AGRICULTURAL RELIEF 
“You knew he would veto it. Why did you pass a bill that you knew 
he would veto?’ 
Mr. Gray. The alternative is for Congress to pass some bill which 
the farmers do not want and which might be repugnant to them. 
Mr. WiLriams of Illinois. If you have that feeling, that you have 
to have this or nothing, of course you will get nothing, and there are 
a great many people in the country who would like to have nothing. 
Mr. Apkins. Let me say this. I put up as good an argument as 
I knew how in the House for this proposition. 
Mr. Gray. You made a good speech, Congressman, in favor of 
this bill. 
Mr. Apkins. So far as I was concerned, I was willing to do all I 
could for the bill. I am giving you this preliminary history before I 
put my question. The reaction I got from that speech surprised me, 
from our own friends who heard the speech and those who read it. 
I sent it the next morning to every Member of the House and the 
Senate. But what surprised me at that time was, in talking with a 
number of fellows that came in one after the other, this is what they 
all said: “My God, you are not going to put us up against the 
equalization fee again?” Now a good many farmers are going to 
say, “You hnew the President would veto that.” That convinced 
me that if we reported this bill out to the House that they will take 
the equalization fee out in the Committee of the Whole. I think I 
am in a position, by reason of having put up the strong argument 
that I did in favor of the bill, and by reason of the reaction that I 
have got on that proposition, and perhaps in as good position as any 
other Member of Congress, because of my record—and it speaks for 
itself, to ask you this question, as a representative of the createst 
farm organization in the world— 
Mr. Gray. Thank you. 
Mr. Apkins. I am saying that advisedly. The farmers writing me 
(which correspondence I expect to put in the record), some of the 
most conservative men we have got, say “Get us some farm bill, if 
necessary, without the equalization fee.” 
Now if we should bring this bill out, on the suggestion of the best 
thought of the farm organizations’ representatives in Washington, 
with a set-up of $400,000,000, with a board with all these powers 
and functions as suggested here, and can get that set up and start 
in—it will take some little time to operate, and I am no less of the 
opinion that the equalization fee is necessary to maintain it than I 
have been, but when a man goes so far as to say, pass some law that 
would at least give the farmer some hope, and winds up his letter by 
saying, “I hope you have a pleasant time in Washington, Charley, 
but (laughter) to be frank with you, I have little hope of Congress 
doing anything for the farmer.” 
Mr. Gray. We have great hope. - 
Mr. Apkins. I am talking about the fellows I am representing. 
Now, then, with this bill passed as you suggest, representing the full 
deliberation of practically all of the farm organizations of the coun- 
try, it is going to take some time to organize; and with this board 
provided, as we suggest, with $400,000,000 behind it as a fund, it 
certainly will have some effect on the market and at least give the 
farmers some hove. We still reserve the right and still have the 
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