496 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Neither is the farmer willing to have the Government set the price. 

 The farmer is insisting that we have the counterpart of a minimmn 

 wage, which is price floors. 



Mr. Pace. But in effect, Mr. Kline, the Government does set the 

 wage of the automobile worker when it says that the sorriest, the 

 laziest, the most inefficient, the most unskilled common worker on the 

 yards of the manufacturing plants get 75 cents an hour and no less. 



Then the semiskilled man falls into a slot just as naturally and in- 

 evitably as if the law fixed it for him. The skilled laborer falls into 

 liis slot and the expert falls into his slot. 



You have fixed those wages. But it is not so on farm commodities. 

 When you come here and fix in the light of the abundant production 

 which we now enjoy, a support, in 99 cases out of a hundred that is the 

 price. 



We all know that except when we invoke marketing quotas. Do you 

 not agree with that? 



Mr. Kline. No, I am sorroy to say I cannot agree with it. In the 

 first place, a very vast amount of the commodities which farmers sell 

 are apparently not covered by any such provision of law. 



In the second place, I doubt sincerely that the point can be sus- 

 tained that these wages fall into slots so automatically. All the argu- 

 ments' that go on in collective bargaining seem to me to belie the 

 assertion. 



Mr. Pace. That is one of the very points I am making. That helps 

 fix the slot. When they meet across the table to fix wages and they talk 

 about paying a skilled man a dollar an hour, tlie skilled man says, "Are 

 you crazy? I am skilled. That man outside gets 75 cents an hour. 

 I am worth twice to you what he is ; am I not?" 



I do not think my view is modified by collective bargaining but mag- 

 nified by it. It sets up a standard for collective bargaining to operate 

 under. 



Mr. Kline. I should make the point here that I am not definite about 

 the 75 -cent rigid minimum. We think it is probably higher than the 

 minimum ought to be. 



Second, we think that the minimum ought to be tied to the cost-of- 

 living index. We believe very sincerely that it should be; and, there- 

 fore, we do not think the Government ought to promise so many cents 

 an hour to everybody under all circumstances. We think it would re- 

 duce opportunity for a lot of people that you are talking about who can 

 b.e employed and can render both themselves and their employers 

 good service. 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Kline, you say it should be tied to the cost-of-living 

 index. Why do you not tie it where you propose to tie farm commodi- 

 ties ? You have tied the price of farm commodities to the supply ; have 

 you not? 



Mr. Kline. Only partly. 



Mr. Pace. The Aiken bill is where the supply determines whether 

 it is 60 or 90. 



Mr. Kline. Yes. There are two points. One is, it is the support 

 price which we have tied to the supply and the second is that we cer- 

 tainly expect to bargain for the prices of agricultural commodities. 



Mr. Pace. Bargain with whom? 



Mr. Kline. We have not quite discarded our belief in the free- 

 enterprise system. We think the market has some uses left. 



