GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 1007 



the October 1947 Fortune, "American industrial consumers must have tung oil 

 in steady vokime and at prices both reasonable and reasonably stable. Otherwise 

 they will learn to do without it altogether." Thus discouragement on the part 

 of both American growers and American tung oil consumers may further reduce 

 American production of tung oil. The result of these factors would be that the 

 United States may not have available to it the supply of this critical war material 

 which would be needed in event of war. Great Britain, following this line of 

 thought, is protecting herself bj' spending $4,000,000 in the planting of tung trees 

 in South Nysaland, which it is expected will assure a supply of tung oil almost 

 15 times the amount previously obtained from this area. I believe we should 

 similarly protect ourselves by granting price support to tung oil in America at 

 not less than 90 percent of j^arity. 



It is my sincere hope that this honorable committee will give favorable considera- 

 tion to the advisability of granting the requested relief to America's tung oil 

 industry. Thank j'ou. 



Mr. Pace. The Chair would like to say to the committee that the 

 Representative from the State of Louisiana, Mr. Morrison, is profoundly 

 interested in this subject. He called me Saturday and stated that a 

 matter of the highest importance had called him out of the city today. 

 He filed with the committee a statement relating to the subject. 



(The statement is as follows:) 



Statement of James H. Morrison, of Louisiana 



As a Member of Congress from Louisiana, which is one of the largest producers 

 of tune oil nuts in the United States, I would like to emphatically support this 

 legislation to put a floor imder the producer's price for tung oil nuts in order to 

 save this tremendously important industry from disintegration and collapse. 



The over-all average price of 19 cents per pound that the tung oil nut producer 

 or farmer received for this season's crop will show a net loss of approximately $11.50 

 per ton of nuts. It is just a cjuestion of time as to how long the producer can last, 

 and, whereas a few ar? in better financial condition than the vast majority of them, 

 there are some that will have to abandon their tung orchards as a result of the 

 terrific losses which they have already sustained. 



When you consider that tung oil is a product that is of tremendous importance 

 to our armament program and our national defense, and was so important during 

 the past World War that the Government, during the war, purchased all available 

 supplies in the United States for war purposes, it is unthinkable that the orchards 

 should be allowed to die off. 



While it is true that we are creating vast stock piles of other materials that are 

 needed in the defense of this country, but which are only partially produced in this 

 country and part of which are important, I do not see how we can afford to over- 

 look tung oil because if this Government bought the entire output of tung oil, 

 which is approximately 400 train tank cars, and stock piled it, there could be no 

 loss to the Government and the oil can be stored indefinitely. It would certainly 

 be a tremendous asset. 



Tung oil production is not like the production of other crops such as potatoes, 

 or similar food crops, in that they can be planted in one season of the year and 

 gathered within the same year and discontinued the next. Rather a tung orchard 

 is similar in many respects to an industrial plant, in that it has to be built over a 

 period of years from a foundation of a small tree which develops to full production 

 in a period of 8 years- — each year requiring definite care in the way of fertilization 

 and mechanical cultivating. If a tung oil orchard is allowed to exist without any 

 maintenance, it will deteriorate faster than an industrial plant, and, in a few years, 

 will be bej'ond recover}-, and will not even have a scrap value as would an indus- 

 trial plant. 



Wlien you consider that our main source of tung oil is China, and with condi- 

 tions as they now exist in China, we should be deeply grateful to those pioneers 

 who have put forth their money, energy, and service in developing this industry, 

 which makes us independent of a source of supply outside our boundaries. We 

 would be in a serious situation were we to be totally dependent upon China for all 

 of our tung oil requirements. 



Many years ago, when tung oil production was in the experimental stage in 

 various Southern States, the Agriculture Department was most cooperative and 

 encouraged people to buy land, clear land, and go to a tremendous expense in 



91215 — 49 — ser. u, pt. 5 17 



