1250 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Parodneck. I think yoti can follow both. We do not believe 

 in the border restrictions or the tariff walls. We do not like to 

 vulcanize this country. We believe if there is any prosperity it will 

 be for the New York dau-y famer as well as the Wisconsin dairy 

 farmer. 



Mr. Murray. You write me a letter someday after we ship some 

 milk m from the West and tell me what it is. I want to come up and 

 look at it. 



Mr. Parodneck. We get your powder all the time. 



Mr. Pace. Does that conclude your statement? 



Mr. Parodneck. It does. 



Mr. Pace. We appreciate very much your coming down here and 

 we are delighted to have your views. 



The final witnesses will be Mr. Louis Slocum, secretary of the 

 Eastern Farmers Union. Mr. Slocum, we are delighted to have you 

 and we will be glad to hear from you. 



STATEMENT OF LOUIS SLOCUM, SECRETARY, EASTERN FARMERS 



UNION 



Mr. Slocum. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, 

 my name is Louis Slocum. I am executive secretary of the eastern 

 division of the National Farmers Union, comprising the States of 

 New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Our membership consists pre- 

 dominantly of egg producers. I am in daily contact with these egg 

 producers. We have discussed at length Secretary Brannan's proposal 

 and our members are also familiar with the Agricultural Act of 1948. 

 I can report to you that our membership supports wholeheartedly 

 the Brannan proposal with its emphasis on the family-sized farm and 

 with the 1,800-unit limitations. Our egg producers are gravely con- 

 cerned over the prospects facing them in the immediate future. 

 They are especially concerned over the Agricultural Act of 1948, 

 the full effect of which they will feel beginning in 1950. Under the 

 Aiken law no longer will our egg producers be guaranteed 90 percent 

 of parity but will receive support ranging anywhere from zero to 90 

 percent of parity. Furthermore, by revision of the parity base alone, 

 our farmers will receive under the Aiken law a cut of 8 cents per dozen 

 in eggs for next year and the following years, even if eggs are supported 

 at 90 percent of parity. Our farmers are most anxious to have the 

 production-payment plan apply to their commodity. 



We believe that it is the only sensible course to follow, for in this 

 way the farmer would not be penalized for producing an adequate 

 supply of food while consumers would be able to buy more of our 

 products when they sell for what they would bring on the market. 

 We have taken this question of production payments back to our 

 membership. We have discussed these problems with every local. 

 We have found out that our membership is uniformly in favor of 

 production payments as a means of stabilizing farm income. Our 

 farmers are thinking not only of themselves but of the welfare of all 

 our people when they are asking for production payments. Of course 

 our farmers want to maintain a decent standard of living for them- 

 selves and their families. They shoulJ. They work hard enough for 

 it. But it goes deeper than that. Our farmers know that when farm 



