GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 619 



more apt to make a serious mistake in 1919 b}" making too drastic 

 a step forward than we are by going at it somewhat moje cautiously. 

 It is pretty much on the basis of that reasoning that we have the 

 feeling that we ought to take what we have and make it better. That 

 is not a thing we will achieve in 1949. We have a lot of commodities 

 that have had no experience with support programs and I think we 

 liave to try it out and revise it and try it out again and revise it and 

 it will probably be another 15 years before we have a program as well 

 adapted to some of these commodities that have had no programs 

 as are the commodities that have been under programs from the 

 beginning. 



^Ir. Andresen. All of that will cost money. The question I asked 

 you was, have j^ou figured out where we are going to get the monej^ ? 



Mr. Davis. No. 



Mr. Andresen. Would you favor increasing the taxes by 10 or 15 

 billion dollars a year ? 



Mr. DA^^s. No. 



Mr. Andresen. Would you favor increasing them at all ? 



Mr. Da^^s. I hope we can avoid it. 



Mr. Andresen. Do you think we should sell more bonds to defer 

 those taxes for the future generations ? 



Mr. Davis. No ; I hope we can avoid that, too. I frankly tell you 

 that I do not have the answer and I think it is something we all 

 ought to consider. 



Mr. Andresen. Do you not think we should first consider how we are 

 going to meet all these obligations we have already made all over the 

 world and to our soldiers ? Everybody is looking to the Government 

 for security. 



Mr. Da-st^s. Certainly we should put it high on the list of the things 

 we need to think about in connection with these programs. 



Mr. Andresen. That is one thing Congress has to figure out. I 

 want to do everything I can to make the American farmer prosperous. 

 If he is not prosperous, everything else goes down. We are all 

 agreed on that theory. 



Once we have made the commitment we have to meet that com- 

 mitment and we have to get tlie money to meet it with because it takes 

 money to do it. 



Mr. Da^tls. If you do not keep agriculture prosperous, it costs you 

 a tremendous amount in terms of the depression that is apt to fol- 

 low. If you do have these programs it costs money too. 



^Ir. Andresen. Mr. Hill wanted me to yield so he could ask me a 

 question. 



^Ir. Hill. I would like to go back to the idea that was mentioned 

 a while ago, the proper adA'ertising of farm products in such a way 

 as to increase their consumption. The testimony given by Mr. Sanders 

 of the Grange was that a 2-percent increase in consumption of gen- 

 eral farm products was extremely high. It is almost impossible. The 

 thing that has always impressed me is the little work that is done by 

 communities and the farmers' organizations themselves in working 

 out a plan to begin the consumption at home. There is no denying 

 the statement that I am about to make and Congressman Andresen 

 will feel badly over it. There is no denying the fact that many farm- 

 ers sell their butter and cream and use oleo. Just think of that a 

 minute. That is not the only thing tlie farmer luis been doing. 



