GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 163 



is the reason I did not set my finger specifically on 15 cents. It 

 would be somewhere in that range, maybe 1 or 2 cents above it. 



Mr. Hall. I think a great many people will be friendl}^ to the idea 

 of milk at 15 cents a quart if it can be put into effect. There may be 

 some difficulty involved before we can arrive at that accomplishment. 



Secretary Brannan. We did stick our necks out to say it was 

 feasible. I hope we are right. 



Mr. Hall. I would say it couldn't be any higher than 15 cents, 

 if ^'^ou want to justify the expenditure of the vast sum it will require. 

 I can well recall a decade ago as head of a family of six children and 

 having had to purchase milk for them for the past 10 to 19 years. I 

 can remember going out 12 years ago to one of the neighboring farms 

 in my area and getting milk and carrying it back in a 2-gallon can, 

 and the average price of the milk was 25 cents per gallon. In those 

 days we could afford to raise children. Today it is pretty difficult to 

 do it under the circumstances. I'm glad my job is nearly done. 



1 repeat, such a fai'-reaching subsidy program, it seems to me, must 

 guarantee an amount no higher than 15-cent milk with no loss to the 

 dairy farmer if it is to justify itself. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Chairman Cooley. Mr. Andresen. 



Mr. Andeesen. Air. Chf irman, there are a good many questions I 

 would like to ask the Secretary, but I will not do that now. There 

 is one thing I think we would like to have cleared up. 



The gentleman from New York has mentioned milk. That is one 

 of the largest parts of our agricultural production, milk. 



As I see it, virtually every farmer in the United States who milks a 

 cow would be entitled to compensatory payments from the Govern- 

 ment. I want to ask you a more specific question. 



Considering this new period for the formula, 1939 to 1948, that 

 10-year period, and considering the history of prices during that period, 

 what is your estimate as to the cost to the Government of carrying out 

 the program to provide these compensatory pa3nnents and low food 

 prices to the people? 



Secretary Brannan. Let me say first of all that of course you have 

 to make a number of assumptions in order to reach any such figure. 

 First of all, you have to make an assumption that either all of the milk 

 will move below the support level, or one -half of it, or one-quarter of 

 it will move below the support level. 



Mr. Andresen. I was thinking about the over-all program. In 

 the diversified farm areas, I would say approximately 75 percent of 

 the products produced on the farm will come under the compensatory 

 program. 



Secretary Brannan. That is another assumption which I think has 

 to be examined carefully. Not all fluid milk goes directly to con- 

 sumption by individuals. Some of it goes into cheese and a lot of 

 other things. 



Mr. Andresen. But you have milk, poultry, and meat. Those are 

 the main products produced in the diversified areas. 



Secretary Brannan. Because our intention to try to put the ap- 

 propriate emphasis on the livestock economy caused us to refer to 

 those specifically. 



Mr. Andresen. That is true. You made some estimate of the cost 

 to the Treasury of such a program. How much do you think it will 



