GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 219 



and not be handicapped. If that is the general intent of the com- 

 mittee, of course, it would not be necessary to get into a very elaborate 

 discussion of things which you and I have just been talking about 

 here. 



The Chairman. Of course, I do not know how the other members 

 of the committee feel about it, but it seems to me if we coidd just set 

 that aside for the time being we could go ahead and talk about the 

 price determinations, which are very important. Then the next 

 thing of great importance is your production payment plan, which 

 you say has been criticized as being too costly. 



I can agree with you that it would be almost an impossible thing to 

 determine with any degree of accuracy the cost of any of these pro- 

 grams. I do not believe that we have in the past even attempted to 

 estimate the costs. We have determined what we thought was 

 reasonable and proceeded with the program. 



In other words, you cannot now tell with any degree of accuracy 

 the cost of the potato program, can you? 



Secretary Braxxan. Not for 1949. 



The Chairman. That is what I mean. You cannot tell now how 

 much the Government will have in cotton loans until all the cotton 

 has been delivered. 



Secretary Braxxax. Not only that, but day by day it is withdrawn. 

 You cannot tell on any given day. 



The Chairmax. You could not tell about the peanut program in 

 advance? 



Secretary Braxxax. No, sir. 



The Chairmax. Fortunately, the Commodity Credit Corporation 

 has not lost any substantial amount of money on cotton, has it? 



Secretary Braxxax. No, sir. 



The Chairmax. It has not actually lost any money on tobacco yet, 

 and it only has a comparatively small amount invested in tobacco 

 at the present time. 



Secretary Braxxax. That is correct. 



The Chairmax. How about the wheat program? Have you lost 

 anything on that? 



Secretary Braxxax. We have not lost any on that. 



The Chairmax. The peanut loss has not yet been determined? 



Secretary Braxxax. Part of it has. Can you give me a figure, 

 Ralph? 



Mr. Trigg. It wiU run 30 million, estimated. 



The Chairmax. You could not tell us now what the Government 

 will actually suffer as a loss on the peanut program? 



Secretary Braxxax. No. I meant for the year just passed. 



The Chairmax. In the event we do lose on the peanut program, 

 it is a fact that the peanut program under which we have operated 

 was devised during the war because of a shortage of peanut oil. 



Secretary Braxxax. That is right. 



The Chairmax. We encouraged production of peanuts for oil. 



Secretary Braxxax. That is right. As a matter of fact, in the case 

 of peanuts the loss this year could have been less if we had been more 

 severe in cutting back acreage. 



The Chairmax. Yes. 



Secretary Braxxax. But we were going through an adjustment 

 process and we did not cut it back as severely as some folks suggested 

 might have been done. 



