252 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



that the farmer would get that much less than he otherwise would 

 have. 



The Chairman. Will the gentleman yield? 



Mr. PoAGE. Yes. 



The Chairman. As I understand, you would not deal with the 

 individuals; you would deal with commodities? 



Mr. PoAGE. Yes. 



The Chairman. So it would not involve a lot of bookkeeping and 

 records. 



Mr. WoRLEY. Do you not think the farmer pays his pro-rata part 

 into the tax collection? 



Mr. PoAGE. Yes; of course the farmer is a small taxpayer. 



Mr. WoRLEY. "Well, in my county he is a big taxpayer. 



Mr. PoAGE. No; relatively a small taxpayer, because his income is 

 not large; the total income last year was only some $31,000,000,000, 

 and the total tax of the Nation, as you know, was substantially larger 

 than the total farm income, and the national income was some seven 

 times that of the farm income; in other words, the farmer got about 

 one-seventh of the national income, and the tax would be less than 

 that, because as you know, there are so many small individuals with 

 small incomes, and the rate on the small income in that group is less 

 than the average. 



Mr. White. Will the gentleman yield? 



Mr. PoAGE. Yes. 



Mr. White. The gentleman is not proposing, is he, that we substi- 

 tute this price insurance plan for what I consider to be a very definite 

 beneficial plan now in existence for the treatment of farmers? 



Mr. Poage. No; I am ofl^ering 



Mr. White. It would be something in addition? 



Mr. Poage. I am offering merely in lieu of direct payments that 

 the Secretary has proposed. I think that we might very well, where 

 you have a program providing for subsidy on the basic commodities, 

 that we miglit very well eliminate those, not write insurance on those, 

 but when we pick up commodities on which we feel we must make a 

 payment in order that the price may be one figure and the farm at 

 another, instead of just going out and handing the man a check, why 

 not do it through this insurance route? 



I certainly have not come here with a plan, and I am not here 

 offering a plan, but I would like to have the Secretary's comments as 

 to the feasibility of using a program of this kind involving direct 

 contributions on the part of the farmer, in lieu of simply dipping into 

 the Public Treasury and thereby letting the farmer feel that he is 

 receiving gratuity, rather than paying something into a fund and 

 letting him feel he is receiving something for which he has paid. 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Poage, first of all, let me say that there 

 was a tremendous amount of work done on the possibility of, and studies 

 were made on the possibility of, some kind of price insurance. We 

 abandon-^d it. You remember that I referred to the fact that we 

 examined various of these kinds of things; I refer to that in my first 

 statement. Ws abandoned it. We have a considerable file of notes 

 over in the office and I assure you we would be glad to have you 

 come do^vn and point out where we have missed the boat, because 

 we could not devise any plausible means of handlmg price insurance, 

 that would in any way appear to be effective. 



