GENERAL FARM PR0GRA:M 325 



report. I did not like to do that. I like to get along if I can. I 

 always do when I have my own way. 



But I could not sign that for one reason and I wish you would clear 

 up a point for me here. Your proposal bothers me as much as the 

 Aiken bill in one respect. I might have been misled at that hour into- 

 thinking that it would be my colleague, Mr. Hope, sitting where you 

 are sitting today, so there is nothing personal about it. 



I heard rumors, in any event. 



Secretary Brannan. At that rate the country would have been sls 

 well off as it is today, if not better. 



The Chairman. Did you say you were hoping for Hope, then? 



Mr. Murray. No. I did not say anything about that but I thought 

 it was going to be Mr. Hope. Here is one thing that disturbs me, 

 using an example so I will not put you on the spot. 



Suppose the Secretary of Commerce were to go to the chahman of 

 the committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and say that he 

 wanted a proposal where he could take care of all the businessmen: 

 in the country and see that they all get a fair shake whether they do 

 much business or not. The theory of it is just the same. Or let us 

 suppose the Secretary of Labor were to go to the Labor Committee 

 and say that he wants to determine what the wage should be, leave it 

 to him, it would have the same effect. 



n we pass this bill and if the Secretary wants to, he can determine 

 the wages as shown by that table I put in the record. He is going to 

 be able to say whether they are going to be 25 cents on hour or 75 

 cents an hour. If he has enough money to carry it out he can do that. 

 That is what bothered me that night, Mr. Secretary; this delegation 

 of power. 



I realize that over in England they have had a similar program but 

 in England they have another thing we do not have. They control the 

 food, over half of it, that comes into England because they control 

 the boats and those Englishmen have to do about what they say or 

 else they will not bring the boat in for them. 



They all belong to one nationality. They are in a snug, small area 

 and they are people who have been halter-broken a little better than 

 the American people are up to this time. In England they have a 

 food minister. I know that you use all these men who are with you. 

 I am not accusing you of a desu-e to be a dictator and I do not want you 

 to take it in that spirit. But it bothers me to think that we delegate 

 the power to anj^one. to OT-y one man, to have this much control over 

 the economy. You are not going to control just the farmer, but also 

 how much every one has to pa}' for his groceries. Am I just unduly 

 alarmed or am I ^\^•ong? 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Murray, that is one of the reasons that 

 we provided this 2-year lag period so that there would be opportunities 

 for the Congress to review what the Secretary of Agriculture, whoever 

 he may be, was proposing to do for the ensuing year. ;^~ 



We are now very frequently in the position of announcing the price 

 support for a given commodity after some of the people in the country 

 have started to plant it. 



In other words, today in many cases there is not an adequate 

 opportunity to review some of the price supports on some of the 

 minor items. 



