656 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Hope. It is a fact, is it not, that the price of bread is the same 

 now as it was in February 1948, before the break in the price of wheat, 

 whereas wheat is about $1.25 a bushel less in the approximate price. 

 So the housewife has no benefit of the drop of $1.25 in the wheat 

 price. 



Mr. Taylor. And when you realize the small percentage wheat is 

 to the cost of a loaf of break that can be attributed to the amount of 

 wheat in it, it is very mall. Most of the costs are chargeable to 

 other things. 



Mr. Pace. I was told the bakers claimed it added to the price of a 

 loaf of bread when wheat was going up, but when wheat was going 

 down they say that wheat is only an incidental; so it does not count. 



Mr. Taylor. That is right. They get us going and coming. 



Mr. Pace. I have never been able to reconcile that. 



Mr. Taylor. But I believe the price of flour came nearer follow- 

 ing the price of wheat. 



Mr. Andresen. Mr. Taylor, the chahman asked you the difference 

 between Secretary Brannan's proposal and your proposal. Now, I 

 may have a different understanding of the Secretary's proposal than 

 the chairman has, but under the original proposal the Secretary made 

 on April 7, the Secretary proposed that the basic commodities — 

 wheat, cotton, and all other commodities — should have 1,800 units on 

 the farm, which was 180 bales of cotton, 14,000 bushels of wheat, and 

 the farmer should receive support income on those 1,800 units by 

 getting production payments from the Treasury; that the commodi- 

 ties would be sold in the open market at the supply and demand level. 



A few days afterwards, the Secretary modified his plan and re- 

 moved the 1,800 units on all basic commodities, so that they would 

 go under the present system of support loans for the entire production 

 upon the allocated acreage, which removed them from the sale of the 

 commodity in the open market at the market price. 



Am I right or am I wi'ong that the Secretary did modify his plan 

 so that the basic commodities, when they had marketing quotas and 

 acreage allotments, would come under the old program of support 

 loans rather than be sold in the open market at whatever the market 

 would bring? 



Mr. Pace. My statement was — I am looking for it now in his 

 statement — that he did ask that, while generally on those commodi- 

 ties they would have no support and would move at that, he did ask 

 that he be given authority to use the payment plan even with those 

 commodities under certain circumstances. 



Mr. Andresen. You stated just a few minutes ago that those com- 

 modities would be sold in the open market at the supply and demand 

 level, and you did not take into consideration the Secretary's modifi- 

 cation of applying the old law, the existing law, of support loans 

 on those basic commodities. 



Mr. Pace. I think the gentleman is correct. 



Mr. Andresen. Just so we have an understanding about this, 

 because, under the Secretary's proposal, you get the support loans on 

 it, just the same as you get now, and would be selling in the open 

 market. 



Mr. Taylor. That is right. 



Mr. Andresen. I happened to be a Member of Congress at the 

 time we had the old McNary-Haugen bill up, and Mr. Hope was on 



