AGRICULTURAL RELIEF 
5903 
now on a population basis—living off of 32,000,000 farm population. 
The distributing costs are twice as much as the farmer gets for pro- 
ducing the food, and this will continue so long as the farmers remain 
unorganized for united marketing. Local marketing means nothing. 
1t only means they get together, cooperate, but it means no stabiliza- 
ion. 
Now, here is something that is interesting on account of its rapid 
growth. There are now $500,000,000 invested in food-selling cor- 
porations. This situation is growing rapidly, which will further have 
a tendency to actually grind down the farmer. The financial cor- 
porations organized on a big scale to purchase farm raw products 
and distribute to consumers with or without being processed, as 
conditions demand—they sell both raw and processed—financially 
strong, well-managed corporations, find no difficulty in placing with 
the investing public securities of large dairy, poultry, bakery, and 
other combinations. The securities of these organizations are excep- 
tionally safe investments for the reason that such corporations con- 
trol prices both from the farmer and to the consumer. That is, 
they make their own prices; they therefore can make their own 
profits. That is nothing in the world but a simple business propo- 
sition—they establish their own prices, therefore they establish their 
own profits. 
I am not criticizing these farm product corporations; they are based 
on sound and profitable methods. There is nothing to be gained by 
criticizing them, because they are to-day a thing that is with us, a 
situation that we are faced with. We have them, and they are doing 
a wonderful big business. But considering you as a producer and my- 
self as a consumer, there is only one place that those great corporations 
can hope to make money, that is to take your stuff as cheap as they 
can get it and sell it to me as high as 1 will pay for it; that is, as high 
as the business will stand. 
The criticism, which is a severe one, is that the Government has 
been neglectful in not enacting a permissive law under which the 
farmers can unite their strength under boards of control, with power 
to stabilize profitable prices of organized farm commodities. In the 
absence of such authority they will soon find themselves entirely under 
the dictation of a few purchasers. That is where we are drifting. 
Corporations engaged in purchasing farm products to distribute to 
consumers have outstanding more than $500,000,000 of stocks, and 
bonds sold to the public, paying coupons and handsome dividends 
from farm products distributed and sold to consumers, including milk, 
butter, poultry, bakeries, etc. I do not want you to get alarmed: 
I am not going to take up much of your time. 
Mr. CLarkE. We are not alarmed. I think this a wonderfully in- 
structive talk and a long-headed view of a difficult situation. 
Mr. Yoakum. I want to show you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen 
of the committee; I want you to understand that I have made a 
study of this—no organized study, no corporation study, but a study 
that IT have made for the purpose, whether it is of any value or not; 
and I want to place the actual facts before you. I want this com- 
mittee to understand the facts as they exist. ~~ 
I have given you the amount of these securities issued; 1t runs a 
little mors than $500,000,000, and these are by the best bankers of 
the United States. There is no questioning these things. In one