310 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. O'SuLLiVAN. In other words, a farmer without purchasing 

 power is no good to business or to any kind of industry? 



Secretary Brannan. He certainly is not. 



Mr. O 'Sullivan. And if you give the farmer good purchasing 

 power, that will open up great avenues of sales for manufacturers 

 and industry, because a lot of their products have already been sold 

 in cities and the greatest field for the manufacturer today is not over- 

 seas markets but markets right here at home — selling their products 

 to farmers who need them and farmers who want to bring their farm* 

 life up to the city levels or standards. 



Secretary Brannan. That is right, sir. 



Mr. O'SuLLiVAN. This program would then move over from the 

 manufacturers and industry across a straight line and you would have 

 the third big group, labor, to also receive benefits in good wages. 



They would be able to get good wages for their toil — is that correct? 



Secretary Brannan. Yes, sir. 



Mr. O'SuLLivAN. So you take the three big groups, the farmers, 

 industry and manufacturers, and labor. That moves right across 

 the board, so to speak, does it not? 



Secretary Brannan. That is correct. 



Mr. O'SuLLivAN. And all this contemplated business and labor 

 activity is due to the fact that the farmers have purchasing power 

 and you have given it to them by means of a direct subsidy? 



Secretary Brannan. On some commodities by the production pay- 

 ments. I do not like the term "direct subsidy," Mr. O'Sullivan. 



Mr. O'Sullivan. Of course, subsidy is a nice word that was 

 invented by the corporations a long time ago. If they had said 

 "gift" instead, the American people would have rebelled. Half of the 

 people do not know what a subsidy is. It is a direct gift. It is a nice 

 word which was invented to fool someone. 



Secretary Brannan. If you will remember the examples that I 

 laid out in my statement yesterday, it is just a diversion, so to speak, 

 of money which might be lost in another type of operation into the 

 hands of farmers. 



Mr. O'Sullivan. But when it gets right down to the last analysis, 

 it is a gift, is it not? 



Secretary Brannan. Well, I do not like to think of it that way. 



Mr. O'Sullivan. We may as well be realistic about it. There have 

 been many gifts to big business. They did not want to call it a gift 

 because they could not fool anybody if they used a word like that. 

 They used the word "subsidy." Is that not about it? 



Secretary Brannan. That may be true. 



Mr. White. If the gentleman will yield there: Is not a tariff an 

 indirect subsidy? 



Mr. O'Sullivan. Oh, yes; it is a subsidy too. Well, when this 

 program of yours moves across, it takes in a large group of Americans: 

 farmers, business, and labor. By this means prices can remain stable 

 all along the line. Then you have a larger group which is the con- 

 sumer. Eveiy one of us is a consumer. If your program was put into 

 effect it would enable the consumers — the buying public — to get 

 articles at reduced cost, would it not? 



Secretary Brannan. It certainly would. 



Mr. O'Sullivan. Prices would come down — they would seek their 

 own level — and you would have solved this big question about the high 

 price of all the things we buy today. 



