'904 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



senting the cheese manufacturing industry of Wisconsin. Mr. 

 Kopitzke has been tied up with the cheese industry all of his life; 

 he has been president of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers' Association 

 for many years. It is not necessary, I imagine, for me to mention 

 the fact that Wisconsin not only produces one-eighth of the milk in 

 the whole United States but also produces about half of the cheese 

 and 30 percent of the evaporated milk, and Mr. Kopitzke lives in a 

 State and territory where the whole economy is pretty much based 

 on the dairy industry. 



According to the Agricultural Crop Reporter of Wisconsin, which 

 is a member of the staff of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, the buying power of the tarmers of the State of Wisconsin has 

 been very drastically reduced until today they are down to what their 

 buying power was in 1941, and that is not very far from the economy 

 of 1939 when the economy was such that on a typical southern Wis- 

 consin farm, which is probably among the better farms of the State, 

 the labor return was 14 cents an hour. 



That is the reason T am sure Mr. Kopitzke appreciates the oppor- 

 tunity, Mr. Chairman, of being here today and telling us some of 

 their problems. 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Kopitzke, we are delighted to have you. I must 

 add, notwithstanding his protest, that we are also delighted to have 

 an opportunity to work here from day to da}^ with Mr. Murray. 

 No man ever came to Congress who gave more earnest and faithful 

 consideration to the problems of agriculture than he does. 



Mr. Kopitzke. I can assure you we appreciate this privilege and 

 appreciate the work you men are doing. 



STATEMENT OF LEONARD E. KOPITZKE, PRESIDENT, WISCON- 

 SIN CHEESEMAKERS' ASSOCIATION 



Mr. Kopitzke. My name is Leonard E. Kopitzke. My post office 

 address is Marion, Wis. I am president of the Wisconsin Cheese- 

 makers' Association, which has a membership of nearly 1,000 with 

 over 80,000 farmers involved. 



I wish first to give my opinion of the present price situation as it 

 applies to cheese. In 1948 cheese brought up to 47 cents per pound 

 at the National Cheese Market at Plymouth, Wis. Since election 

 day in November 1948, the price of cheese has been dropping and 

 dropping until it is now only 29 cents per pound. In round numbers 

 it takes 10 pounds of milk to make 1 pound of cheese, so milk used 

 for cheese has now dropped to yield the farmer only $2.60 to $2.80 

 per hundredweight. 



During the base period of 1909 to 1914 the Phmiouth Board price 

 of cheese averaged 14.5 cents per pound. The parity index for last 

 month was 245, and this multiplied by 14.5 cents makes 35.525 cents 

 which is the parity price of cheese. Ninety percent of parity, or the 

 law today, would be 32 cents per pound. The Plymouth Board price 

 should then be 32 cents per pound instead of 29 cents per pound. 



The Agricultural Department has been making excuses for not fol- 

 lowing the law. They claim they are confused and do not know what 

 milk used (or manufactured purposes brought during the base period 

 1909 to 1914. This does not make sense. If cheese brought 14.5 

 cents per pound at Plymouth during the base period, and with the 



