672 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Wales, may I say this, because yoa have raised a 

 fundamental question. I mean, you understand that the present law 

 says that the Secretary cannot go below 55,000,000 acres of wheat. 

 Suppose he fixes the next allotment at 60,000,000, cutting off from 

 20 to 25 million. That means everybody is going to have to take a 

 cut. That means when you speak of giving preferred treatment that 

 you have to take acreage away from somebody else. Now the present 

 law says that the allotment should be based on 10 years. Now if they 

 have to take it away from somebody else to give it to the new producers 

 who do you propose to take it away from; what producers? 



Mr. Wales. I have been wondering, if we have to take the 20 per- 

 cent cut suggested b}^ someone here in the last few days, or a 25 per- 

 cent cut — whatever it happens to be — would it not be fair to cut all 

 farmers the same proportion — 25 percent? That is the way we feel. 



Mr. Pace. You do not feel that the old wheat areas, men who have 

 been in the wheat business all of their lives, who were in the wheat 

 business back yonder when wheat did not bring the cost of produc- 

 tion, would have any claim to superiority over the man who, just in 

 the last 2 or 3 years, on account of the price and the pi'ofit involved, 

 went into the wheat business? 



Mr. Wales. These men are young men in that territory. 



Mr. Pace. Well, the law cannot classify the young and the old. 



Mr. Wales. That is right. They came home from the Army; 

 many of them came home to the farm to work with their dads. 



Mr. Pace. Let me say this on the question of the way they have 

 been brought up: You find just as many veterans among the old 

 wheat farmers, and I ventufe to say you will find 50 times more 

 veterans among the older wheat farmers than there are in the new 

 wheat farmers, and I do not understand why being a veteran has any- 

 thing to do with it. 



Mr. Wales. Not being a veteran, but 



Mr. Pace. Because if we are going to give to that veteran, then we 

 have to take it away from another veteran. And I presume over half 

 of the farmers of this Nation will be veterans of eitlier the First or 

 Second World War. So on this veteran idea, everybody knows its 

 appeal and it is always brought up, but what is the use of cutting one 

 veteran's throat in order to help another one, if I might put it that 

 way? 



Mr. Hope. Will you yield right there? Without getting into this 

 controversy, which is a big controversy and is bound to be, not only 

 in wheat but in cotton 



Mr. Pace. That is right. 



Mr. Hope. I think it can be said that these producers in areas such 

 as Mr. Wales represents had their increase in acreage take place at a 

 time when the Department of Agriculture itself was asking for an 

 increase in the acreage. Of course, they are coming in now and cutting 

 down the acreage next year, but at the time that expansion started 

 there was a request from the Secretary of Agriculture to the farmers to 

 expand their production of wheat to feed a starving world. 



You think that should be given some consideration? 



Mr. Wales. I neglected to mention that; I left it out. 



Mr. P.\CE. Understand, please, I want to help you work the prob- 

 lem out, and 1 am just trying to dig into the things that need to be 

 considered. 



