56 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



acreage allotments, but the desii-ability and practicability of it might 

 be carefully examined. 



Mr. Andrp:sen. During all of the prewar years, you did have 

 acreage allotments on corn? 



Secretary Brannan. That is right. 



Mr. Andresen. And you did not have marketing quotas? 



Secretary Brannan. That is right. 



Mr. Andresen. And if a farmer did not live up to his acreage 

 allotments for corn, he was denied either all or a portion of the bene- 

 fits under the Soil Conservation Act? 



Secretary Brannan. That is right. 



Mr. Andresen. So that you have that method of control. I 

 know up in our territory we have difficulty in raising enough corn to 

 fill our silos, because of restrictions that were made in the acreage- 

 allotment program. "What I want to bring out here is that you can 

 attempt to control production, even though you do not put marketing 

 quotas into operation, through the acreage-allotment plan. 



Secretary Brannan. Yes; you can attempt to do it. 



Mr. Pace. Will the gentleman yield? 



Mr. Andresen. Yes. 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Secretary, your lawyers tell me that not only can 

 you put acreage controls into effect, and not only can you penalize 

 a man on his payments under the Soil Conservation Act, deny those 

 for noncompliance, but that you can also deny him the support-price 

 program for failure to comply. It is news to me, frankly. 



Secretary Brannan. I understand that to have been the law since 

 1938. 



Mr. Pace. So they say. 



Secretary Brannan. I understand it never to have been used, 

 but nevertheless it was the law. 



Mr. Pace. I understand that a former Solicitor has an opinion to 

 that effect, which I am going to study very carefully. 



Secretary Brannan. Two different Solicitors, as a matter of fact. 



Mr. Andresen. I have two of three other questions that I wanted 

 to ask you about, but Mr. Hill wanted to ask you a question before 

 I conclude. 



Mr. Hill. Mr Secretary, to clear up my own thinking, according 

 to your testimony yesterday, if I recall correctly, you said that 80 

 percent of this corn was used on the farms, is that correct? 



Secretary Brannan. Just about 80 percent is consumed on the 

 farms, and converted into pork, chiefly. 



Mr. Hill. Why is the Department of Agriculture interested only 

 in that 20 percent of the corn crop? Speaking from a national stand- 

 point, why should we try to control the use of corn that the farmer 

 feeds to his cattle and hogs and markets in a different category than 

 he markets the corn itself? 



I do not see the complexity of this problem when you look at it 

 from the standpoint that you are interested in only 20 percent. I 

 wish you would tell me why you want to control what the farmer 

 grows and puts into livestock or dairy cattle or other processes on 

 the farm. 



Secretary Brannan. Of course, we do not want to do any such 

 thing, but in terms of what is in the best interest of the people and 

 what is desirable to carry out the mandates of the statute to try to 



