GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 327 



ppsition toda}^. That is the real vii'tue of a price-support mechanism. 



]Mr. AxDRESEX. Only the Government, under this program, may 

 become the owner of the commodities supported under the loan. 



The Chairmax. And the Government will become the loser in most 

 instances when you have uncontrolled production, will they not, 

 Mr. Secretary? 



Secretary Braxxax. That is right. 



Mr. AxDRESEX. Now, we are talking about basic commodities upon 

 which loans are made. According to the change of your progi'am. 

 these basic commodities such as cotton, tobacco, corn, wheat, and 

 possibly other grains, will have the same support that they have under 

 existing law if marketing quotas and acreage allotments are in 

 operation. 



So vou will not change the basic commodities upon which such 

 tremendous amounts of money are advanced at the present time. 



Secretary Brax'xax. That is right, sir. 



The Chairmax*. Will the gentleman yield there? 



Mr. AxDRESEX. Yes. 



The Chairmax. Mr. Secretary, is it not a fact that the Government 

 has lost very little, if any, money on a support progi-am on a com- 

 modity which was under marketing quotas at that time? For 

 instance, you did not lose on wheat, cotton, or tobacco while those 

 <;ommodities were being sold under marketing quotas. 



Is that not true? 



Secretary Braxxax. I think that would be the history, Mr. 

 Chairman. 



The Chairmax. If you have control on the basic commodities and 

 the farmers produce within their quota allotments, you have a degree 

 of control which you do not h.ive over the perishable commodities 

 and in addition to that, if the farmer exceeds his marketing Cjuota he is 

 penalized by 50 percent of the value of his product. 



Consequently, you are going to continue to have almost complete 

 control over the basic commodities. If our experience in the future 

 is as it has been in the past, the Government ^vill come out of those 

 support programs having saved the farmer in the first instance, and 

 saving itself by orderly and properly marketing the surplus at a later 

 date. 



Secretary Braxx'ax. Yes, sir. 



The Chairmax. If that is true, it seems to me that we must have 

 one program applicable to basic storable commodities and another 

 one applicable to perishable commodities. 



Secretary Braxxax. That is our recommendation. 



Mr. AxDRESEX'. I would like to finish my thought on this point. 



I agree with what the gentleman has said about getting rid of our 

 surpluses. But the American taxpayer paid for vhtually the entire 

 surplus that has been sent out of the countr}^. Then it may be a total 

 loss not for the Commodity Credit Corporation but for the taxpayers 

 of the United States who have paid the bill. I do not think there can 

 be any dispute on that because that was a part of our foreign policy". 



Mr. Graxger. Will the gentleman yield there? 



Mr. AxDRESEX. Yes. 



Mr. Graxger. Of course, that is not a good example. If we had 

 had no war we would have had 12.000,000 bales of cotton. I think we 

 ought to forget about what we did as a result of the war. That is the 

 reason we got rid of it. 



