GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 1021 



tung oil as compared with the price of other oilseeds and fats and oils 

 is patent. The cause of this condition also is obvious. Cottonseed, 

 peanuts, soybeans, and flaxseed all receive price supports on a parity 

 system. Tung nuts do not receive this support. Regardless of any 

 other consideration, is it fair or just that the growers of soybeans and 

 flaxseed, tang's chief competitors, should receive Government aid and 

 tung farmers be denied such aid? 



The United States Department of Agriculture and the Commodity 

 Credit Corporation have explained to the .4.merican tung industry 

 that the reason they are supporting the price of linseed oil at almost 

 double the highest price commanded by this product during World 

 War II is that the consumers of linseed oil, in particular this country's 

 paint and varnish industry, must be protected from gouging by 

 .Ajgentina, which at the time a support price was first given linseed 

 oil producers in 1947 was attempting to squeeze 39 cents a pound out 

 of the .American market. 



The situation in respect to tung is entirely different. The young 

 and struggling tung industry produces only about one-twelfth of the 

 amount of tung oil importecl in this country. This imported oil, 

 comhig mostly from China, without tariff or other regulation, natu- 

 rallj^ dominates the market. The .American tung industry is not 

 here debating the questions of reciprocal trade or of aid to foreign 

 countries. If it is the established policy of this Nation to grant vast 

 sums of money to China on the assumption that such grants will be 

 used to benefit the people of China, and the tung farmers of China, 

 the .American tung industry is not disposed to dispute such a policy. 

 What our tung farmers object to, however, with every fiber of their 

 beings, is that their industry should be sacrified in the procedure of 

 helping Cina. 



Recent developments on the international front indicate that the 

 Communists have just about taken over China. In the same bulletin 

 from which the tables above referred to were taken the Department 

 of .A.griculture's Bureau of .-Agricultural Economics expresses uncer- 

 tainty over continued imports of tung oil from China in view of 

 military and political developments. Regardless, however, of whether 

 or not the imports are curtailed because of Communist activities, 

 the .American tung industry must have the protection of parity and 

 price supports if the industry is to be placed on a stable, long-range 

 basis. 



We have shown the tremendous discrepancy in the price of tung 

 nuts and tung oil as compared \^Tth competitive oils. What is the 

 story when tung is compared with such basic crops as wheat and 

 corn? 



In a letter to Representative E. C. Gathings of .Ai'kansas on Febru- 

 ary 8, 1949, A. J. Loveland, Under Secretary of .Agriculture, cites 

 the average per pound in drums, carlots. New York, for the 10-year 

 period, 1930-39, in defending the Department of .'Agriculture's refusal 

 to grant a support price for the 1948 crop of tung nuts. 



Why Mr. Loveland should choose the depression years in attempt- 

 ing to show that tung farmers are receiving a fair price now for their 

 product is his business. However, even these figures when compared 

 with prices of other basic commodities show the sharp disparity in 

 prices for tung as compared with other crops. 



