GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



183 



Mr. HoEVEN. Mr. Brannan, would you say that your proposal is 

 a flexible price-support program? 



Secretary Brannan. No ; as that term has become accepted in the 

 public thinking, it is not the flexible price-support program which is 

 defined in the Aiken bill. 



It is not rigid, either. There is considerable elasticity in the 

 program. 



There will be an adjustment of prices to the parity index which 

 has been the key factor in the old parity formula for a long time. 



There will be a change year by year in that, both for the total farm 

 income and for the farm purchasing power as represented by parity 

 index. 



I have copies of the formula here. 



(The formula above referred to is as follows:) 



Formula for computation of National Farm Income Support Standard and Specific 

 Farm Commodity Price Support Standard 



STEP I— NATIONAL FARM INCOME SUPPORT STANDARD 



1949: 27.5 billions (estimate); 



21.0 (average, years 1940-49). 



144 (current— March 1949 index used as estimate for 1950). 



National farm income support standard equals 10-year average farm dollar purchasing power (18.2 billions) 

 multiplied by index prices paid by farmers (144) which is 26.2 (billions of dollars). 



STEP II— SPECIFIC FARM COMMODITY PRICE SUPPORT STANDARD 



(Projected estimate for 1950) 



Income standard 26.2 billion] 



\=l:25 (26.2 divided by 21.0). 



Average cash receipts, 10-year period, 1940-49 21.0 billionj 



Mr. HoEVEN. Mr. Secretary, are you recommending the repeal of 

 the so-called Aiken bill? 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Hoeven, I suppose you read the state- 

 ment that Senator Aiken made on the Senate floor the other day. 

 You will observe that he says there are many similarities. 



Of course, to that extent I am not recommending the repeal of the 

 Aiken bill. I am recommending some changes in the Aiken bill, the 



