GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 461 



Mr. Kline. It is most disturbing as far as farmers are concerned. 



Mr, Hoe\t:n. And there is no guaranty to the farmer that any Con- 

 gress will appropriate the amount of money that would be required 

 to carry on the program. 



Mr. Kline. That is quite right. 



Mr. HoE^^:Is^. And that uncertaint}^, in turn, would very much dis- 

 turb our entire agricultural economy. 



Mr. Kline. Yes; and, of course, you would always be replacing 

 the interest of the farmers in markets and consumer demands and so 

 on with a major interest which they would of necessity have in getting 

 an agreement from Government, first, with regard to what a fair price 

 was, and second, an appropriation to cover it. 



Mr. Andresen. Will you yield ? 



Mr. Hoe^t^n. I will yield. 



Mr. Andresen. The program proposed by the Secretary. Mr. Kline, 

 contemplated abundant production, particularly of the perishable 

 items. It further contemplated that these perishable commodities 

 like meat, pork, veal, dairy products, eggs, and fresh fruits and 

 vegetables would be sold on the supply and demand level in the open 

 market. According to my theory of economics — and I want to see 

 if you will agree with me — the greater the production of these com- 

 modities sold in the open market, the lower the price will be in the 

 open market. Consequently, the farmers will render themselves com- 

 pletely dependent upon the Federal Government foi- a substantial por- 

 tion of their income if they produce in abundance and general abun- 

 dant production is secured. Am I correct in that theory' ? 



Mr. Kline. Certainly. The more you have, the lower the price, and 

 if you are depending upon the Government to pay the price, then your 

 theory is quite correct. 



Mr. Andresen. So that every farmer in the country must of neces- 

 sity come under the program if he is to continue in the farming 

 business and his livelihood will therefor depend, upon what he gets 

 in his check from the Government. 



Mr. Kline. That would certainly be true if you got over to a system 

 of completely administered prices. It would be determined, it seems to 

 me, taking this indefinite plan which has been suggested, largely b}^ the 

 level of administered prices. If the level is very high, then your con- 

 clusion is entirely correct. If the level is somewhat lower, then there 

 would be some area in which Ave could expect supply and demand 

 still to operate. It depends a great deal on the level. 



Mr. Andresen. Let us consider the case of hogs. I know you are 

 very familiar with hog production. 



Mr. KxiNE. That is quite right. 



Mr. Andresen. Under the 1800-unit proposal made by the Secretary 

 for support you can raise 550 hogs. The Secretary has suggested an 

 average of $19 a hundred for those hogs and we will assume that the 

 farmers produce, like they did in 1943, 122,000,000 hogs instead of 

 around 85,000,000 which they estimate will be produced this year. 

 Under the support standard fixed by the Secretary a faimei- should 

 have if he only produces hogs, 550 of them weighing 200 pounds apiece, 

 $20,000 for those hogs on the basis of $19 a hundred I am just taking 

 rough figures as an illustration. 



We will assume that we have a big supply of hogs and the market 

 price goes down to $14 a hundred. That is a difference of $5 a hundred 



