GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 1139 



that I was up here that the cotton in one of our three- or four- or 

 five-dollar shirts is probably v/orth only a few cents. It is the first 

 and third of those factors which cause me not to be at all disturbed 

 about the impact that our operation in wool will have on cotton. 



We are doing that in effect now except that we are pajnng it out 

 in administrative costs and a lot of other things. 



Mr. Hill. Mr. Poage, if you will yield to me a moment, I would 

 like to ask a question along the same line you are pursuing. It comes 

 very forcibly to me. 



What percentage of wool used by the United States is produced in 

 the United States? 



Secretary Bfannan. I would guess it is around a third, but we will 

 have that in the information we give you tomorrow. 



Mr. Hill. You mean we only produce a third of all the wool we 

 use, yet in a year's time it is costing the Treasury $19,000,000 to 

 support the price of wool? Then it is evident that what Mr. Poage 

 says is entirely correct. We are not dealing here with a surplus crop. 

 We are dealing with a crop that is produced in deficiency for our own 

 use. You are dealing with a world price of wool here entirely. If we 

 only produce a third of the wool we need for domestic consumption 

 and you are trying to support that at a support price that is costing us 

 $19,000,000, what in the world would happen to us if we produced 

 all the wool we needed? That is the thing that bothers me. 



You are not dealing with a surplus crop at all. You are dealing 

 with a shortage. You are dealing with a production that never has 

 supplied our domestic use. You are dealing at a time when you have 

 less wool produced than you have had since before the Civil War. 

 I would like to know how you are going to deal with a crop in short 

 production during a shortage of domestic need and put it in the same 

 program that you have when you have a surplus crop. 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Hill, I do not know whether I understand 

 all the things you have just said. 



Mr. Hill. I do not think anybody understands them because you 

 cannot put wool in the same class as wheat, that is a cinch. 



Secretary Brannan. I agree with that. Mr. Hill, first of all you 

 are for a Government operation to support the price of domestic wool? 



Mr. Hill. Yes; but I am not sure that I am for it the way we do it. 

 Maybe we could do it m.uch better by a tariff. I do not know that 

 we could, but I am asking you. You want to bankrupt the Treasury. 

 There is a tariff on every pound of wool that is imported. 



Secretary Brannan. No; the people who import it pay that. 



Mr. Hill. There is $19,000,000. 



Secretary Brannan. The people who import it are paying it. 



Mr. Hill. The man who gets the wool in his suit is paying it. Let 

 us not kid ourselves. 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Albert. 



Mr. Albert. Mr. Secretary, on the basis of your present knowledge, 

 if Congress authorized the production-payment plan on an experi- 

 mental basis on two or more commodities, would you recommend that 

 wool be one of them? 



Secretary Brannan. I would like to include wool in them. 



Mr. Albert. I want to classify these on the basis of their relative 

 desirability and I wanted your expression on wool. 



Secretary Brannan. Yes, sir; I would include wool. 



