772 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Pace. And the only recommendation that might be construed 

 from your statement is the continuation of efforts under research? 



Mr. Smith. That is right. 



Mr. Pace. For finding greater markets? 



Mr. Smith. That is right. 



Mr. Pace. Is that a full and fair summary of your statement? 



Mr. Smith. I think that is true. 



Mr. Pace. Finally, then, your recommendation with respect to the 

 Secretary's proposal would be that you be left out of it? 



Mr. Smith. That is right. 



Mr. Pace. And the information of the committee is that, under 

 the Agricultural Act of 1948, commonly referred to as the Aiken bill, 

 you are left out; there is no provision in the Aiken bill under which 

 cattle could be supported at any level. 



Mr. Smith. That is my understanding. 



Mr. Pace. And that is the way you want it? 



Mr. Smith. That is right. 



Mr. Hill. Mr. Chairman, I would just like Mr. Smith to give you 

 a brief statement of his experience in the livestock industry. Mr. 

 Smith comes from Sterling, Colo., in my district, and I think the 

 committee should have the benefit of the experience Mr. Smith has 

 had in this industr}^ so that you know, when he is talking, that he 

 is talking from a lifetime of experience. 



If you will just say a word about what you know about the live- 

 stock industry from actual experience, I think it would help the 

 committee. 



Mr. Smith. I was born on a farm; I have been at it all my life. 

 I am 73 years old and have been very actively engaged in Sterling, 

 Colo., since I was 14, and am quite heavily engaged in the production 

 and feeding of cattle. 



Mr. Hill. Tell us something about your operations, so that this 

 committee will know you are not just in today and out tomorrow. 



Mr. Smith. My operation at the present time is very much smaller 

 than it used to be. I run about 700 cattle. I do not know, under 

 this program, whether I would be in or out. I do not breed cattle. 

 I do not know whether the Secretary means that I get the whole 

 payment, if there is a payment made; I do not know whether I have 

 to account to the man I buy from. In other" words, I buy light 

 yearlings weighing about 600 pounds. I do not know whether I have 

 to account to this first man for those 600 pounds and I get the 375 

 to 400 pounds that I put on, or whether that is passed on to the 

 man who buys my cattle and puts them in the feed lot. 



Mr. Pace. Let me help you there. I understand the Secretary's 

 statement to the committee was that the payment would go to the 

 final man who sells the beef for slaughter, for processing. In many 

 cases, it would, therefore, go to the feed-lot operator, as I understood 

 his statement. 



Mr. Smith. Of course, you understand I do not want it at all; but 

 if I have to take it, I would like to know how it operates. 



Mr. Hill. Just one other thing. Mr. Smith closed his statement 

 by saying— 



that this program is of such tremendous importance to the entire agricultural 

 industry of this country that it should receive the most careful scrutiny and be 

 thoroughly explored in every detail before any attempt is made to write it into 

 law. 



