Evening star., 1949-06-26

are hoping to ride to victory In th
congressional elections. may get
before Congress adjourns this 81
Agriculture Brannan authority to
system to help keep up farm pr
pork and eggs and milk-is slated
for passage by administration
leaders. But the overall Brannan
bill. which its opponents insist
would make the Secretary Of Ag-
riculture q car Of the American
farm industry. will have to 60
over until another congressional
session.
What the Democrats hope to do
Is to give the farmers q taste Of
the Brannan price support elixir.
get their votes to elect q strongly
Democratic Congress in 1850. and
then put through the entire Bran
nan program and thereby hang
onto the farm vote in the presi-
Dental race Of 1852.
@. o. P. Opposes Plan
The Republicans look darkly on
such q program. They will fight
1t. But the Republicans. like the
Democrats, will do their utmost to
get on the good side Of the agri-
cultural vote. Farm subsidies are
here to stay. no matter which
party controls the government.
The farmer likes high prices. and
II subsidy is necessary to keep
prices high. he will 60 along, al
though as an individual he may
not approve. He does not like
strict regulation-although he has
become more and more accustom-
ed to 1t under Democratic ad-
ministrations and war conditions.
To put it briefly, the Truman
Democrats are Offering the farm
ers more and bigger subsidies
that is. more and bigger subsidies
than are envisioned under the Re-
publican long range farm act
the Hope-Aiken Act Of 1948, passed
by the Republican 80th Congress.
The Hope-Aiken Act is in real
ity two separate measures. hitched
together. The Hope part Of the
act is the bill passed by the House.
continuing, with some modifica-
tions. the wartime price supports
for farm produce until the close
Of 194e. The Aiken part. on the
other hand-known as Title II
continues price supports for GER
tain commodities but makes them
flexible. ranging from 30 per cent
Of parity" down to go per cent.
Parity Is . price level. set arbi-
trarily some years ago. which is
supposed to equalize the purchas-
ing power Of the farmers and the
industrial workers dollar - q
standard considered fair to both
the farmer and the consumer.
The Aiken long-range program
does not become effective until
1850.
Try to Kill Aiken Act
The Aiken system Of price sup
ports. with its sliding scale from
90 to so per cent Of parity has
been attacked as an attempt to
reduce and take away the bene-
fits which the American farmer
has enjoyed during and since the
war. The Democrats were able
to convince the many farmers
they would be better under q Tru-
man administration than under q
Dewey administration during the
194S presidential campaign-and
this feature of the Aiken Act was
a frequent target. What the Aiken
Act, with its flexible range Of
price supports. Is really intended
to do, is not to cause the farmer
hardship but to discourage large
surpluses of crops. So when pro-
duction is great, the rate Of price
support lowers.
Under the Brannan program,
farm price supports start ct 100
per cent Of parity-and may go
up. They do not 60 below 100
per cent.
As the situation & ands today.
the Aiken Act becomes operative
January /. 1850 unless Congress
passes q new law. The Democrats,
therefore. are urging the passage
of q bill to kill the Aiken Act,
and return to the law which pro-
vided price supports for the farm
ers before the 80th Congress tam
pered with 1t. and at the same
time permit a tryout of the Bran
nan price support program on a
few commodities.
Some of the Republican men,
bers Of Congress, who do not like
the Brannan program and who
insist 1t is calculated to cost the
American taxpayers billions upon
billions Of dollars. still are leary
about the Aiken Act. They will
favor q continuance Of the price
support program as laid down in
the Hope Act. or even that in ex-
istence Immediately prior to the
passage of the Hope-Aiken bill.
Such Republicans say that If the
Aiken Act is suspended. q new
farm aid plan can be worked out.
This looks very much like a scut-
Ting Of their own Republican
measure. Their reply to such q
charge, however, Is that the Hope
Aiken Act was put through in the
closing period Of q session: that
the House had no time to con-
slider the Aiken bill. passed by the
Senate, and the Hope and Aiken
bills were slapped together. as
Title I and Title II Of the act.
so rs to get something on the
statute books and not leave the
farmers without price support
legislation.
Dispute Over Perishables
A major difference between the