AGRICULTURAL RELIEF - 257 Mr. AsweLL. Then you have never submitted that to any of the local cooperatives anywhere in the country? Just the officers did that? Mr. KiLcore. They are the representatives of the State associa- tions, and then the State associations are made up of the membership. Mr. AsweLL. Let us get this point clear. You had 36 men there. They were officers, and they met and established a new organization and elected officers. In what way do they represent the little cotton producer down in the country? Mr. Kivcore. Just like you gentlemen represent the individual farmers and other citizens back in your district. They elect you as their representatives here in Congress. Those farmers in the differ- ent States voted for directors in the different districts. There are usually 11 directors for each association. The members in each of those districts elect those 10 members. There is one director at large. Then those 11 men elect three in the exchange to go to Mem- phis, and they are the policy-making body for all the associations. Is that clear? Mr. AswerLL. How many members—cooperative associations— does the exchange represent now? Mr. KiLcore. About half what it did at its height, and I am going to tell you why that is so. You are getting my conclusions ahead of my story. Mr. WiLLiams. Mr. Kilgore, at the time your organization was at its height, we will say, what percentage of the cotton crop did you represent? Mr. KiLcore. About 10 per cent. These cotton cooperatives in the several States were organized just during and following the period of distress in agriculture—1920, 1921, and 1922. Mr. KiNncHELOE. You mean the beginning of the distress? Mr. KiLGorE. Yes, the beginning of the distress, thank you. They were organized during this period. Three of them handled the cotton crops of 1921 of their members. Most of the other associations were organized and handled the crops of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, and 1927. The crops of 1922, 1923, and 1924 were barely in amount equal to the needs for consumption of cotton. The average price for these three crops of 1922, 1923, and 1924 was 24.82 cents per pound, according to the Department of Agriculture. During that period our membership grew to its largest number; that is, to around 300,000; because the supply of cotton being prac- tically, or nearly the same as the consumption, we got good prices. We had a satisfied membership, and we grew in that time to handle the largest amount of cotton that we have handled before or since, then came the large crop of 1925, being 16,000,000 bales. The pro- duction amounted to about 2,000,000 bales beyond the needs for immediate consumption. With an increase of 13 per cent in pro- duction, there was a decrease of 25 per cent in the price; that is, in 1925 the crop started off, when the estimate was below and up to 14,000,000 bales, at almost 25 cents. When the estimate came up to 16,000,000 bales, which carried us 2,000,000 bales beyond the needs for consumption, the price dropped very quickly to 18 cents a pound. The next year, 1926, we got our largest of cotton crops, with a pro- duction of 18,000,000 bales. The price started out at 18 cents a pound when the estimates were up to 15.000.000 to 16,000,000 bales,