GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 469 



Mr. Hope. You spoke, Mr. Kline, about the delay in the application 

 of restrictions upon the production of wheat and corn under the 

 Aiken bill. Do you see any reason to hope that we can avoid having 

 acreage allotments and marketing quotas on wheat next year'^ 



Mr. Klixe. I would hope that the Congress would set up the 

 effective date of last year's bill so that all the arrangements could be 

 made to put acreage allotments into effect and to do it by the begin- 

 ning of the marketing year on wheat. 



Mr. Hope. That is all. 



Mr. Hill. If you have a flexible price support, would the x\iken 

 bill be strengthened by saying that a floor should be placed under 

 all these products of not less than 75 to 90 percent of parity, rather 

 than to go down to zero^ AVould it be strengthened? Is it a better 

 bill if we change that ^ Opposition has developed from the angle 

 that the farmer can go from nothing to 60. He does not know but 

 what it is going to be nothing from the way the market looks. 



Mr. Kline. The answer is ''No." I can discuss it indefinitely. It 

 takes a long time to lay this thing out. We listed the agricultural 

 commodities on which there were figures showing the number of pro- 

 ducers, the number of acres, the agricultural income, and so on. 

 We had some 273 plus when we decided we had most of them. I think 

 it is an exactly wrong appi-oach, completely contrarj'^ to good sense, 

 in a country with the record that we have had to try to set prices 

 at some particular level or any particular level on all these com- 

 modities, which seems to be what your question suggests. So I say 

 "No," I think it is a veiy bad idea and I think it is especially bad 

 from the farmer's standpoint. 



Mr. Hill. I did not suggest that. I was trying to get some in- 

 formation as to what we could actually do by way of setting a floor 

 or a base under all these products. 



Mr. Kline. I think I should state what, categorically, it seemed 

 to me it would end up in. It would end up in the vast expansion 

 of government services to agriculture that we would have to pay for. 



Mr. Hill. When you say that, you assume the floor is set too high, 

 do you not ? We have been setting the price of gold for years and I, 

 for one, know we have been setting it too low. You say the farmer 

 can go down to zero but gold has to stay higher. What about that? 



Mr. Kline. I certainly did not say that the farmer could go down 

 to zero and I have not the least intention of getting there. 



Mr. Hill. That is what we are getting to when we talk to our friends. 

 They say the Aiken bill could operate at zero. How long could it 

 operate at zero. You know. One season. 



Mr. Kline. I refer them to the testimony of the American Farm 

 Bureau 2 weeks ago. 



Mr. Cooley. Will the gentleman yield for questioning? 



Mr. Hill. I still have a second step here. 



Mr. CooLEY. I just want to say this: Either price supports are 

 good or they are bad. What do yoii say about it ? 



Mr. Kline. They are good. 



Mr. CooLEY. Why do you want to weaken them ? If thev are irood 

 at 70 would they not be still better at 90 ? 



Mr. Kline. That is like the philosophy that if it is a good thing 

 to have a little socialism we ought to socialize everything. 



