392 
AGRICULTURAL RELIEF 
House oF REPRESENTATIVES, 
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 
Washington, D. C., Tuesday, February 14, 1928. 
The committee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 o’clock a. m.. 
Hon. Gilbert N. Haugen (chairman) presiding. 
Present: Representatives Haugen, Williams, Ketcham, Hall, Fort, 
Menges, Andresen, Adkins, Clarke, Hope, Aswell, Kincheloe, Jones, 
and Rubey. . 
The CHARMAN. The committee will kindly come to order. 
Mr. Kercraam. Mr. Chaiarman and gentlemen of the committee, it 
will be recalled that at the conclusion of the hearings the other day 
permission was given to Mr. Jesse Newsom, the master of the Indiana 
State Grange, to include in the report of the proceedings of the 
committee a brief statement which he wished to submit by reason of 
the fact that he could not stay over for the hearings to-day; and I 
have this statement here, just a very brief one, and unless some one 
desires to object, we will simply submit it. 
(The statement referred to is as follows:) 
STATEMENT OF JESSE NEWSOM, MASTER OF THE INDIANA STATE GRANGE 
As master of the Indiana State Grange, I wish to say that sentiment among 
the farmers of my State is crystallizing in favor of the export debenture plan 
of farm relief. 
The export debenture plan appeals to our people because of its simplicity 
and workability, its certainty to benefit farm prices, and the high authority 
upon which the fundamentals of the plan rest. 
The authority in question was Alexander Hamilton, our first Secretary of 
the Treasury, who by common consent is acclaimed as the ablest of the long 
line of d stinguished men who have held that imnortant position in the Cabinet 
of the President. 
The prcblem confronting the Nation in its beginning was how to raise the 
revenue to finance the Government, and how best to develop the resources of the 
country to the advancement, happiness, and general welfare of our people. 
In the formative period of our country our population was overwhelmingly 
agricultural. There was slight possibility of raising money by many of the 
methods which we now employ. The tariff system was the main source of 
revenue in our early history, and its chief exponent was none other than the 
great conservative, Alexander Hamilton. 
In his famous report on manufactures, made to Congress in 1791, upon the 
request of that body, Hamilton gave recognition to the fact high import duties 
for the encouragement and protection of the industries of the country would 
reduce the income from the customs branch of the Government. 
Notwithstanding this tendency, however, the Secretary of the Treasury 
advocated the encouragement of our industries, even though the policy pursued 
interrupted the flow of millions of dollars into the treasury from the customs 
branch of the Government. 
Not only did Hamilton, 135 years ago, suggest our protective policy as a 
means of fostering our industries, but he indicated the measures to be adopted 
to ‘“ conciliate ” or recompense agriculture. so that the benefits of our tariff 
policy might be evenly distributed. 
The Supreme Court had held that the power to tax and untax remains with 
Congress. In other words, Congress has the power to levy high protective 
duties, and moderate import duties, or it has the power to place commodities 
on the free list and {o authorize drawbacks and rebates. the legal principle 
which underlies the export debenture plan. 
Ts avs Hatin 95 per cent of the revenue came from the tariff. 
Consequently -he i 2 per ia of the national revenues come from that source. 
onsequently he 1mportance of the tariff as a source of revenue is rapidly 
diminishing, d the oth i . 3 
g. and the other function, that of a regulator and promoter of busi- 
he prosperity, is rapidly increasing. 
nega interesting io wig that Hamilton said that in a perfect com- 
. : 11d be the prevalent custom: that it was not his