278
AGRICULTURAL RELIEF
Mr. KiLgorE. No, sir.
Mr. Aswern. Or something like that?
Mr. KiLcore. Not that much.
Mr. AsweLL. It might be around that?
Mr. KiLcorEe. I think——
Mr. AsweLL. And the manager in Alabama, how much did he get?
Mr. KiLgore. Around, I think, $7,500 as general manager.
Mr. Aswiir. The farmers claim there is too much overhead cost;
and then your exchange comes along and adds another height to the
sky of $300,000. That is what is the matter with the cooperatives—
it 1s overhead expense.
Mr. KiLcore. I think you are wrong. Thirty cents a bale is
not a large expenditure.
Mr. AswerL. That is on top of the cooperative expenses. The
$300,000 is extra, what you might call a super-superb capstone, that
is the word.
Myr. KiLcore. That is a very popular position taken by those
who are not over enthusiastic about cooperative associations.
Mr. AswrroL. I am a member of a cooperative, and 1 think the
overhead is what is causing the trouble.
Mr. KiLcore. There is not any such extravagant expense In any
of the cooperatives that I know about. There is not in North
Carolina; and the expenses in the exchange—-
Mr. AsweLn, How many people came up here from North Caro-
{ina with you this time?
Mr. KiLcore. I am by myself.
Mr. AsweLL. You are? 1 thought you had some help.
Mr. KiLcork. No; I have no help; in fact, there is no one here
from the exchange except myself.
Mr. ANDERSON. You are keeping your expenses pretty well down,
are you?
Mr. KiLcore. Yes. The position I hold in the exchange as chair-
man of the board of trustees and, in my own State, as president of
the association, are honorary and not salaried positions.
I stated a minute ago that in the decline of the cotton cooperative
marketing associations, with the weight and burden of the surplus
of the crops of 1925 and 1926 on their backs, is the reason for farm
relief legislation—the McNary-Haugen bill without the equilization
fee with Doctor Aswell, and with the equalization fee with me and
my group of associations.
Mr. AnprESEN. Doctor Kilgore, when you appeared before this
committee two years ago, the equalization fee was somewhat of a
contention at that time. If I recall correctly, your organization did
not want the equalization fee; you did not believe it was feasible,
and you did not think it would work out as to cotton. So, at that
time you asked for a loan fund for cooperatives. You have changed
your opinion altogether.
Mr. KiLcore. We asked for a deferment of the equalization fee
mn often two years. It was a new thing with us at that time.
H angen bill. Jou gentlemen know, had not supported the McNary-
hers , with the exception of just a scattering vote here and
The cotton cooperatives did not become interested in the McNar
" . "yy -~
Haugen bill until the surplus crop of 1925: and we came here first in
