Senator PEPPER. Likewise, Mr. Chairman, I should like to incorporate into the record table 11, page 23, of the document that I have identified.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, that will be done.

Senator PEPPER. That shows what has happened over a period of 5 years, year by year.

(The same is as follows:)

TABLE 11.-Tomatoes, fresh: Summary of monthly carlot shipments and imports, November to June 1931-32 to 1936-37

The CHAIRMAN. Senator, I notice here that the imports from Cuba continued to increase after the trade agreements. The United States exports of tomatoes to Canada following a concession obtained for tomatoes, obtained in the trade agreement in that country increased also. They rose from a yearly average of 9,000,000 pounds in the

3 years preceding the agreement to 19,000,000 in the 3 years following the agreement. So that we did get some benefits by virtue of the Canadian agreement on tomatoes that you are alluding to?

Senator PEPPER. Senator, before I answer that, may I complete the suggestion that we also incorporate in the record pages 6 and 7 of the pamphlet that I identified from the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, giving the records of imports from Cuba and from Mexico into the United States of tomatoes, green beans, new potatoes, green peppers, cucumbers and eggplant over the 5-year period from 1931-32 to 1936-37.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, that will be done. (The same is as follows:)

TABLE 2.-Vegetables: Monthly shipments from Florida, imports from Cuba and
Mexico, and total shipments and imports, November to June, 6-year averages,

1931-32 to 1936-37

TABLE 2.-Vegetables: Monthly shipments from Florida, imports from Cuba and Mexico, and total shipments and imports, November to June, 6-year averages, 1931-32 to 1936-37-Continued

1 Shipments from States other than Florida and imports from countries other than Cuba and Mexico, in carlot equivalents.

2 Less than 2 car.

3 Months of reduced duty on imports from Cuba.

4 Months of reduced duty on lima beans from Cuba.

Senator PEPPER. Now, Mr. Chairman, answering the question that you put, I am glad that you made that suggestion. The interesting thing is that that new tomato business that came to the tomato growers of this country did not go to the Florida tomato growers or else it would have been reflected in the figures that I gave here a moment ago, because I gave the total Florida output.

Now, Mr. Chairman, I am not here to say that maybe the United States as a whole-maybe other sections of the United States may not have profited by this trade agreement with Cuba, but I am here to say that the trade agreement with Cuba has had a detrimental effect upon the vegetable industry of my State, and I am representing that State and I am protesting to this Committee and to the Congress that the prosperity of the remainder of the United States should not be taken out of the economic hide, as it were, of the vegetable growers of the State of Florida.

Senator CONNALLY. How can we rectify that? Have you any amendment, Senator?

Senator PEPPER. Well, I will say to the Senator from Texas that I have not a specific amendment, because I have been troubled by this whole problem and troubled in an honest effort after consulting with the departments, to find a way that the detriment in some satisfactory manner could be removed. The same situation exists with respect to competition from Mexico. I think they pay the full tariff that has been prescribed in the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Law. There has been a constant increase in the quantity of those commodities that have come into this country in competition with what is grown in the State of Texas which the Senator so ably represents, and in competition with other tomato-producing areas of this country.

What I want to do is to submit to the judgment of this Committee the question as to whether or not we are not willing to formulate as a part of the Trade Agreement Law the principle that there must be some limitation upon the degree of competition that we will allow in the importation of agricultural and horticultural commodities into this country in competition with the production of those commodities. in this country, unless it is a commodity with respect to which there is a scarcity in this country's production.

Senator CONNALLY. What would you think of the quota system? Senator PEPPER. I will say to the able Senator from Texas that that is the principle that should be established in this law.

Senator CONNALLY. In other words, that they could not increase the volume?

Senator PEPPER. I am not so much interested in the amount of the tariff, because it is entirely possible that the tariff may not be the answer to the question, unless there is actually a prohibitory tariff, but I have a feeling, Mr. Chairman, that when the Department entered into this, trade agreement with Cuba that they were not aware of the fact that we in Florida, for example, were in substantial or appreciable competition with Cuba in the production of these eight vegetables that are described in that trade agreement. They thought that it was the season when Florida was not producing anything of that character to speak of.

Now, I say either that they were wrong in the facts, because I have shown you the figures, or else they deliberately decided that that much competition was not harmful to Florida, or they deliberately determined that even if it were harmful to Florida, it was desirable in the general public interest to let it occur. If an error was the basis of their activity, it ought to be corrected when the facts are disclosed, and if I have been persistent in anything since I have been here, it has been in an effort to disclose those facts to the Departments of our Government. The second day I came to Washington in 1936, I went over to the State Department and I got an interview with the State Department and protested about the trade agreement with Cuba, which has actually been detrimental to the vegetable producers of South Florida, and ever since I have been here I have tried to get a declaration of principle to find which one of those things was the basis of their determination. I say if there is an error of fact, it should be corrected when the error is disclosed. If they determined that this competition was not deterimental to the State of Florida, and we have shown facts, that fact should be taken appropriately into consideration. If they take the position that it is in the general interest that this agreement has been executed and we are going to have to pay the price of it, I protest against discriminating against any segment of this country for the remainder of it.

Senator CONNALLY. How could they reduce any tariff without hurting those who produce that particular article in the United States? Senator PEPPER. I think the principle will have to be that unless there is a shortage in production of that commodity in this country so that the public interest requires that there be a larger volume of that commodity, we should not allow any substantial quantity of that commodity to come into this country at a time, at least, when it is being produced by the producers of this country.

If we do that, you cannot avoid the logical conclusion that a part of the prosperity that we reap from that policy comes from a part of our own people, and we might just as well say that we are going to take a part of the wealth of Texas and appropriate it to the benefit of New York or Michigan as to carry out the principle that has that inevitable effect.

So that, what I want to address myself to is the hope that the Committee can formulate some appropriate policy that will be appropriate not only to such an agreement as that between the United