878 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



the ones who are more in need than any other type of farmer. Their 

 interest is greater to me than all others, and especially I am inter- 

 ested in helping those who merit help, but am opposed to helping or 

 giving anything to anybody that does not merit it. 



I am a very close observer, tried to watch things very closely, 

 especially the administration of our laws. I am not a lawyer, and I 

 am unable to read law and understand all of the details, but can 

 understand the primary parts, features. 



During our great emergency a few years ago we enacted a law, I 

 believe it was in 1933, and I observed very closely, although not 

 directly interested in the administration of this law, and to me I 

 found a great deal of inequity and discrimination. I believe that the 

 law itself, the basis of it, was written wrong, inasmuch as it paid a 

 premium to those who did not merit any help, and penalized those 

 who should have received a premium, those who were entitled to the 

 blessings and help and support of our Government. 



I have a practical example in my written statement covering this. 

 I will invite all of you to read very carefully, as this was carried out 

 in practice under my observation, not only this example, but another 

 one that I will call to mind was like this: 



This law set up a quota for the entire Nation. Then that was 

 broken down to each State, and to each county, and then each county 

 agent organized community committees to break down this to each 

 individual farmer as their quota for all Government benefits and so 

 forth to be based on. 



In doing this, it was my observation that the greatest of our 

 farmers, the most influential ones, were able to get around to these 

 committeemen with their pleas to get all the acreage, and all of the 

 support they could, and many times this was stretched a little toward 

 them, and when it got around to the little man who was unable to 

 speak for himself, unable to stand for his own rights, they had a very 

 small acreage left, and just dished out a very small amount to some 

 of them. 



I live in a very poor agricultural section comprised almost entirely 

 of little one- and two-horse cotton farmers. Under the administra- 

 tion of this bill, when we had the farm allotment, the quota system, 

 there were some of those little small farmers with big families depend- 

 ent upon them that got such a small amount of tax-free exemptions 

 for their cotton, some were less than 1 bale of cotton exemption, 

 many others were 50- and 100-bale exemptions, and these little 

 fellows had where they made 2 and 3 and 4 bales, had to buy their 

 exemptions from the bigger man, paying him another premium, 

 so they were hurt very badly in the deal. 



And the basis of all of these Government benefits that have been 

 paid ever since has been upon those figures that were established back 

 there at that time. I think that should be corrected. That was, 

 I think, a great inequity, and I am no lawyer, as I say, but it seems 

 to me that it is discrimination. In fact, it seemed like discriminating 

 to me when you tell any man that he can pi'oduce so much cotton 

 or corn or Avheat tax free, and his neighbor over there that he can 

 produce half that much or less. It looks like plain discrimination 

 to me. 



These axe very fundamental things. As I say, I am not directly 

 interested in farming, but I would like for the man who needs the help 

 the most to be thought of more, his benefit to be worked out more. 



