TO PREVENT SALE OF COTTON AND GRAIN IN FUTURE MARKETS 33
STATEMENT OF LLOYD S. TENNY, ASSISTANT CHIEF, BU-
REAU OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Mr. TENNY. I am not going to testify myself. I am going to ask
Mr. Palmer, who is in charge of our cotton division. I simply want
to say that our situation is quite different from that of Mr. Duvel.
We do not have a regulatory act in cotton that gives us authority to
gather information that Doctor Duvel does. Mr. Palmer will describe
the one or two acts affecting the cotton futures work that we do in
the Bureau of Agricultural Economics and explain just how those
are administered, and what effect they may have on the future trading
work.
The CHAIRMAN. All right, we will hear Mr. Palmer then.
STATEMENT OF ARTHUR W. PALMER, IN CHARGE OF
DIVISION OF COTTON MARKETING, UNITED STATES DE-
PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
The CHAIRMAN. State your name.
Mr. PALMER. Arthur W. Palmer.
The CHAIRMAN. Your business?
Mr. PALMER. I am in charge of the Division of Cotton Marketing
in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.
The CHAIRMAN. In the Agricultural Department?
Mr. PALMER. Yes, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. You are acquainted with this bill before the com-
mittee?
Mr. PALMER. I am, Senator. .
. The CHAIRMAN. Unless Senator Caraway has something he wants
to ask you, I will ask the witness just to go on in his own way and
tell us about this bill.
Senator CARAWAY. Yes. .
Mr. PALMER. Perhaps it would be helpful if I should explain how
the question has been up before, and what has been done up to this
time.
I believe that prior to 1914——
Senator CARAWAY. Will you pardon me just a minute? Unless
it is necessary for your statement, you know there are just 40 minutes
left, and the historical part of it, if you don’t mind, unless the com-
mittee wants you to go into that, I do not think it is necessary for you
to make that statement.
Mr. PALMER. I thought it would be helpful in showing what the
present legislation on the subject is.
Senator CARAWAY. I think the committee is familiar with that.
Mr. PALMER. I thought it would be important to get that in,
but I am at the will of the committee, of course.
Perhaps it would not be too much of an introduction to say that
this question was made the subject of a study in 1908 and 1909
by Mr. Herbert Knox Smith, who was then commissioner of cor-
porations of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Mr. Smith’s
investigation applies particularly to cotton. In 1914, following up
somewhat the recommendations of Herbert Knox Smith’s report,
Congress enacted the cotton futures act. The act imposed a tax