GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 71 



of them to pay for it, in some cases. That is replete in all om* records, 

 so I have no objection to the discussion going on, just as long as you 

 understand that you are not arguing with me about it. 



Mr. Hope. Of course, that has been the policy of Congress also 

 because the AAA Act of 1938 expressly stated that the policy would 

 be one of ample supplies for the consumer. I recall that in the 

 summer of 1937 the Congress passed a resolution before the AAA 

 Act of 1938 came along which went as far as anybody could go in 

 saying that the policy of the Congress was abundant production. 

 That language is as strong as you could possibly make it. That has 

 been the policy of the Congress, and I am sure the policy of the 

 Department. 



Mr. PoAGE. I think it has been the policy of both Congress and 

 the Department, but I do not want to see us venture out on a con- 

 trary policy now. I do not think the Department generally recognized 

 that they had this power, any more than the Congress did, because 

 too many representatives of the Department have been before this 

 committee too many times to discuss the possibility of granting power 

 to tie the soil benefits into the AAA payments, and that sort of thing. 

 You apparently have all of that power right now. 



Mr. CooLEY. They just found a good lawyer down there, Mr. 

 Hunter. 



Mr. PoAGE. I understand that two past solicitors have wi'itten 

 opinions holding that they have that same power. Is that right? 



Secretary Brannan. That is my understanding. 



Mr. PoAGE. But those opinions are not circulated around to the 

 division heads of the Department who do not appear to be imme- 

 diately affected by them, are they? 



Secretary Brannan. I ttiink usually the fellow who asks for the 

 opinion is the one who is interested in it most and maybe the others 

 have access to it but probably do not take the time to look it up. 



Mr. PoAGE. That is right. I do not think it has been generally 

 known in your Department that you had that power; do you? 



Secretary Brannan. That is an awfully difiicult question to answer, 

 because we never wondered whether we did or not, except apparently 

 at the time those opinions were written when somebody was wondering 

 whether we did have them or not. 



Mr. PToEVEN. To go a step further. 1 do not think the farmers of the 

 country kne^\ that the Secretary had that power. 



Mr. PoAGE. Certainly not. xA.t least their Representatives on 

 Congress did not know it, I am certain of that. The farmers thought 

 we had passed a bill, and we thought we had passed a bill that gave 

 the farmers the right to pass on any acreage controls or production 

 goals. We thought we had a law that required the farmers to pass 

 upon it before you cracked down on them. 



We now know that we do not have that democratic law, that we 

 have instead a law that says exactly the same as they say in a great 

 many other nations of this world 



Mr. Andkesen. Will the gentleman yield? 



Does the gentleman understand now that no referendum is required 

 on the part of farmers to put marketing quotas into effect? 



Mr. PoAGE. Certainly 1 understand that. You may not call them 

 marketing quotas, but you put acreage controls into effect and it 

 has the same results. 



