358

AGRICULTURAL RELIEF
remedy of orderly marketing, taking the surplus off the market, as we
see it. But, as 1 have said a number of times, we felt we did not
want to incorporate that all in one bill; we wanted just the one
principle in one bill.

Mr. Kerceanm. Is that all, Mr. Goss?

Mr. Goss. I just wanted to call attention of the committee to the
set-up of the bill; that it has merit in its low cost of operation; that
every dollar under it .goes to ‘the farmer. because there 1s not any
oi, expense in its operation.

Mr. KincreLoE. There would be if you had an export corporation.

Mr. Goss. If we had an export corporation. there would be some
expense. }

Mr. Kixcurroe. There would be millions appropriated out of the
Treasury in order to buy this stuff.

Mr. Goss. I am speaking simply of the set-up. There is no possi-
bility of evasion; there is no possibility of burden lying on a person
more than his just share. There is nothing artificial about it. So
this is an attempt to go directly to the cause of our agricultural
depression, which we believe is our higher standards of living and
higher cost of production; and removing that cost by establishing a
system which will enable us to meet the difference in cost of produc-
tion between home and abroad; and we know there are many, many
proposals before your committee having great merit, and we have the
utmost confidence in the judgment of the committee that they will
consider all of them and will accept from the proposals the best there
is and incorporate them in a bill which will bring us the kind of
equalization which we need.

Mr. Menges. How much time do you think Mr. Mellon, Mr.
Hoover, and Mr. Jardine could give to the enforcement of this opera-
tion after they had done their other work? You appreciate they

would have to employ somebody to do this work for them?

Mr. Goss. There would have to be an executive secretary, together
with enough clerks, to look after the establishing and control of these
rates of debentures; and that is about the extent of the cost. We
have provided for an appropriation of $50,000, which we believe
would be ample to cover the expense of that operation.

Mr. Kercaam. Mr. Goss, just before you leave the stand, there is
one other feature of this plan, that it would not disturb the present
systems of distribution; it simply fits in, takes them as they are, CO-
operatives and all, and unless the export corporation idea is in-
corporated in the bill it would leave the situation as it is?

‘Mr. Goss. You are correct, Mr. Ketcham. There is no system of
distribution that is now in effect or that has been proposed that this
would disturb in any way. I doubt if there is a program of farm
relief that could not be put into operation when this is in operation.
However we feel that most of them would be unnecessary. We feel
if we met the difference in the cost of production that the flow of our
surplus over world markets would automatically pick up and relieve
us of this problem of great surplus which is bearing our market.

Mr. Kercuam. Before we close, I just want to say, for the benefit
of those here and the members of the committee, that the plan now
is to have three other witnesses appear, and the time they consume
will depend upon the interest shown and the questions asked. Fol-