NEW MEXICO RELIEF. COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, The committee met, pursuant to adjournment of yesterday, at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Gilbert N. Haugen (chairman) presiding. Present: Representatives Haugen (chairman), Voigt, McLaughlin, Tincher, Williams, Sinclair, Thompson, Clague, Clarke, Ketcham, Aswell, Kincheloe, Jones, Fulmer, Rubey, Johnson, and McSweeney. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will kindly come to order. The committee has met this morning to consider Senate Joint Resolution No. 52, for the relief of the drought-stricken farm areas of New Mexico, which is as follows: JOINT RESOLUTION For the relief of the drought-stricken farm areas of New Mexico. Whereas many sections of New Mexico are impoverished because of a continued drought that has persisted for the past three years, and farmers so affected have borrowed money from all sources until now their credit facilities are exhausted, and they can no longer obtain funds to continue the cultivation of their farms; and Whereas weather conditions now prevailing in New Mexico point to a very successful year for farming providing the farmers of these drought-stricken areas can obtain the necessary funds to operate their farms and thereby be able to recuperate their losses caused by repeated crop failures: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized, for the spring and fall planting of 1924, to make advances or loans to farmers in the drought-stricken areas of New Mexico, where he shall find that special need exists for such assistance, for the purchase of seed, and feed, for actual farming purposes, not including the purchase of equipment, as he may find need for the cultivation of farm lands within the said State, not to exceed in any instance the sum of $6 per acre. Such advances or loans shall be made upon such terms and conditions and subject to such regulations as the Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe, including an agreement by each farmer to use the money obtained by him for the production of such crops as the Secretary of Agriculture may designate and to give a valid lien on the growing crops to be produced from money obtained through such loan or advance in manner and form as required by the laws of New Mexico, which said lien, when recorded, shall have priority in payment over all other liens or encumbrances of whatsoever kind on such crops. A first lien on the crop to be produced from money obtained through this loan or advance made under this act, shall, in the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture, be deemed sufficient security therefor. All such loans or advances shall be made through such agencies as the Secretary of Agriculture shall designate, and in no instance shall any portion of funds obtained through the administration of this act be used for the payment of obligations other than those incurred under the regulations as provided by the Secretary of Agriculture in the administration and in accordance with the provisions herein contained. SEC. 2. That for the purposes of this act there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $1,000,000, to be immediately available, and not more than $10,000 may be used in the District of Columbia by the Secretary of Agriculture in the administration of this act. SEC. 3. That any person who shall knowingly make any false representation for the purpose of obtaining a loan or advance under the foregoing section upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both. Passed the Senate February 26, 1924. Attest: PANKY COI GEORGE A. SANDERSON, Secretary. Mr. MCKEOWN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask permission of the committee to consider House Joint Resolution No. 202, which is similar to Senate Resolution 52, except that it applies to Oklahoma. The CHAIRMAN. We will hear you, Senator Jones. STATEMENT OF HON. ANDRIEUS A. JONES, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO. Senator JONES. Mr. Chairman. and gentlemen, when I introduced this resolution into the Senate I felt somewhat humiliated to think that it was necessary to do it, but conditions in New Mexico have been such within the last two or three years that I felt that it was justified under the circumstances. Ordinarily I do not believe in the Federal Government giving relief to States or sections of the country unless in an emergency or where the necessity is very great. Conditions in New Mexico have been such that I felt justified in coming to the Congress of the United States and asking for relief. We have a large State geographically, but the population is very sparse. Our State is about 350 miles wide and nearly 410 miles long, and our population is only about 450,000. For more than two years we have been suffering extreme drought, such as the State has never known before. I have lived there nearly 40 years, and there has never been anything approaching it. Not only the drought, but financial conditions generally have been more adverse than I have ever known them. I have been through financial depressions there before, but there has never been anything such as we have there now. During the last year and a half we have had 43 bank failures in the State. During the month of January we had 7 or 8 bank failures, and the result is that there is no liquid money there which the people could get at even if they had the collateral security. Mr. RUBEY. How many banks have you in the State? That will give us an idea of the percentage of bank failures. Mr. MORROW. We had 135 banks before the failures, and we have had between 45 and 50 bank failures. Mr. ASWELL. Were any of those banks which failed national banks? Senator JONES. Some of them, yes. Mr. ASWELL. Do you know the percentage? Senator JONES. I think about one-third of them were national banks. Mr. SINCLAIR. That is, over 30 per cent, almost 40 per cent of failures? Senator JONES. Yes. I presented in the Senate a statement of the diminishing bank resources of the State. The resources of the banks of the State have been reduced about 25 per cent in actual banking facilities. No banks have increased their deposits that I know of. There is no bank in the State to-day to which I can point that is functioning in a normal way. They have been reducing their |