234 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



amount of money. In that connection: I remember reading in the 

 press lately that the British, who have had a system of subsidies 

 during the war and since the war costing now something like 

 $2,000,000,000 a year, have been holding down prices to the consumer 

 by price ceilings, and at the same time taking care of their farmers 

 very well through support prices. Recently they increased prices 

 just on four or five commodities, meat, butter, margarine, and cheese. 

 The very next day they had an election for the London County Council 

 and the Labor Party took a licking much to everybody's surprise, 

 and some people have connected the two that they increased the 

 price of food to the consumer and the next day the party in power 

 suffered a defeat. 



Now, do you think if we have a program of this kind that the 

 administration of it is going to be under constant pressure from 

 consuming groups to keep prices at a low level and pay dollars out 

 of the Federal Treasury like they did during the war and like the 

 British have been doing since the War? 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Hope, I confess to you that I had not 

 thought about the political implications of a program like this. 



The Chairman. Off the record. 



(Discussion off the record.) 



Mr. Andresen. I understand the Democratic National Committee 

 has not thought about the political ramifications either. 



Mr. White. Would the gentleman yield on that question? I have 

 a very pertinent question in that connection it seems to me. 



Mr. Secretary, would you care to comment on the critical remarks 

 Senator Taft made about your proposal in the press recently? 



Mr. Hope. I would be glad to have the Secretary answer that, 

 but I would like to have an answer to my question before we go into it. 



Mr. White. He just said he did not care to answer it. 



Secretary Brannan. Well, Mr. Hope, I suppose that people do 

 resist a rise in prices when they have become accustomed to low prices. 



On the other hand, our very experience shows us that when it was 

 necessary to allow prices to go up for any number of reasons, people 

 did accept them. In all events prices did go back up. There has 

 been a steady rise in prices, I guess, all down the corridor of history 

 since this country started. 



I personally would not be too much worried about the consumer 

 saying that you must maintain this price at this level. I am sure that 

 is not true, and if his income is good, if he has a good job, and if he is 

 happy, he is not going to worry too much about paying reasonable 

 prices or fighting to maintain a low and unreasonable price. 



I really think that would be about the only reaction that I could 

 have to the question. 



I would like to go on to say to you that in the case that you referred 

 to of the British system, I hope that is is entirely clear that there is 

 no similarity whatsoever between subsidy payment to consumers 

 under the British system, if I understand it correctly, and a price- 

 support program of the type that we are talking about here today. 



I understand that Mr. Taft drew a comparison between them. 

 He said that this program would cost $6,000,000,000, and he got that 

 figure by saying that it cost $2,000,000,000 to subsidize food to 

 British consumers, and that, therefore, since there were approximately 



