500 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



funds are available for these others and that authority should be in 

 the law for that? 



Mr. Kline. Yes, sir; but I also think it should be within the rea- 

 sonable limits which we can expect Congress to exercise judgment 

 with regard to. 



Mr. Pace, Mr. Kline, have you been over to the Department in 

 the last few months to try to get a support price on a nonbasic 

 commodity ? 



Mr. Kline. I have been to the Department a number of times in the 

 last several months on various subjects. 



Mr. Pace. Did you try to get a support on a nonbasic commodity ? 



Mr. Kline. Yes. 



Mr. Pace. Did you get it ? 



Mr. Kline. The Department has seemed to be very busy, and it has 

 been a little difficult. 



Mr. Pace. That is right, but you are putting your stamp of approval 

 on an act that leaves it entirely — and, I repeat, entirely — in the dis- 

 cretion of one living human being. That human being has been before 

 this committee and has stated that he thought supports ought to be 

 on 10 selected commodities and that the others should be put in the 

 classification of getting support as, when, and if, subject to his dis- 

 cretion. 



Mr. Hill. And one of those is wool, which is important, 



Mr. Pace. I think, Mr. Kline, it is fair for me to say that the pro- 

 ducers of any commodity that contributes the food and clothing of 

 this Nation are entitled to equal treatment with any other commodity ? 



Mr. Kline. Yes; that is a very fair statement and, within reason, 

 we should like to see it done. However, as I pointed out this morning, 

 there are dozens and dozens and dozens of agricultural commodities 

 competing for the primary resources of land and labor. 



I believe that agriculture will do far better with less government 

 than it would take to administer programs on these several hundred 

 commodities. I think, if we can get the major areas of agriculture 

 stabilized, we can leave something to the judgment of farmers in the 

 question of which direction they go on minor commodities. 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Kline, why cannot you come here speaking for the 

 farmers of this Nation, and speaking for me? I am a member of the 

 Georgia Farm Bureau and proud of it. 



If you want to stabilize agriculture and if agriculture, as a matter 

 of fact, does contribute to the economic stability of this Nation, that 

 we should stabilize this thing and that we should fix a fair general 

 level support across the board for every single agricultural commodity 

 produced in this Nation? 



Then when you want to get shifts you could induce them by increas- 

 ing support for one commodity. You could do exactly like the Secre- 

 tary did in flax and other commodities, getting your shifts by taking 

 the farmer gently by the hand and leading him out instead of taking 

 this Aiken bill and by force and bankruptcy driving him out. That 

 is what this bill does, in my judgment. 



Mr. Kline. I should conmient that your judgment and mine are 

 different on that point. I should also say that there is no counterpart 

 which guarantees to people with capital in some other business a profit 

 or guarantees to people with a job in some other industry a job at a 



