180 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



been consulted at my order or request, not because I don't respect 

 bis opinion but because it seemed to me that it was our job to develop 

 our points of view. I should also like to say to you apropos of that 

 same general thing that the decision to make the specific recommenda- 

 tions that are made here rests wholly on my own shoulders. 



A lot of very able, valuable, and useful men, good public servants, 

 worked long and hard on it, but the responsibility for having made the 

 specific recommendations is mine. 



Oris Wells has written a number of times in opposition to so-called 

 compensatory payments. 



Therefore, I do not want you if you do not like this, to say, "Well 

 now, Mr. Wells, put those crazy ideas in the Secretary's head." 



They are my ideas and I will stand back of them. 



Mr. Andresen. Just be patient with us, Mr. Secretary, because 

 as far as I am concerned, while I might agree with some of the things 

 that you have mentioned, I want to find out about them in the first 

 place. 



Mr. Chairman, ojir time this morning is limited and I know I have 

 taken more time than I should, but I want information on this and 

 I hope that the Secretary will be back. 



Secretary Brannan. I will be back as often as this committee can 

 stand to look at my face. 



Mr. White. Will the gentleman yield? 



The Chairman. Mr. Simpson wants recognition when Mr. Andresen 

 releases the floor. 



Mr. Andresen. With the understanding that you will come back, 

 Mr. Secretary, I will not pursue this more but I do want to pursue it 

 at a later date and I would like you to have your experts here with 

 you so they can give us some facts on cost. 



In my opinion, this is going to cost between 5 and 10 billion dollars 

 a year to the taxpayers, and the whole program, as I see it, is predi- 

 cated upon the ability of Congress to appropriate money and the 

 Treasury to have that money to pay out. 



I want the farmers to get good prosperity incomes and I want people 

 to get food as cheaply as they can, so we are in accord on that, but we 

 have to recognize that somebody has to pay the bill and therefore we 

 want to know what the cost will be. 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Andersen, may I also at that time lay 

 before you in the committee the cost of conducting the program which 

 we now have in force and effect upon the books? 



Mr. Andresen. I wish you would, because then we will have an 

 opportunity to make some comparisons. 



Secretary Brannan. One guess will not be any better than the 

 other but we certainly have some crystal-clear examples in potatoes 

 and eggs and we have one or two coming on now in pork and milk 

 that are not going to look too small to the taxpayers. 



Mr. Andresen. I tried to analyze potatoes, considering the present 

 crop and the crop that we have just had. 



Potatoes would be selling for 50 cents a bushel to the consumers of 

 the counky but it would cost the United States Treasury between 

 300 and 400 million dollars to reimburse the potato farmers. 



Secretary Brannan. All right; the cost is $400,000,000. 



Mr. Andresen. Last year? 



