554 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



passed along through the domestic channels with certificates covering 

 the total benefits which would prevent anybody from bootlegging the 

 cotton without the sale of the certificates, because he would not have 

 any reason to hold the certificates ; he would have no use for them with- 

 out the cotton, nor would he have any use for the cotton without the 

 certificates because that is his only authority to sell, mill, or export the 

 cotton. 



Those five bales would be policed out at world prices without any 

 subsidy whatsoever. 



The other five bales would go to a mill, the certificates would be 

 taken up, but nothing paid for them, leaving $125 to pay the farmer 

 for his part of the parity benefit on five bales. 



Attached to this certificate when it was bought and coming free 

 of charge, would be the parity benefit certificate. That would have 

 a face value of exactly half of the cotton that was bought, or $125, 

 and this would be torn off and given to the farmer. This would be a 

 fully negotiable certificate just like a $125 bill. It would be negotiable 

 for 6 months' after its issuance. Then it would have to be redeemed at 

 the Treasury, otherwise it would become null and void. 



As a consequence, w^th the use of the two certificates, farmers will 

 be paid their parity benefits on the domestic portion of their cotton 

 at the time they make the sale in an undiminished amount. 



I wanted to explain that before proceeding. 



The Chairman. Would you give one further step in that process. 

 What becomes of the crop which is grown for export in the event there 

 is no export market? 



Mr. Sanders. We would have to take care of that just as we have 

 to take care of it now, Mr. Cooley. W^ would just have'to store it and 

 pile it up until we got tired of storing and piling it up. This would 

 move the cotton out if there were any possible market. 



Mr. White. If it existed more than 6 months the certificate would 

 become null and void. 



Mr. Sanders. Not on the domestic portion. He would just turn 

 his certificate in and get it. I would like to continue with my state- 

 ment, and the questions can wait until I have finished. 



Mr. Pace. There are now in the record several different plans for 

 a two-price system. 



Mr. Sanders. Yes. 



Mr. Pace. Including the one that you mentioned. 



Mr. Sanders. As a background for judging further the advisability 

 of use of control in our future programs, we would like to present 

 a few facts and figures on our present "overproduction" status in 

 agriculture. 



future dangers of burdensome overproduction 



We had, in 1920, 402,000,000 acres of cropland and exactly the same 

 acreage, 402,000,000, in 1948. However, we have expanded our pasture 

 and grazing land 61 percent since 1920, principally grazing land in 

 the arid West. We may, in the next 25 years, increase our total crop- 

 land by reclamation but any significant increase is highly doubtful 

 since we have lost as much as we have added during the past 3 decades. 



Discounting exceptional growing weather during the past several 



