70 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Secretary Brannan. There are a lot of things I would like to go 

 back over. First of all, I do not agree that the last several items 

 you have named are surplus. 



Mr. CooLEY. 1 am willing to concede that they may not be surplus 

 now, but you can certainly foresee the day when they might become 

 surplus. 



Then if al) those five or six major and basic agricultural commodi- 

 ties become surplus on the market, and you take a program and say 

 to all sections of the country that they cannot grow any of these crops 

 or any crop competing with these crops, then you are certainly going 

 to bring about a lot of idle acres. 



Secretary Brannan. Certainly you would if you said all, but I 

 asked you, Mr. Cooley, and the committee, what are the alternatives 

 to some kind of limitation on excessive productiou. 



Mr. White. Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Pace. Mr. White. 



Mr. White. I just wanted to interpose a thought that possibly a 

 little fallow land would not be too bad an idea anyway. Is that not 

 about right? 



Mr. Hill. Will the gentleman yield? It is much better to have a 

 few acres of idle land and save your farmers than to permit them to 

 go into the production of crops that will still break their backs. 



Mr. White. I quite agree with the gentleman. 



Mr. Cooley. Will the gentleman from Texas yield a httle further? 



Mr. PoAGE. I will yield. 



Mr. Cooley. I do not want the record to appear that I am opposed 

 to having idle acreage, but I do wonder if any farm program should 

 be broad enough to take away from the farm owner the right to use 

 his own farm as he wants to use it. 



Mr. Pace. Will the gentleman yield? 



Mr. Cooley. Yes. 



Mr. Pace. There is one other test that should be brought there, 

 and one that I am sure will concern the Secretary. It should be 

 made sure that there is production on the farm adequate to maintain 

 the farmer and his family with a proper standard of living. 



Mr. Poage. Not only that, but there must be production on those 

 farms adequate to maintain the population of the United States with 

 an adequate standard of living at a reasonable price. If we go to a 

 point of simply keeping land idle to force the price of foods up, I 

 do not think we will very long get the support of Congress to keep 

 that going and I do not think that we would deserve its support. 



I think as long as we keep the production of our major crops in 

 reasonable balance and give the consuming public a choice of various 

 foods at fair prices we can expect consumer support for this sort of 

 program. But when we reach a point when we say to the consumer 

 that it does not make any difference what he wants to buy, we are 

 not going to produce it, I do not think we will get the consumer's 

 support or congressional support for that sort of program. 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Chairman, I do not quite know how we 

 got into this area, but I want the record to be completely clear on the 

 point that the long-established position of the Department, at least 

 over the past few years, has been for abundant production and for 

 efficient and economic uses of our lands and the production of enough 

 food for all of our people, even going beyond the capacity of some 



