GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 769 



Mr. Vaughn. I think that you have stated our poHcy in very good 

 terms, and I certainly want to leave this committee with the idea 

 that we are attempting to cooperate with the effort of the Government 

 and the Congress to put wool into the hands of the consumers as 

 cheaply as possible and still maintain an industry which is necessray 

 in volume for the growth of the country. 



Mr. Pace. Thank you very much, Mr. Vaughn. It will be the 

 pleasure of the committee now to hear from Mr. A. A. Smith, President 

 of the American National Live Stock Association. 



STATEMENT OF A. A. SMITH, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN 

 NATIONAL LIVE STOCK ASSOCIATION 



The American National Live Stock Association represents princi- 

 pally the range cattle growers of the Western and Southern States. 

 In addition, we have in our membership many feeders located mainly 

 in the irrigated valleys of the West and a scattered membership in 

 other parts of the country. 



In preparing this statement I have advised with representatives of 

 our association from different sections of the country, and there are 

 with me here today Loren C. Bamert, our first vice president from 

 California; R. J. Hawes of Twin Falls, Idaho; George A. Godfrey of 

 Animas, N. Mex. ; and P. E. Williams of Davenport, Fla. They fully 

 concur in the statement presented herewith. 



We find it difficult to present a clear and concise statement on this 

 proposed farm program for the simple reason that we have not been 

 able to find anyone who can explain to us how it would apply to the 

 beef cattle industry. We have diligently inquired of many persons 

 in the Department of Agriculture but the best we can ascertain is 

 that there is no working plan as yet and that many of the details in 

 which we would be interested have not been worked out. 



No bill has, as yet, been introduced to spell out exactly what is 

 proposed so, to a certain extent, we are testifying in the dark. 



It has been the historic position of the American National Live 

 Stock Association to oppose governmental subsidies and controls. 

 I wish to reiterate our belief that that position is correct. We are 

 opposed to over-all grants of authority that inevitably will tend more 

 and more to regiment the entue industry. 



Aside from our belief that such subsidies and controls are funda- 

 mentally unsound, the very nature of our industry is such that it 

 does not lend itself to operation under such controls. There is no 

 fixed pattern of operation for a cattle producing ranch. Even in the 

 same neighborhood there may be several different types of operation. 

 There are various steps in the production of cattle as between the origi- 

 nal ranch on which the calf is born and the final trip to the packmg 

 house. Often cattle change owmership several times in the process of 

 beef production. 



There are innumerable grades and types of cattle, as well as various 

 weight and price subdivisions. The spread between the top and 

 bottom of the market is always the narrowest in the spring, yet even 

 now there is approximately a spread of $15 between the top and the 

 bottom grades at the Chicago market. It is possible for cattle to 

 sell at every 5-cent notch between the top and the bottom. In 

 the faU of the year, when fed cattle are scarce and the range cattle 



