488 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Kline. Yes, sir. 



Mr. PoAGE. Will the gentleman yield ? 



Mr. CooLEY. Yes. 



Mr. PoAGE. How many of the cotton States in the Farm Bureau 

 supported that at the convention ? 



Mr. Kline. I cannot give you the figures, Mr. Poage. I am not 

 sure. 



Mr. PoAGE. Mr. Kline, I am still faced with the situation these 

 gentlemen are faced with. I just asked you how many of the cotton 

 States — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama. Georgia, North and 

 South Carolina — supported that in your convention in Atlantic City ? 



Mr. Kline. I do not know. 



Mr. Poage. Do you recall any of them opposing it? There was 

 some word that went around down in Texas that there was some op- 

 position to this thing. 



Mr. Kline. Yes, but again I am not sure exactly hov*' many States 

 opposed it. 



Mr. Poage. But you tell us that you did this simply to let the cot- 

 ton people do what they wanted to do, to let the cotton people have 

 the kind of program they wanted to have ? Who spoke for the cotton 

 people of Texas asking for that sort of a program ? 



Mr. Kline. That is an oversimplification. We did in an effort 

 to arrive at a national program for agriculture in which we had pro- 

 grams for the various commodities fitted together in such a way that 

 they made a consistent whole. 



Mr. Poage. That is a different thing from what you tell Mr. Cooley. 

 You told him you did it to enable the cotton people to handle the mat- 

 ter like they wanted to handle it. I wanted to know who from the 

 Cotton Belt wanted it handled this way. 



Mr. Kline, As president of the American Farm Bureau, I would 

 not say this fellow was against us and this fellow was for us, because 

 we arrived at a position for the American Farm Bureau. 



Mr. Poage. I am not asking about the director's meeting. You had 

 a meeting at which a lot of people from my district were present. 



IMany of my friends were present. Unfortunately I could not be 

 there at that time. You had a meeting of a lot of fellows who were 

 just farmers, not all of them being directors or presidents or anything 

 else. 



They were just farmers. Was there just a grounclswell of voices 

 from the cotton-producing areas that came up there and urged you 

 overwhelmingly, saying, "This is what cotton people .want to be al- 

 lowed to do" and you just simply modified your cotton program so the 

 cotton people could do what they wanted to do ? Was there anything 

 approaching that at Atlantic City ? 



Mr. Kline. There certainly was and as a result of that we have the 

 compromise which we have. 



Mr. Poage. I am not trying to put you on the spot with any of your 

 officers, because I can talk to them, but do you remember any of the 

 people from my section of the country who urged any such procedure 

 in your convention ? 



Mr. Kline. No, I do not remember any. 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Cooley? 



Mr. Cooley. I finished. 



