GENERAL FARM PROC^AM 481 



this thing, not that it is perfect, but tliat we shall then build on experi- 

 ence, that it is better to do that than it is to jmnp off the deep end into 

 uncharted waters. 



jNIr. Pace. Mr. Cooler. 



]\Ir. CooLEY. Mr. Kline. I have listened v.ith ureat interest to your 

 ^Tatements this morninii but I still have not received satisfaction from 

 your answer to Mr. Poage's question with reirard to the statement 

 contained in your prepared statement of the 28th of xVpril, in which 

 you said farm prices should by used in helpino- to ouide farm produc- 

 tion. Can you tell me what you mean by that, briefly, without making 

 a long speech about economics ? 



Mr. Klixe. Yes. We do not tliink tliat the farmer can afford to 

 oA'erlook the factor of demand. 



Mr. Fi'TTOx. Will the gentleman yield? 



Mr. CooLEY. Yes: I will yield for a question but that is still not 

 satisfactory to me. 



Mr. Sutton. I am glad you brought that point out. Let us get 

 down to a little common sense. Mr. Kline, without all the economic 

 figures. We all had those in college. You realize that there is a 

 surplus of every agricultural commodity today. Everybody knows 

 that. You realize as well as I do that we are going to have a surplus 

 next year. In the future it does not look like we will have anything 

 except a surplus of agricultural products unless we do something 

 drastic. You say the price should depend upon the supply. Yes at 

 the same time you endorse flexible price support. 



You further realize that whatever the price support is on any surplus 

 agricultural commodity, that is going to be the price of that com- 

 modity on the market. The perfect example of cotton is here. Yet 

 when you endorse flexible price supports and you come down to 60 or 72 

 percent, you are just endorsing the farmer taking a kick in the seat of 

 his pants b}^ reducing the price of his commodit}-. Am I correct in 

 that? 



Mr. Kline. I ceitainly hope not. I have confidence that there are a 

 number of statements which j'ou have made that are going to prove 

 inaccurate, or at least I hope so. 



]Mr. CooLEY. In this statement you certainly clearlj^ intend to indi- 

 cate that prices could be used and should be used to guide production. 

 Is that correct ? 



Mr. Kline. Yes; that is right. 



^Ir. CooLEY. Then if you want increased production you would give 

 them high prices, would you not? High prices would guide produc- 

 tion upward. Is that right ? 



Mr. Kline. That is right. 



]Mr. CooLEY. If you start out on a program to reduce the cotton crop 

 to the point where it should be, you do that by lowering the price of 

 cotton, do you not, and you let the lower price guide production down- 

 ward. 



Mr. Kline. You let it assist. Our statement does not say that you 

 should depend on prices to do this job. It says that thev should be 

 used in helping to guide farm production. 



Mr. CooLEY. This is a double-barreled statement 3'ou made in one 

 sentence. 



Price support should be ti^^(l to farm suiiplies mikI that farm prices sliould be- 

 used in helping to guide farm production. 



