counties producing cotton, but allotments in 36 counties are 4 acres and under. It becomes evident that many producers with 4 acres and under are showing little interest in retaining their future allotments by planting them.

After this comment, the question may be asked, will present cotton producers increase acreage if it is made available? Just for example: Nash County, N.C. had 246 producers to formally request 742 acres of cotton from the ASC committee but only 283 acres were available in this county. Officials point out that from 300 to 400 farmers would have planted more cotton in this county.

The cotton farmers of North Carolina expressed themselves during the last annual Farm Bureau convention when they went on record favoring the principle of transferring cotton allotments. They consider it a basic right that cottongrowers on the county level be given the first opportunity to utilize allotments before they can be transferred to the State and national levels for reapportionment. The loss of cotton allotments by failure to plant means the reduction of a natural resource which has been a part of the community since the history of the agricultural program.

(Whereupon, at 11:40 a.m., the committee adjourned, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Wednesday, June 3, 1959.)

SALE, TRANSFER, AND EXCHANGE OF ACREAGE

ALLOTMENTS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1959

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
Washington, D.C.

The committee met pursuant to recess at 10:50 a.m. in room 1310, New House Office Building, Hon. Harold D. Cooley (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The hearing will be in order.

When the committee adjourned yesterday, Mr. Heidelberg, Mr. Shanklin, and Mr. Little were to present the matter for consideration by the Department. We adjourned to give them an opportunity to confer with Mr. McLain, and others, of the Department of Agriculture, in the hope that they might reach some agreement concerning the matter.

Mr. Heidelberg, will you please come forward, sir, and tell us about that tell us what you accomplished?

STATEMENT OF FRITZ HEIDELBERG-Resumed

Mr. HEIDELBERG. Mr. Chairman, we followed through in accordance with the instructions of this committee. A meeting was arranged at 2 o'clock in the office of Mr. H. L. Manwaring. We went into the

matter in that office.

Sitting in this meeting from the Department were Mr. H. L. Manwaring, and Messrs. Rooney, Rhodes, Moss.

I am happy to be able to report that the men of the Department who were sitting in this meeting were in agreement on the basic principles. We went into the mechanics then of how to accomplish the surpluses, and after an hour or more of general discussion, agreement was reached to take H.R. 5741, as it had been introduced by you, Mr. Chairman, with the interpretation that was placed upon it.

It was apparent in the meeting this particular is in general line with these basic principles, and the meeting adjourned for the men of the Department to draft into language a bill that will provide for the accomplishment of these principles. And it is at this moment being drafted, Mr. Chairman. There has been some work done on it. My understanding of it is that H.R. 5741 will be reworked to some extent, and become title I, and then title II will be added to it, which will incorporate some of the mechanics of the accomplishment of these basic principles.

And while we were there, Mr. McLain by telephone requested that there be a call made from the office of Mr. Manwaring to see when the

next policy committee of the Department would meet. It will meet tomorrow. And this drafted bill will be presented for clearance there. It is not in shape that we can now present it to this committee. It is in the process of being drafted for presentation to the policy committee of the Secretary tomorrow morning.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. I understand, Mr. Heidelberg, that your final answer will come from the Department, from the Secretary's office.

Mr. HEIDELBERG. That is information that I did not have.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much.

Mr. HEIDELBERG. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. We have other witnesses listed here who want to testify.

Mr. GRANT. Several of these men would like to appear.

The CHAIRMAN. I have already obtained permission for these gentlemen to file statements in the record, if they so desire.

Let me ask you this question, Mr. Mauldin. Are you in accord with what is being done up to the present time-do you approve the proposal that we are considering?

STATEMENT OF ED MAULDIN, CONSULTANT, ALABAMA

LEGISLATIVE COTTON STUDY COMMITTEE

Mr. MAULDIN. Mr. Chairman, we, certainly, approve this proposal. As far as the basic principles are concerned we are not conversant enough with the language of the law to understand if it accomplishes it.

The CHAIRMAN. That is what the technical men in the Department are working on. They are working on that language now. However, as to the general idea, do you approve of that?

Mr. MAULDIN. We approve the idea.

As I understood yesterday, people within the county shall have first call on all unused acreage within that county and the people within the State second call. And then it is to move across the State line.

I believe our entire Alabama group here approves that.

There are other stipulations I believe in the basic principles. One is the perpetuation of the surrender program as presently constituted, plus the stipulation that the surrender of acreage history would be preserved at the surrendering point, regardless of whether it went across county and State lines.

With those principles we, certainly, agree. And I think that that will take care of a great many of our problems, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. We thank you very much.

Mr. MAULDIN. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Grant.

Mr. GRANT. Let me ask Mr. Mauldin this question, do you feel that will knock out the necessity of having a lease, a public sale?

Mr. MAULDIN. Yes, I think that will accomplish much of what was desired to be accomplished by the lease or sale program. Certainly, I do not believe that the sale program would work along with this. I believe there will be conflict between the two.

Mr. GRANT. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you again, Mr. Mauldin.

Is there anyone else present who wishes to speak?

STATEMENT OF B. F. SMITH, REPRESENTING THE BELT COUNCIL

Mr. SMITH. I should like to say one word. I do not want to take this committee's time at this time to prolong this discussion, but we have long recognized the need for action to accomplish the objectives that were outlined yesterday.

We are heartily in accord with the principles that were outlined and the action that is underway toward correcting these inequities, in allowing for the more equitable use of our acreage within the counties and within the States. We have very high hopes that the language that is being drafted by the Department will be acceptable, and that it will accomplish these objectives.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much.

Mr. SMITH. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there anyone else desiring to make a statement?

STATEMENT OF GEORGE R. ADAMS, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, AGRICULTURAL COUNCIL OF ARKANSAS, WEST MEMPHIS, ARK.

Mr. ADAMS. I think that Mr. Mauldin introduced the testimony of our organization at the last hearing. We approve of the objective of this legislation.

I would like, also, to say that we approve of the method and the procedure that is now being taken to accomplish these objectives. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much.

Mr. ADAMS. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there anyone else?

Mr. ELLIS. I have a short statement that I should like to make.

Mr. STUBBLEFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I want to welcome a long-time friend and the mayor of my hometown, who appears here today to speak to the committee.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. We are very glad to have you, Mr. Ellis.

STATEMENT OF HOLMES ELLIS, GENERAL MANAGER, WESTERN DARK FIRED TOBACCO GROWERS ASSOCIATION, MURRAY, KY.

Mr. ELLIS. For the record, my name is Holmes Ellis. I am general manager of the Western Dark Fired Tobacco Growers Association with headquarters in Murray, Ky. The 15,000 member growers of this association live in the western part of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee and produce type 23 fire-cured and type 35 dark aircured tobacco. By direction of the board of directors of the association, I wish to record our support of the principles and objectives of H.R. 7041. We believe that the production advantages which individual tobacco growers can accomplish by fitting the acreage of tobacco to be grown on the farm to the land, labor, and equipment available for the production of tobacco far outweigh the objections to transfer of quotas. The tobacco program for the dark types has been very effective and has enabled growers to receive fair prices and

adjust to other enterprises as the disappearance of these types of tobacco declined.

In order for the program to be made even more effective and to improve quality, I believe transfer of quota should be permitted. I also believe that permitting individual growers to negotiate the terms and the payment for transfer by lease or by sale is as American as neighbors swapping work or trading mules or tractors.

I might say at this point that if the administrative costs of recording transfers is a reason for not authorizing transfers, reasonable fees for recording such transfers in the county office would be in line with the precedent of the grower paying a fee for premeasurement and remeasurement of acreage.

We recognize that the degree of need for and the benefits to be derived from allotment transfers vary from commodity to commodity and by kind of tobacco. For example, Fire-cured and dark aircured, the kinds produced by the growers I represent, are declining consumption types of tobacco. That is, the shift away from the dark or heavier types to the lighter cigarette types which began some 50 years ago has resulted in a steadily declining usage of the dark, strong types of tobacco both at home and abroad. By way of an aside, I would like to point out that the decline was more rapid during the 5-year period just prior to the beginning of the tobacco program in 1934 than in any 5-year period since then and that in recent years disappearance has held fairly stable. But the declining consumption pattern has required corresponding reductions in acreage allotments. For example, a typical family farm acreage allotment of 5 acres in 1940 is now less than 2 acres. This pattern of reduced allotments has had two effects that bear on the question of transfers. First, it has intensified the need for adjusting the allotments via the transfer route in line with the land, labor, and good curing barn space. It also has resulted in many allotments too small for satisfactory curing. This applies only to the Fire-cured type which, as the name implies, is cured by the heat from open fires on the dirt floor of the barn. There is no satisfactory way to cure a half-filled barn of this type of tobacco.

At the same time, there are farms which have good stable curing barn space for say 3 acres of tobacco on which the allotment is 4 acres, while a neighboring farm may have good curing barn space for 3 acres with a 2-acre allotment.

It seems reasonable and sound to permit the two farmers in this example to transfer the allotments to the mutual benefit of both and to the benefit of the economy as a whole since the net income and purchasing power of both farmers would be increased. The second reason why the need for transfers is much more intense under the conditions which apply to dark tobacco is that because of the many small allotments and the many misfits resulting from the reductions, less than 80 percent of the allotted acreage is normally produced.

I would like to recommend three changes in H.R. 7041. First, I would recommend that the language of section 1 be made permissive rather than mandatory and, two, that the bill authorize transfer by lease and that section 4 be rewritten so as to state the limitations in terms of guideline objectives thereby permitting the specific limitations to be contained in regulations which could provide for the needed variations between commodities and the kinds of tobacco.