608

AGRICULTURAL: RELIEF
is no wheat that can be produced nowadays, considering labor and
other conditions, including the difficulties they are operating under
and the high prices—we might mention the tariff and other things—
for less than $1.45; that is the cheapest.

Therefore, you should have a board that would bé national in
operation, and the board would be approved by the President of the
United States or such authority as the legislation would give; it
would be sent to him for his approval—he would not name them; let
us keep it out of that if we can. In that way you would then estab-
lish what? Authority in 14 States the same as the authority, with-
out being written into law, as to-day handles 10 organizations handling
82 per cent of all the steel in the United States, which is of twice the
value of all the wheat.

Mr. Apxins. As to the credit. I suppose you have studied this
cooperative business. I do not presume you know of a single com-
modity cooperative organization that has ample assets to-day that has
any more trouble getting credit than private organizations. It is
only the ones that are bankrupt that can not get credit. So that such
an organization and set-up as that, which was sound financially and
het sufficient assets, would not need any particular legislation to get
credit.

Mr. Yoakum. Yes. We cover the whole United States, which is
the only way to handle any competitive product. You would have
to have assets that would enable you to operate just the same as
your machinery of the Federal reserve would do.

Mr. FuLmMer. Mr. Yoakum, do you propose under your bill to
allow this board to fix a fair price on the commodity based on the
cost of production, etc.?

Mr. Yoakum. Yes, sir; it would have to. There is no use taking
this half way. If we can not do that, what is the use? If you can
not fix the price. If you go to a peanut stand the fellow fixes the
price, but the fellow who grows the peanuts in Georgia has nothing
to do with fixing the price.

Mz. Chairman, I am very much obliged.

Mr. KincuELOE. Mr. Yoakum, may I make a request? Exhibit A
you have filed contains a whole lot of information. If you can
amplify that I would like to have you do it. Of course, you have
said it is impossible to put in the cost of processing, but I would like
for you to take the time to go over your remarks carefully, and I
think the committee would not object if there is anything you can
think of in the way of statistics to go ahead and put them in, because
I am frank to say that I have had the pleasure of hearing you several
times before, but I think your talk this morning is the most funda-
mental, not only so far as American agriculture is concerned, but
agriculture of the world, I have heard before this committee in my
short term of eight years I have been a member of the committee.

Mr. CrLarkE. And I want to compliment you upon your presenta-
tion. I think it is not alone fundamental, it is far-reaching, it is
instructive. We have got brains enough around this table so that
if we could sit down with a few of you fellows and get together we
could whip this into something that could be made of everlasting
benefit to agriculture, and I am grateful to you for coming here.

Mr. Fort. Have you any copies of your memorandum other than
the one you left with the reporter?