GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 891 



organizations who appeared before you, and we appreciate the 

 opportunity to present our views. 



Mr. Pace. It is a pleasure to have had you, and we appreciate your 

 coming. 



(The statement is as follows:) 



Statement on Brannan Farm Plan by People's Lobby, Inc., Washington, 

 D. C, Benjamin C. Marsh, Secretary 



The Brannan planfor agriculture assumes that the Democratic-Republican coali- 

 tion, which operates Congress, will continue to subsidize the victims of exploita- 

 tation, inefficiency, and waste, instead of ending those enemies of prosperity and 

 peace. 



A constructive program for agriculture — from the consumer's standpoint — 

 requires — 



1. An over-all plan for agriculture, based on the dictum of the Department of 

 Agriculture's Postwar Committee, which stated in January 1944: '"The agricul- 

 tural production of the United States should be adjusted to national requirements, 

 with due regard for export demand and desirable imports." It should be stated 

 that such control is implicit, though not stressed, in the Brannan plan. 



2. Gradual transfer of taxes on farm buildings and equipment to farm-land 

 values — to stop speculation in farm land, and encourage production. 



3. A Government marketing corporation, empowered to process and distribute 

 farm products, utilizing producers' and consumers' cooperatives. 



4. Reduction of freight and trucking rates. 



5. Government action to end exorbitant prices of things farmers have to buy, 

 so as to reduce their costs of production. 



6. More cooperative farming. 



7. Government financing of surplus of appropriate farm products to under- 

 developed countries, as a gift — a form of farm lend lease — for at least several years. 



This program does not preclude the two-price system of Mr. Brannan's plan, 

 nor the use of food allotments and other programs to increase use of farm products 

 by those of small incomes, but would lov.'er production costs for farmers, and make 

 possible lower prices to consumers, and to the Government on purchases it makes. 



Obviously, as witnesses before your committee have mentioned, agriculture 

 cannot be separated from the rest of the economy. 



The Congressional Joint Committee on the Economic Report, with only 2 out 

 of 4 members wholly dissenting stated March 1: 



"The Government, which is the only instrumentality that can balance the needs 

 of agriculture, industry, and labor cannot afford to be without a plan." 



Economic Indicators for May, prepared by the President's Council of Economic 

 Advisers, estimates that in Alarch total consumer credit outstanding was 

 $15,379,000,000, an increase of nearly 51 percent over 1946, when price control 

 was scuttled. 



The Congressional Committee on the President's Economic Report, stated 

 March 1: 



/'The relief afforded the 16,000,000 or more families getting less than .$2,000 a 

 year has been infinitesimal. The consumer's price index is still 72 percent above 

 1939 levels, nearly 20 percent higher than at the peak of inflation in 1920." 



'Tn 1948 consumers were receiving about 70 percent of gross output, compared 

 with 76 percent in 1929, and 75 percent in 1939." 



"During 1948, inventories were expanded faster than sales by all major groups, 

 manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, so that the grand total amounted to the 

 frightening total of 54.9 billion dollars in December 1948." 



It also states that last December, total debt in the Nation was $485,000,000,000. 



Naturally, Congress does not wish to give food, or to have it sold below cost to 

 those able to pay essential costs of production, processing, and distribution, but 

 unemployment is increasing. 



United States News and World Report (May 20, 1949) says: 



"A rise in the number of unemployed to 6,000,000 by early months of next year, 

 will be expected to occur if the production rate in industry declines about 15 per-, 

 cent from its postwar peak. The decline that already has occurred covers about 

 half of that ground, with the trend still downward. A set-back of that size would 

 be only half as great as the set-back either in 1920-21, or 1937-38. 



"For those who lose jobs or are unable to find jobs it will be serious." 



