188 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Secretary, you, of course, have read the criticism of 

 Senator Aiken to your statement? 



Secretary Brannan. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Pace. The main criticism was of the additional powers that he 

 said you were requesting over farm operations. The Senator's lan- 

 guage in his statement was, "These conditions" suggested in your 

 statement 'Svould convey to the Federal Government much more 

 complete control over the Nation's 6,000,000 farms than there has 

 ever been before." 



Have you requested any control over a farm that is not authorized 

 in Senator Aiken's own bill? 



Secretary Brannan. None. 



Mr. Pace. Does not the Senator's bill, whether with or without 

 his knowledge, give you full authority to require compliance on the 

 part of the producer in order to participate in the support price pro- 

 gram, require that he comply with the quotas on all crops which are 

 under quotas, and not merely the ones particularly supported, that 

 he comply with reasonable soil-conservation practices, and that he 

 comply with any other conditions having to do with farming practices 

 on that farm? 



Secretary Brannan. That is right. 



Mr. Pace. Every one of the powers Senator Aiken has condemned 

 in your statement is contained in the bill which he drew himself and 

 on which he secured the enactment in the Congress. 



Mr. Andresen. Will the gentleman yield? 



The Chairman. Who said he drafted the bill himself? 



Mr. Pace. I just thought those things, whether I agree or disagree 

 on other things, need to be clarified. 



I hope you agree with me. 



Secretary Brannan. I do and I appreciate it. 



Mr. Andresen. Will the gentleman yield for one question? 



Mr. Pace. Not right now. 



Now, Mr. Secretary, as I understand, in determining what you 

 call the income support standard, you have gone back to the 1909-14 

 base period under the current parity law and picked there the figure 

 determining prices paid by farmers. 



Then you have gone to the Aiken bill and picked up the 10-year 

 moving average. Then you have added to that this new feature of 

 total cash receipts on the farm and you are combining the three to 

 come up with your new formula. Is that correct? 



Secretary Brannan. Well, Mr. Pace, the first part of the statement 

 is not quite correct. We did not go to the 1914 index because, after 

 all, that just constitutes a list of the commodities which farmers have 

 to buy or pay for, or services, in making their production. 



We do not borrow anything from 1914 at all. We just borrow the 

 old parity index. 



Mr. Pace. Then where did you get 73 for the purchasing power 

 of the 1939 cash receipts? 



Secretary Brannan. Because we relate the prices of the com- 

 modities which the farmers had to buy to 1939-48. That is where 

 we get the 73. 



Mr. Pace. That is right, but you had to pick that 73 out of your 

 1909-14 base in order to get it. 



Secretary Brannan. We might have picked the commodities out 

 of that base but not the prices. 



