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Statement of-Continued

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Holman, Charles W., secretary, National Cooperative Milk Producers
Federation, Washington, D. C

167

Hussey, Fr nk W., president,. Maine Potato Growers, Inc., Presque
Isle, Maine..

192

Jones, J. M., secretary, National Wool Growers Association, Salt Lake
City, Utah..-.

228

Kline, Allan B., president, American Farm Bureau Federation,
Chicago, Ill.....

61

Leavitt, Kent, president, National Association of Soil Conservation
Districts, Millbrook, N. Y

332, 341

Love, Harry W., executive director, Tobacco Division, Farm Federa-
tion Cooperatives, Asheville, N. C.

Maloney, C. W., State senator, and president, Stemming District
Tobacco Association, Madisonville, Ky.

Patton, James G., president, National Farmers' Union, Denver, Colo
Porter, J. Frank, president, Tennessee Burley Tobacco Growers
Association, Columbia, Tenn___

Proctor, R. H., assistant executive secretary, Kentucky Farm Bureau,
Louisville, Ky.

Regensburg, Edward J., president, E. Regensburg & Sons, and presi-
dent, Cigar Manufacturing Association of America, New York,
N. Y

438

438

111

424

427

312

Roose, Joe, Allison, Iowa_

373

Rosefield, J. L., president, Rosefield Packing Co., and chairman, legislative committee, Peanut Butter Manufacturer's Association and Edible Peanut End Uses, Alameda, Calif__

284

Royster, Fred S., president, Bright Belt Warehouse Association, Inc.,
Henderson, N. C.

405

Rudolph, Paul, manager Eastern Dark-Fired Tobacco Growers Association, Springfield, Tenn..

421

Shaw, R. Flake, executive vice president, North Carolina State Farm
Bureau, Greensboro, N. C_

425

Smith, Favor R., president, Empire State Potato Club, and executive secretary, Long Island Agricultural Council, Riverhead, N. Y.......... Smith, Russell, legislative secretary, National Farmers Union, Washington, D. C.

243

111

Taylor, Frank W., secretary-manager, Northwest Horticultural
Council, Wenatchee, Wash__.

247

Veal, L. L., manager, Western Dark-Fired Tobacco Growers Association, Murray, Ky.

437

Wagenen, Alfred Van, acting managing director, Northeastern Poultry
Producers Council, Trenton, N. J

364

Wells, Leslie T., president, Suffolk County Farm and Home Bureau
and 4-H Club Association, Riverhead, N. Y

187

Wells, O. V., Chief, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, United States
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C...

15, 80

Wilken, Carl H., economic analyst, Raw Materials National Council,
Sioux City, Iowa..

375

Wilson, J. B., legislative chairman, National Wool Growers Associa-
tion, Washington, D. C...

228

AGRICULTURAL ACT OF 1948

MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1948

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m., in room 324, Senate Office Building, Senator Arthur Capper, chairman, presiding. Present: Senators Capper, Aiken, Bushfield, Wilson, Young, Kem, Thomas, Ellender, and Lucas.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

The committee this morning is starting hearings on Senate bill 2318, which is a bill to provide for a coordinated agricultural program. The bill has been developed by Senator Aiken and half a dozen of our members who have given a great deal of attention to it and I think there is every indication that we have something worth while. A copy of the bill will be placed in the record at this point. (The bill under consideration, S. 2318, is as follows:)

[S. 2318, 80th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To provide for a coordinated agricultural program

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Agricultural Act of 1948".

DECLARATION OF POLICY

SEC. 2. It is hereby recognized that a sound national economy requires that each segment of the population be maintained as an efficient producer and a constant consumer of goods and services, and it is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress to provide for a coordinated program, to be administered by the Secretary of Agriculture in cooperation with agencies in the several States, and designed

(1) to assume an abundant production of all agricultural products necessary for the improved nutrition and clothing of all our people;

(2) to develop a means of supporting agricultural income on a flexible basis relative to prices and production so as to foster desirable shifts in agricultural production and aid in stabilizing the national economy;

(3) to improve methods of marketing, facilitate distribution, and increase utilization of agricultural commodities in both domestic and foreign markets;

(4) to regulate interstate and foreign commerce in cotton, wheat, corn, tobacco, rice, peanuts, and wool to the extent necessary to provide an orderly, adequate, and balanced flow of such commodities in interstate and foreign trade through price support, marketing quotas, diversion to various economic uses, and other means;

(5) to assist consumers in obtaining adequate and steady supplies of high-quality farm products at fair and equitable prices;

(6) to assist low-income families and school children in maintaining an adequate diet, particularly in periods of underconsumption and unemployment;

(7) to obtain full cooperation and coordinated action of farm operators in conserving, restoring, and developing our soil, water, and forest resources; (8) to provide more adequately for the coordination and expansion of Federal and State soil surveys and other investigations, experimentation, and research pertaining to the conservation, restoration, and development of our natural agricultural resources, and for the publication of the results of such studies;

(9) to assure that incentive payments to farmers in each State for soilconservation practices shall be made only for practices approved jointly by the State agricultural council (hereinafter provided for) and the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture;

(10) to provide for the fullest development and the most efficient employment of rural human resources;

(11) to provide more fully for adult education through cooperative agricultural extension work as the recognized educational and demonstrational medium for reaching farm people and others in regard to agricultural information, policies, and programs;

(12) to provide for the full development of personal initiative and local responsibility in the development and administration of programs for the maintenance of a progressive agriculture;

(13) to provide for the adaption of agricultural programs to the different and changing needs of regional and local communities;

(14) to make more effective the various research activities sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture by providing for the separate administration of action programs and research work;

(15) to facilitate farm home ownership by farm operators through improving and safeguarding the federally sponsored credit services available to farm operators;

(16) to encourage producers, processors, distributors, and consumers to enter into marketing agreements for the supplying of adequate quantities of selected farm products at a reasonable and assured price; and

(17) to accumulate certain revenues for judicious use in the support of prices of highly perishable products, including fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, and eggs, in facilitating distribution for diet improvement of low-income families and school children, and in stimulating improved nutrition.

TITLE I-REORGANIZATION

DECENTRALIZATION OF FUNCTIONS

SEC. 101. The Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter called the "Secretary") shall establish an agency, to be known as the "Bureau of Agricultural Conservation and Improvement", to exercise all functions of the Secretary and of the various bureaus and agencies within the Department of Agriculture which (1), prior to the enactment of this Act, were assigned to the Soil Conservation Service or to the Agricultural Conservation Programs Branch of the Production and Marketing Administration, or (2) the Secretary deems to be principally related to soil conservation and improvement or to those aspects of programs of the Department of Agriculture which require direct dealings by the Department with farmers; except that, subject to the supervision and direction of the Secretary

(a) the educational, `informational, and demonstrational features of such functions shall be exercised, in the several States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, through the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the agencies performing cooperative agricultural extension work;

(b) the research and investigational features of such functions shall be exercised through the agricultural experiment stations in the several States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico in cooperation with the Division of Soil Conservation and Improvement, hereinafter provided for, in the Office of Experiment Stations; and

(c) such functions, except as provided by clauses (a) and (b) of this section, shall within the continental United States be performed at State and county levels, insofar as the Secretary may deem practicable, by the State agricultural councils and by the county agricultural associations and executive committees hereinafter provided for.

The functions assigned pursuant to this section to the State agricultural councils and the agencies performing cooperative agricultural extension work shall be

closely coordinated by the Secretary and by such councils and agencies. The Secretary shall abolish the regional offices of the Soil Conservation Service, and no regional offices shall be established to perform functions formerly exercised by them; except that, upon the request of the State agricultural councils for any two or more States, the Secretary may establish a regional office to perform for such States the functions for which such office is requested. In the event a regional office is established pursuant to such a request the expenses of such office shall be paid in such amounts and proportion as such State agricultural councils may agree from funds which would otherwise be available for soilconservation purposes in such States.

APPROPRIATIONS AVAILABLE FOR FUNCTIONS TO BE PERFORMED AS COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK

SEC. 102. (a) (A) Any sums heretofore or hereafter approriated, other than as grants-in-aid, and available for functions which the Secretary determines to be functions required by section 101 (a) of this Act to be exercised through the Extension Service and cooperating agencies in the several States and the Territory of Hawaii, to the extent that such funds are available at the time the Secretary makes such determination, and (B) any sums appropriated specifically for functions covered by section 101 (a), shall be paid to the several States and the Territory of Hawaii in the same manner and subject to the same conditions and limitations as the additional sums appropriated under the Act entitled "An Act to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work between the agricultural colleges in the several States receiving the benefits of the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, and all Acts supplementary thereto, and the United States Department of Agriculture", approved May 8, 1914 (U. S. C., title 7, secs. 341-343, 344-348), except that

(1) not more than 2 per centum of the sums so appropriated and available in each fiscal year shall be available for paying expenses of the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture; and

(2) the remainder of the sums so appropriated and available in each fiscal year shall be paid to the several States and the Territory of Hawaii, without any requirement that equal sums be provided from any other sources, in the same proportions as the sums appropriated for such fiscal year pursuant to section 23 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for research into basic laws and principles relating to agriculture and to provide for the further development of cooperative agricultural extension work and the more complete endowment and support of land-grant colleges", approved June 29, 1935, as amended (U. S. C., title 7, sec. 343d-1).

(b) The sums paid pursuant to this section shall be in addition to and not in substitution for sums appropriated under such Act of May 8, 1914, as amended and supplemented, or sums otherwise appropriated for agricultural extension work. Allotments to any State or the Territory of Hawaii for any fiscal year as provided by this section shall be available for payment to such State or the Territory of Hawaii only if such State or the Territory of Hawaii complies, for such fiscal year, with the provisions with reference to offset of appropriations (other than appropriated funds allotted pursuant to this section) for agricultural extension work.

DIVISION OF SOIL CONSERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT

SEC. 103. The Secretary shall establish within the Office of Experiment Stations a division to be known as the "Division of Soil Conservation and Improvement", to exercise the functions assigned to it pursuant to section 101 (b) of this Act. Not more than three per centum of any Federal funds made available for research projects supervised by the Division of Soil Conservation and Improvement shall be available for the expenses of the division.

APPROPRIATIONS AVAILABLE FOR FUNCTIONS TRANSFERRED TO EXPERIMENT STATIONS

SEC. 104. The Secretary is authorized to make available from any funds heretofore or hereafter appropriated, other than as grants-in-aid, for functions which pursuant to section 101 (b) are to be exercised through the agricultural experiment stations in the several States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico such sums as he may deem appropriate for allotment to such agricultural experiment stations. The sums so allotted shall be in addition to and not in substitution for

sums otherwise appropriated for the work of such agricultural experiment stations.

COORDINATION OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL WORK

SEC. 105. (a) The Secretary shall establish an agency to be known as the "Economic and Social Science Administration" and shall transfer to it the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, the Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations, the Office of Administrator, Research and Marketing Act, and all research of the United States Department of Agriculture in economics and related social sciences which the Secretary determines to be basic, rather than merely incidental to the administration of programs not principally involving research.

(b) The Agricultural Research Administration shall hereafter be known as the "Natural and Physical Science Administration" and the Secretary shall transfer to it all research of the United States Department of Agriculture in the natural and physical sciences which the Secretary determines to be basic, rather than merely incidental to the administration of programs not principally involving research.

(c) The research and educational functions of the United States Department of Agriculture and its relationship with the several States with respect to research and education, including the functions of the Natural and Physical Science Administration, the Economics and Social Sciences Administration, the Office of Experiment Stations, which shall not be a part of the Natural and Physical Sciences Administration, the Extension Service, and such other agencies of the Department of Agriculture as the Secretary may designate, shall be coordinated by a Coordinator of Research and Education, who shall be appointed by the Secretary for a seven-year term, and shall be removable only by the President. In making such appointment the Secretary shall consider nominations submitted by the Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, which shall be requested to submit not less than five nominations and such additional number as the Secretary may request.

COUNTY, STATE, AND NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES, AND COUNCILS

COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS

SEC. 106. The farmers within each local administrative area of the continental United States as hereinafter provided for, or participating or cooperating in any soil conservation or improvement program administered within such area, shall elect annually from amoung their number a member of a county agricultural association for the county in which such area is situated. In any county in which only one such area is situated, five members of the county agricultural association shall be elected from such area; in any county in which only two such areas are situated, three members shall be elected from each such area; and in any county in which three or four such areas are situated, two members shall be elected from each such area. Vacancies occurring among the elected members of a county agricultural association between annual elections shall be promptly filled by election by the association from among the farmers of the local administrative areas with respect to which such vacancies respectively occur. No member shall be elected for four full consecutive terms. The agricultural extension agent, and the chairman of the committee appointed by the Secretary pursuant to section 42 of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, for each county shall be members, ex officia, of the county agricultural association for such county. If one such committee is appointed for a group of two or more counties the chairman shall be a member, ex officio, only of the county agricultural association for the county in which he resides. Members of boards of supervisors of soil conservation, grass conservation, wind erosion, and irrigation districts shall be ex-officio members of the county agricultural associations for the counties in which they reside; except that (1) if in any county their number exceeds the number of elected members of the county agricultural association of such county, only such of them as they may from time to time agree upon, numbering at least one less than the number of elected members, shall serve as ex-officio members of such county agricultural association, and (2) if more than one member of any such board of supervisors resides in the same county, only such member as such board may designate may serve as an ex-officio member of the county agricultural association for such county. The county agricultural association, thus constituted, shall perform within the county the functions assigned to it pursuant to section 101 (c) of this Act and such other functions as the Secretary may assign to it. It shall meet

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