256 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. PoAGE. Well, we do not do it so often, but we do try to give 

 the recipient an indirect subsidy in a way they can maintain their 

 self-respect. And I think self-respect means a great deal. I think 

 it means a great deal to the Nation, to the whole Nation, and I think 

 the Nation has an interest in self-respect and in the self-reliance of 

 farmers, and I just feel, Mr. Secretary, that in order to save a little 

 bookkeeping, possibly, you have been willing to sacrifice that. 



Mr. Andresen. May I say that I believe the House Restaurant 

 is self-sustaining, and the restaurant on the other side of the Capitol 

 is perhaps the one you are talking about. 



The Chairman. Mr. Pace. 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Secretary, I would like to go back a little bit and 

 propound this question: What are the farmers of this Nation entitled 

 to receive as American citizens, in order to enjoy their fair share of 

 the national income and to contribute their part to the economy of the 

 Nation at a high level? 



Secretary Bran nan. You are asking me that question? 



Mr. Pace. Yes. 



Secretary Brannan. Well I would say it is anybody's guess, Mr. 

 Pace. You know the figures as well as I do. He is getting about 

 7 percent. 



Mr. Pace. I do not mean in figures; I mean in principle. 



Secretary Brannan. Let me answer it this way, Mr. Pace: In my 

 opinion he ought to get more than he has been getting, and I do not 

 think, however, that we can set the support level reckoning from that 

 point. I do think in the national interest, though, that we can begin 

 to reckon the support level for specific commodities from a point of 

 national income, from the amount of national income which, in 

 terms of the whole, and in terms of the public interest we will not 

 allow to go lower, and as we said a moment ago, we hope that the 

 farmer's income will rise. 



I do not know whether it is 26.2 billion dollars or whether it is 25.2 

 billion, but I do know that there is a wide disparity between the income, 

 the average income of farm people and the average income of non-farm 

 people, and I am trying to work to close that disparity, not completely 

 at one time, but I think it is going to be considerable time before we 

 can say our job is done, but by the same token I have not said that 

 26.2 billion dollars was a good farm income, national farm income. 

 What I have said is that is the minimum below which it is not to any- 

 body's interest to allow the farm income to fall, for the six or seven 

 reasons we gave the other day. 



Mr. Pace. The farmer is entitled to cost of production plus a fair 

 profit, is he not? 



Secretary Brannan. Yes; let us say he is, but is every farmer? 

 Is every farmer who throws his seed out on the ground and goes to 

 town and gets drunk all summer entitled to it? No. You have to 

 strike an average of the diligent farmers, who are willing to use their 

 capacity and willing to work his quantity of soil to the best advantage. 



Mr. JPace. What is there in your plan to keep the drunk farmer 

 from getting his fair share, or the same share that the hard working- 

 man gets? 



Secretary Brannan. If he does not have a crop to be supported — 

 that is why there is no income guarantee plan, and this is not an income 

 guarantee plan in any way, shape, or form, and if he does not have a 



