AGRICULTURAL RELIEF

15

We appreciate the action of the Sixty-ninth.Congress which, in a nonpartisan
manner, passed the surplus control bill. If put into operation this measure
would have marked the beginning of a sound economic agricultural policy in our
Government. Commodity marketing and surplus control are inseparable.
Cooperative organizations, however, can not bear the load unaided. Under
certain conditions in order that operations may be successful the entire commodity
marketed, and not the member producers alone must, by the application of the
equalization fee principle, meet the requirement that each marketed unit shall
pay its share of the cost of its own stabilization and protection. We insist that
legislation which contains the principles embodied in the MeNaryv-Haugen bill,
with such improvements as experience and good judgment mav suggest. shall
again be passed bv Congress.
That does not give Mr. Thompson, my national president, who
appeared before you two or three days ago, nor myself, nor my
legislative committee, nor any functioning body of the American
Farm Bureau Federation, any commission to support a bill which
deviates substantially from the outline contained in this resolution.

As I say, Congressman Andresen, it has taken us four or five years
to get to the point where our membership, after studying farm relief,
eventually have put down fundamental principles like those, and
even have named the bill. This is the first time 1t has ever been done
in our organization. Now it may take us four or five years to change
our plan. This organization which I represent is far flung, from the
east to the west, to the north and to the south, and the membership
of the agricultural organizations—and I am not speaking of one, but
I am speaking of all—neither arrive at their conclusions hastily nor
depart therefrom quickly.

Mr. AnxpresEN. Mr. Gray, you have studied the figures of pro-
spective increase in acreage for wheat and cotton and some of the
other crops for this coming year, have vou not?

Mr. Gray. Yes.

Mr. ANprRESEN. Do you recognize that if conditions remain some-
what normal we are going to have a large cron of wheat, a large crop
of cotton this year?

Mr. Gray. We might reasonably expect that, not knowing, of
course, what climatic conditions will be—that is, seasonal ones.

Mr. Former. I might say that all the indications are for a small
cotton crop this year, with a large amount of boll weevil coming into
existence.

Mr. Gray. It is a guess to estimate at this time what the produc-
tion will be in September or November, or what the situation will be
next fall. .

Mr. ANDRESEN. But there has been a large increase in the acreage
of wheat planted?

Mr. Gray. I think you are right on that. My recollection coin-
cides with that statement.

Mr. ANprRESEN. With the ideal winter we have had for the pro-
duction of wheat, are we not to assume that if conditions remain
somewhat normal during the spring we will have a large crop?

Mr. Gray. Giving more information on that line, I happen to have
been in contact with Mr. Umberger, dean of agricultural extension
in Kansas, who tells me that one-third of the wheat crop in Kansas
is said to be winter-killed on account of the severe cold snaps lately
and the dry condition of the soil. So you can not tell what the wheat
will come into when spring arrives.

ROB160—22—8FRE PT 1——