GEXERAL FARM PROGRAM 253 



Mr. PoAGE. Would you give us the brief reasons for it? 



Secretary Braxxax. Let me point out some of the difficulties. 

 Let me say in the case of a given commodity that the price goes to 

 the support level and the producer sends his commodity to the mar- 

 ket and he gets the support level in the market place. I would as- 

 sume that we would have to go and ask him to give the 5 percent 

 back, of the price at the support level that he got in the market place, 

 to put mto the fund. 



Let us say, for instance, that farmer A did that, and farmer B 

 sent the same commodity, or took his commodity to the Government 

 and got a loan on it and the time comes to turn in that commodity 

 and to cancel the loan and to take a check — he already has gotten 

 his check. Now w^hen you get to that fellow^ you say he has already 

 gotten the price for his commodity and you are to give us back 5 

 percent for the insurance. 



Mr. PoAGE. You could very easily avoid that difficulty by collect 

 ing the 5 percent at the time he gets his loan. 



Secretary Braxxax. Well, let us assume we collected the 5 percent 

 in advance, but when he comes in to take his cotton off we have go*^ 

 all kinds of bookkeeping records to make. 



Mr. PoAGE. You could eliminate every bit of that, Mr. Secretary, 

 simply by providing that either the exporter or the mill, where 

 it goes to the mill, the exporter of the bale of cotton or the miller of 

 the bale of cotton would have to pay the 5 percent tax. 



Secretary Braxxax. When you are talking about one commodity, 

 if you insure the price by commodities. 



Mr. PoAGE. That is what I propose. 



Secretary Braxxax. Then you would say we could have a price- 

 insurance plan to operate for cotton, but we would not have it operate 

 for potatoes, let us say? 



Mr. PoAGE. Yes; you have just told us you do not think you 

 should cover all of the commodities, and I am simply suggesting that 

 in lieu of making these direct payments on whatever commodities 

 you propose to pick out, I am simply suggesting that wherever you 

 propose to do that, instead of doing that, that you require some kind 

 of contribution, by way of insurance. 



Secretary Braxxax. All right, let us just follow that thought along 

 a little further. Let us just take cotton, for one example, in 1948, 

 and that cotton goes under loan and that we collect 5 percent from 

 everybody who sells a bale of cotton. 



Then 1949 comes along and all of that cotton goes at the loan 

 level, and we collect another 5 percent from the cotton man on all 

 cotton sold. 



Then 1950 comes along and we do the same thing. When and 

 under what circumstances, if we are shooting at an income standard, 

 when and under what circumstances do we begin to give back the 5 

 percent for the cotton already sold at the loan level? We would 

 always be taking 5 percent back, and if it never goes below the loan 

 level when would we ever be paying back to the fellow who has given 

 the 5 percent; when would the fellow ever get the 5 percent back? 

 We collect 5 percent a vear from him, and to my way of thinking it 

 would leave him short by 5 percent. I am on Congressman Albert's 

 side, that it would involve a tremendous amount of administrative 

 work. 



