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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.