GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 1233 



Mr. HoLMAN. Yes, sir. As a result of these experiences, Mr. Chair- 

 man, our people, I am confident, would not like to retm-n to a program 

 such as was suggested by the Secretary yesterday as an alternative 

 operation for him from the present program that we are using. It is 

 my understanding that the Secretary did not saj^ to do away with 

 our present system, but he simply asked for additional power. We 

 would not like to see that power given the Secretary because we think 

 it would be used and that there would be little or no utilization of the 

 other progi-am, which is working at least to a minimum degree toward 

 help to our people. 



"We are not anxious to see dairy products go too high. We are not 

 anxious to see the Government buy large quantities of dairy products. 

 We hope that through cooperative operation between our people and 

 the Government the level of purchase prices can be reached which 

 will produce the largest amount of private business in this country 

 and the least amount of Government purchases. 



Consequently, we request of this committee as a minimum that the 

 principles, as applied to dairying, of title I of the Hope-Aiken Act, 

 be extended for at least another year and we would like to see added 

 to the definition of parity purchasing power the element of farm 

 wages so that it would apply broadly to all farmers as well as to dairy 

 farmers. 



Briefl}^, that is our position with one additional comment. The 

 question was raised yesterday in the committee concerning the effect 

 of beef and hogs upon each other. I am sorry that the discussion 

 only got as far as the pricing clement was concerned. 



Actually, there is a close connection between beef and cattle and 

 milk, and, of course, corn is the unit that ties them together. But 

 the real result of this relationship is not always the temporarj" price 

 movement; it is the efi ect upon the producer who has the opportunity 

 for turning out alternative products. Depending upon what maj'' be 

 the expected price retm-n, the producer will shift from one product to 

 another and that is very common, particularly in the manufacturing 

 area of this country. 



That concludes my brief informal remarks. 



Mr. Pace. We appreciate your comment, Mr. Holman. We are 

 always glad to have you and we are glad to have Mr. Reed with you. 



(Complete prepared statement of Sir. Holman is as follows:) 



Statement of Charles W. Holman, Secretary, National Cooperative 

 Milk Producers Federation 



My name is Charles W. Holman. I am secretary of the National Cooperative 

 Milk Producers Federation with headquarters at 1731 I Street NW., in this city. 

 Since I have appeared before this committee several times this year, I will not file 

 again a list of our national directors or a list of our present member associations 

 unless the committee so desires. 



The National Cooperative Milk Producers Federatlin has 86 member associa- 

 tions some of which are themselves federations of cooperatives. All of the 

 member cooperatives are farmer-owned and farmer-controlled and have approxi- 

 mately 425,000 farm family members residing in 47 States. We estimate that in 

 1947 the:-:e organizations marketed a little over 19 percent of all the milk and 

 separated cream that ieft the dairy farms of the United States. 



It is my understanding that today the committee is interested in ascertaining 

 the view of dairy farmers regarding the feasibility of using the dairy farmer in 

 experimenting with the proposed producer pa3^ment program of Secretary of 

 Agriculture Charles F. Brannan. 



