AGRICULTURAL RELIEF

597
will give you an idea. If Congress would pass a farm commodity
act—and that act has got to be broad and cover everything, of
course—providing for the granting of Federal charters to associations
of producers to market their farm products when organized-—nothing
except as and when organized—the wheat associations could consol.
date their marketing under such charters. I have been in corre-
spondence with them, there are 22 very good substantial wheat
associations in the United States, and they are all very anxious to
do something. I do not mean in this particular plan, but they are
very anxious to see something brought around.

I have a letter here from one of them. I will just show vou one
thing. He says, “A party to any such movement or all of them I
have any knowledge of ’—that is cooperatives—‘“have an overhead
handling charge away from 14 to 20 cents a bushel”’—that is the
local cooperative organizations.

Mr. KINcHELOE. You mean cooperatives when you speak of
associations, do you?

Mr. Yoakum. I speak of the present farm cooperative organiza-
tions throughout the country.

Mr. KincHELOE. When you speak of wheat associations, you mean
cooperative wheat associations.

Mr. Yoakua. Yes, sir.

Mr. Apkins. That is the large ones that have the larce overhead,
not the local cooperatives?

Mr. Yoakum. It is the local cooperatives; I think so. This is the
Farmers Grain Dealers Association of Indiana (Inc.); that is a local
association; there are 22 of them.

Mr. Apkins. I do not know his intentions, if he is talking about
that much overhead.

Mr. Yoagum. That is what he said.

Mr. Apkins. They have one in Indiana. The large pooling associ-
ations have shown that they can not carry that weight of overhead
and that it is eating them up; that is, the large concerns.

Mr. YoaruM. Maybe he refers to the large ones; I do not know.
But that is all he says. C

Mr. Apkins. The locals do not do that; they could not live if
they did. Co

Mr. Yoakum. Some of them have not been quitting.

. Mr. Apkins. They are more successful this vear than they have
been since the war.

Mr. Yoakum. The wheat associations could apply for such a
charter and consolidate their marketing under an “American W heat
Marketing Board of Control (Inc.).” This does not mean that
name will be used, this is only the idea—with authority to organize
State boards of control when and where deemed advisable.

Eighty per cent of any commodity controls its price; 80 per cent
of our wheat is raised in 14 States. If the wheat producers of these
States could under direction of a wheat marketing board of control,
organize and operate under a Federal charter, they would control
the domestic market and could, eventually, influence the foreign
market by forming a “North American International W heat Pool,
as this countrv and Canada contribute 68 per cent of the world’s
surplus-wheat.