AGRICULTURAL RELIEF

405
We have on the Pacific coast, in Mr. Goss’s State of Washington,
approximately 20,000 members, and they are growing rapidly.

We have a membership from Oklahoma to the Lakes; we have a
membership from Maine to California; and that membership em-
braces every type of American agriculture. It makes it a bit more
difficult for our organization to approach a question and reach a con-
clusion than it would be for an organization in the Corn Belt than
it would be for an organization in New England or an organization
on the Pacific coast.

Mr. AsweLr. Mr. Taber, why is it you do not have any membership
mn the South? *

Mr. Taser. We are organizing now in Virginia and Kentucky.

Mr. AswerLr. I mean in the real South?

Mr. TaBer. Where is the real South?

Mr. AswerLL. Louisiana. [Laughter.]

Mr. Tagger. I will come into your community and organize a grange
next summer.

Mr. AsweLr. I will meet you there.

Mr. Taper. It is an agreement.

Mr. AswerLn. All right.

Mr. Taser. I will give you the obligation and the password.

Mr. ANpreseN. Mr. Taber, there is no difference in the point of
view as it affects the grange member or the other farmer: their prob-
lem is the same.

Mr. TaBer. Absolutely the same; in the same territory. But let
me make this point clear: That is why I read the resolution. The
farmer in New England that feeds grain to dairy cows and to chick-
ens is in a different relationship than the farmer that sells his grain;
he has a different viewpoint of the problems of the equalization fee
and on problems of the debenture.

Mr. Apkins. One is interested in cheap corn and the other is inter-
>sted in high-priced corn?

Mr. Taser. That is not altogether true. But the man interested
in cheap corn and the man interested in high corn is in this relation-
ship: The man who is going to feed the corn wants to be certain that
there is comprehended in the legislation that he indorses a program
whereby as the cost of his production increases he shall be compen-
sated either by tariff adjustments or debenture adjustments; and our
program is the only program that protects that particular individual.

Mr. Apkixs. Do you yield right there?

Mr. TaBer. I yield; yes.

Mr. Apkixs. I think one of the most ardent high-tariff men I know
of in Congress is a New England dairy farmer, who has talked with
me about this matter frequently, and he has not only stated but reiter-
ated the statement that when we developed our cheap productive
land in the Middle West that we put the New England farmer out of
the business of raising corn, and they had to go to dairying and the
raising of chickens. “Now,” he said, “We have to buy your feed
now, and you do not need to think that I would stand, after you have
put us out of business on the grain production, for increasing the
price of grain your produce ot J which we have got to buy to feed.”
He explicitly stated that.

Now, in other words, that is one of our great difficulties: One part
2f the country is the customer for the products crown in another