248 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



and every bushel of wheat that he sold, for each and every shoat he 

 sold, or each pound of butter, that he would have to bring in his 

 receipt from the purchaser to show just what he received, and that you 

 would then calculate not upon the average price, but upon the price 

 that the individual farmer got, and then pay him the difference be- 

 tween what he actually received ^ — no matter whether he was in collu- 

 sion with the purchaser or not — and what he should have received 

 You would pay the difference. 



Yoa have never suggested anything of that kind which I have 

 heard. 



Secretary Brannan. No, sir; we surely have not. 



Mr. PoAGE. I think I can assure you in all good faith that some very 

 intelligent men right around here assumed that was your program, 

 and have seriously argued that it was your program. 



Secretary Brannan. I think if we look back to the old statement I 

 underUned the word "average." There are only about five words 

 underlined, and "average" at that point was underlined. 



Mr. PoAGE. I thought it was, and I thought it had a great deal of 

 m.erit, becaase it eliminated a great deal of the necessity for the red 

 tape on the part of the Government, to keep the records, and it 

 encouraged the individuals to make the best marketing arrangements 

 they could make, because if they could get above the market they had 

 a personal incentive for doing so. 



Secretary Brannan. That is right. 



Mr. PoAGE. Whereas, if we adopted a plan of simply paying an 

 individual for losses which the individual has sustained, there would 

 be no incentive to go out and work for the best market. He would 

 immediately sell to anybody who offered him anything, and then the 

 Government would make up the difference. 



Secretary Brajnnan. That is correct. 



Mr. PoAGE. I think your plan would save the Government hundreds 

 of millions of dollars, as compared to the plan that has been suggested 

 you have advocated. 



Secretary Brannan. It would cost us millions of dollars. 



Mr. PoAGE. I simply use that as an illustration. 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Poage, may I point out that the word 

 "average" is underlined at page 21 of my statement. And if I 

 may- 

 Mr. Poage. That was my understanding; I simply wanted to make 

 the comment that I know there are people right in this room who are 

 still laboring under the impression that you will have to know what 

 every individual farmer gets for his product, the price he gets and 

 deal individually with them. 



Mr. Murray. The only suggestion I would make is that personally 

 I think you would have to have some control, and as an example, at 

 the present time milk and dairy products are selling at from 30 to 60 

 cents below what the law says. The subsidy then in that case would 

 really be the difference between what the law says and what the 

 product brings? 



Mr. Poage. That is the market price. 



Mr. Murray. The market price; is that right, Mr. Secretary? At 

 the present time milk for manufactured dairy products, which we 

 have been working on with the Department for several weeks trying 

 to get the matter ironed out, is selling at 30 to 60 cents below 



