AGRICULTURAL RELIEF

493

level, 15 cents above. There are 200,000,000 bushels exportable
surplus, and it takes 15 cents a bushel on the whole crop and makes
a generous margin for the equalization fee.

Mr. Jones. You have to leave this 15 cents off of nearly 2,000.000
bushels. You have done that?

Mr. CAvERNO. Yes.

Mr. Jones. I was trying to get accurate information.

Mr. CaveErNo. Based on 200,000,000 export and 800,000,000 crop.
The larger the crop the larger the export surplus and the larger the
equalization fee.

Mr. JoNEs. And the more that goes into these items I have enu-
merated the larger the fee would have to be.

Mr. CaveErNo. Yes; that is taken out. But you are paying for
wheat to the farmer on the basis of $1.27, and he fails to get that 15
cents because he is raising an export surplus.

Mr. Jones. To pay this 200,000,000 loss or failure to get the in-
crease on the world price it would be necessary to make up a deficit
of 42 cents under the American price?

Mr. CaveErNoO. Yes.

Mr. Jones. That would be some $84,000,000 involved in the failure
to reach the domestic price.

Mr. Caverno. You will find that figures out right.

Mr. Jones. I am wondering if 15 cents a bushel on 600,000,000
bushels would only be $90,000,000, and the question of whether this
1s sufficient would depend upon how much of the total crop goes into
items of seed, feed, and other farm uses.
fdr. Caverno. I know that was winnowed out on the floor of the

ouse.

Mr. Jones. These figures in wheat were not discussed, were they?

Mr. Caverno. Oh, yes; they have been taken into consideration.

Mr. Jones. I did not know whether you had taken them into con-
sideration in your figures or not.

Mr. CaverNo. Whatever the amount of the equalization fee is,
the farmer gets that much less than the Liverpool price, plus 42.

Mr. Jones. And you are sure all these things were taken into con-
sideration in arriving at the 15 cents?

Mr. Caverno. Yes; with the equalization fee of 15 cents a bushel,
the farmer would still be getting 27 cents a bushel on the part of the
crop he puts on the market above Liverpool price. The crop flows

from the farm on the $1.27 level. It is stepped up to the American
level of $1.42, and the 200,000,000 bushels stepped down to the for-
eign level, and the whole crop pays the loss on the surplus exported.

Mr. KincHELOE. Figuring your way, Mr. Jones, they would also
pay the equalization fee on the 200,000,000 bushels fed?

Mr. Jones. They would collect on that but not on these other
items I mentioned.

Mr. KincHELOE. I am like you, so far as arriving at the 15 cents a
bushel is concerned, there is not anybody on earth who knows what
it is going to be from one year to another.

Mr. Caverno. That depends on the proportion of the exportable
surplus.

Mr. KincHELOE. It depends on the expense of operating.

Mr. Caverno. You, yourself, volunteered——

Mr. Kincueroe. I did, for information: I wanted to get your
PINION.