GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 343 



Mr. White. I know the gentleman means no offense. He is one 

 of the most pohte men on the Committee. I will give him credit for 

 being the most polite and generous man on the committee. 

 Mr. Hope. Thank you. 

 The Chairman. Mr. Andresen. 



Mr. Andresen. Mr. Secretary, I think j^our first presentation here 

 had a general over-all appeal because then it was contemplated only 

 to give support on 1,800 units and the commmodity would be sold in 

 the open market, as most of them will be under your proposal. 



Now with the fixed support prices, even on a limited acreage, on 

 the grains and cotton and tobacco they take on an elevated standard 

 and they are not sold in the open market like the 75 percent of the 

 other commodities are. So you really have two programs, one rather 

 inconsistent with the other, when it comes to getting all kinds of 

 cheap commodities like cotton, tobacco, flour, wheat, and grains to the 

 consumer. 



I think the way the program is outlined now, the higher prices that 

 you will have to get for feed will be a retarding influence on the pro- 

 duction of dairy products and poultry and beef, because of the higher 

 feed prices. I think that it itself will be a retarding influence. 



Secretary Brannan. Not if you are conscious of the feed ratios 

 and certainly not on the comparative feed ratios of the figures that 

 are in the column right now. 



Mr. Andresen. The price may sink if we get production so as to 

 get 35- or 40-cent pork chops and the same for sirloin steak, and 25- 

 cent eggs, and so on. 



Secretary Brannan. But your volume would go up tremendously 



and you would use up some of these grains that you have surpluses in. 



Mr. Andresen. I have seen the time when they got only a nickel 



a pound for cotton around here, too, and there was considerable 



complaint about that. 



You have changed the policy of the program and I w^ill not go into 

 that. 



I did want, as a concluding question, to ask you if you figure that 

 the amount of money that is loaned under the support program is a 

 part of the present cost of the agricultural program. 

 Secretary Brannan. The amount that is loaned? 

 Mr. Andresen. Yes. 



Secretary Brannan. No, sir; I do not. It may be, if all of that 

 money is lost, because the commodity on which it was loaned cannot 

 be sold anywhere in the world for that price. Then it could be. 



But to the extent that you recoup the losses which you have an 

 opportunity to do in the storables, it is not in any way a loss. 



Mr. Andresen. Then you do not figure that in as a part of the 

 cost of the present program? 



Secretary Brannan. I certainly do not. When I talk about the' 

 cost of the present program or any program, I am talking about the 

 final out-of-pocket losses to the Government on the operation, plus 

 its administrative expenses. 



Mr. Andresen. Then we can eliminate about two and a half billion 

 dollars that is tied up in tobacco and cotton and other storable grains? 

 Secretary Brannan. Corn, wheat, and sorghums; yes, sir. 

 The Chairman. How much have we got in the factory nov/? 



