GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 1245 



further cut in prospect, with nothing to stop it, during the same period 

 of time that their costs of production are not decHning. 



In fact, many costs are increasing. Utility rates are rising all over 

 the country. I can think of a lot of other things, but their income 

 has definitely been cut and there is no prospect of its being restored 

 unless we increase consumption. 



Mr. Murray. Under the milk marketing agreements? 



Mr. Parodneck. The milk marketing agreements cannot eat milk. 

 They can only provide paper figures and paper figures do not represent 

 the amount farmers get in milk checks. 



Mr. Murray. "What do they get for their milk in New York? 



Mr. Parodneck. $3.57 a hundredweight. 



Mr. Murray. You are getting 72 cents a hundred more than the 

 average in Wisconsin. 



Mr. Parodneck. That may be a fair differential for New York but 

 it is an inadequate price for New York. I am not qualified to say 

 about Wisconsin. 



Mr. Murray. Possibly your manufactured products are not bring- 

 ing what the present law says. I would not know. I just know about 

 Wisconsin. 



Mr. Parodneck. There is a glut of milk. Manufactured products 

 are begging. Nobody wants to buy them. I am surprised to have 

 people come to this committee and tell them that we do not want 

 any program which would increase the demand for milk and at the 

 same time say we must have support prices. I think 1 understand 

 what these people are talking about. They want a market support 

 price because in that process everybody along the line gets a slice 

 of the Government's check. When we create a support price at 

 the market level, the processors, the distributors, the warehousemen, 

 the financiers, and everj^one else gets a slice of that if you are sup- 

 porting it at the market price. But under a support payment plan, 

 that would be a plan limited to assistance to the farmer. 



Mr. Murray. How much do you think that would cost for a year 

 on 115,000,000,000 pounds of milk? 



Mr. Parodneck. Mr. Murray, I have thought about that and I 

 have a suggestion I would like to make. I am not qualified to answer 

 your question. I figure it this way: The cost of distribution is 50 to 

 60 percent, as I understand it. If you support milk at the market 

 level, you are supporting a price which is twice as high as the farmer 

 gets out of that milk. Therefore, I think — and I hope I am logical 

 and I would like to be informed if I am not^ — that this support price 

 on production should represent about half of the cost of marketing 

 support as it is now practiced. I am sure the Government has the 

 figures and the facilities for estimating what that cost would be. 



Mr. Murray. If it costs a billion dollars, where are you going to get 

 the billion dollars? 



Mr. Parodneck. I do not think that is a difficult question to an- 

 swer. I can answer it best, perhaps, by asking you a question, Mr. 

 Murray, if I may? 



Mr. Murray. All right. 



Mr. Parodneck. Every once in a while we hear that there is a 

 crisis in some industry or other. The last one I heard about was the 

 aviation industry. Om- airplane operators were going to go out of 

 business. They were all losing money. I think the Government 



