allow me. 
Mr. Kercaam. Will you answer this definite question, whether the 
equalization fee of itself, without the additional features of the bill— 
and I may say that I favor those—would the equalization fee in and 
of itself contribute to the stabilization of prices? Is not the whole 
aim and proposal of the equalization fee to bring a better price for 
the product to the men who produces it? If it is not, of course, I 
do not know what we are here for. 
Mr. KiLcore. It is to stablize and to get a better price. 
Mr. Kercaam. Will you just tell me how in the wide, wide world 
the equalization fee in and of itself applied to the men who produce 
it, can affect the speculator’s interest? 
Mr. KiLcorE. I think I made very clear yesterday in the state- 
ment I made just how the surplus had ruined the price of cotton, 
and that that would apply to other staple crops, and how by taking 
the burden of this surplus off of the market would have prevented 
those ruinous prices. 
Mr. Apkins. That has been brought out several times here now. 
Was it not brought out by Mr. Bledsoe, and was it not also brought 
out by the Burley and Dark Tobacco fellows? The only function 
the equalization fee performs is a means of making up your losses 
that are incident to this stabilization idea; that you are bound to 
have losses, except when buying on a rising world market, and that 
you would not be doing very many times; and the only function it 
provides is a means to keep you in funds, to keep you in business, in 
other words? 
Mr. KiLgore. That is right. 
“Mr. Apkins. And it is the operation of your board and the opera- 
tion of the money invested in that that does your stabilizing, and 
the function that the equilization fee performs maintaining those losses 
necessarily incident thereto. 
Mr. KiLcore. It is guaranteeing sound financing. 
Mr. Apkins. In other words, when you lost all of the money you 
would be out of business? 
Mr. KiLGcorE. Yes, sir. 
Mr. Apxins. If you did not have some means of going back and 
assessing it on the commodity? That has been brought out time and 
time again by these men. 
. Mr. Hain. And without the equalization fee those losses would 
ave to be borne by the few fellows who belonged to the cooperative 
associations. These co-called loans are, after all, charged back to 
the responsible members of the copoerative socitieies. Of course, 
~ Jn not carry that load and would be out of business, and we 
Would pave sy go back to the Government again to get a new loan. 
. epend on how much tax money we had in there to deter- 
nips how many times we could go back and get new loans. | 
squ oli SonrEr Let me see if you agree with this statement: The 
lo carry out this plan? e an additional fund to the revolving fund 
Mr. KirLcorEe. That is right.