of living. We suggest for tung a minimum support price of 75 percent of parity, as proposed in H. R. 11215. 3. The year-by-year control and limitation of imports (in the case of tung ́oil) to that amount needed to supplement our domestic production so as to satisfy all legitimate domestic requirements, plus a reasonable carryover to care for any emergency. Such calculations and allocations should be made prior to but not too far in advance of the beginning of each marketing year. We urge further that the meaning of the Congress be clearly and specifically set forth and that only the barest necessary minimum of discretionary authority be vested in administrative officials. AGRICULTURAL IMPORTS SEC.. Section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended, is further amended by adding the following new subsections: "(g) In addition to the import controls provided above, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to prescribe import quotas in the manner hereinafter provided for the purpose of preventing imports from adversely affecting the agricultural policies of Congress. It is the policy of Congress, except as otherwise expressly provided for any commodity, to maintain adequate domestic sources of supply of agricultural commodities and the products thereof and to stabilize domestic prices for such commodities and products at levels which will equalize the economic status of agricultural producers with that of other segments of the economy generally and provide fair returns for the labor and investment of such producers. "(h) Imports of articles which interfere or tend to interfere with the objectives mentioned above by displacing or tending to displace sales or other outlets for domestically produced agricultural commodities or the products thereof or by creating a condition of uncertainty with respect to domestic supply-demand relationships, or by injecting an element of instability in long-range planning, adversely affect the agricultural policies of Congress. Import quotas shall be established by the Secretary for all articles the importation of which in the quantities reasonably to be anticipated would adversely affect the agricultural policies of Congress with respect to any agricultural commodity or the products thereof. Subject to the limitations hereinafter provided, quotas so established shall be at such levels as the Secretary determines and announces would not have such adverse effect. “(i) Import quotas established by the Secretary under this section may not be proportionately less than 50 per centum of the total quantity of such article which was admitted for consumption during a representative period determined by the Secretary. If there were no imports of the designated article in a representative period, a zero quota may be established. Designations of articles in such quotas shall be sufficiently broad to prevent evasion and unless otherwise provided shall include any form, mixture, product, or source in which the article appears in other than inconsequential amounts. Designations may be amended by the Secretary to prevent evasion, without hearing. The Secretary shall give due notice and afford interested parties an opportunity to appear and present statements in connection with any ruling establishing, modifying in a substantial degree, or terminating any such import quota. The Secretary may prescribe rules and regulations relating to the powers conferred upon him by this section, and his decisions with respect to such import quotas shall be final. "(j) The President may authorize imports of any article in excess of the quantities established by the Secretary as the level at which the agricultural policies of Congress would be adversely affected. "(k) No imports of any article for which import quotas have been established by the Secretary in accordance with this section shall be admitted for consumption in excess of the import quota so established plus such additional quantities as may be authorized by the President in accordance with this section. "(1) Whenever additional imports of any article shall be admitted for consumption in accordance with the authorization of the President as herein provided, the Secretary, through the Commodity Credit Corporation or any other agency available to him, shall remove from the domestic market a corresponding quantity of articles the sales or other outlets for which are adversely affected by such imports. Articles so removed from the domestic market shall not thereafter be disposed of by the Secretary in such a manner as to adversely affect the agricultural policies of Congress. In removing such excess supplies from the market, the Secretary may acquire either imported articles or domestically produced articles. The cost of removing from the domestic market excess supplies equal to additional imports authorized by the President, as herein provided, shall be separately computed and shall be charged to appropriations relating to the programs served by such additional imports. "(m) The provisions of subsections (a) through (e) shall not be applicable to the commodities or products covered by subsections (g) through (m), except that import quotas or tariff rates in effect on any such commodity or product shall continue in effect until such time as import controls covering such commodity or product become effective under subsections (g) through (m)." (Whereupon, at 6: 10 p. m., the hearing was recessed, to reconvene at the call of the Chair.) I appreciate your coming up here, and I know the committee does, too. Mr. MCMILLAN. Mr. Davis, if you will give the committee your full name and title. STATEMENT OF ROY B. DAVIS, JR., PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION Mr. DAVIS. Thank you, Mr. Abbitt. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I am Roy B. Davis, Jr., president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. We appreciate this opportunity to appear before you and present the views of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, an organization of more than 17,000 Virginia farm families who have paid, at this time, their 1958 dues. Our organization represents all phases of Virginia agriculture, and we are constantly working to improve the farm income of Virginia farm families by working together as a group and accomplishing those things for Virginia agriculture by group action which they, as individuals, cannot, or find it more difficult to accomplish. At our most recent annual State convention, the delegates from the county farm bureaus comprising the membership of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, adopted the following resolution: We support the enactment of peanut legislation which will 1. Permit peanut growers to decide in a referendum whether to adopt a selffinancing and promotional program designed to put the peanut program on a basis of no cost to the taxpayer. 2. Peanuts held by CCC be excluded from total carryover computations. 3. Provide for adjustment in the national acreage allotment for underharvesting. 4. Repeal minimum national acreage allotment with a proviso that it cannot be reduced more than 5 percent of the previous year's allotment. 5. Revise the method by which the Secretary determines a short supply of peanuts of a particular type and the method used in arriving at the increased acreage allotment to be provided for a type determined to be in short supply. 6. Provide for changing the conversion table to be used in determining the percentage of parity support by using the set of conversions now established for corn, wheat, and rice, instead of that now used for cotton and peanuts. However, the delegates from the several States in attendance at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention several weeks after the Virginia convention adopted several resolutions which have a bearing on the proposals before this committee. The resolutions of the American Farm Bureau point up the essential nature of promotional work for agricultural commodities and urge increased support for sound, well-coordinated programs to promote the increased sale and total consumption of farm products without duplication of promotional effort. This resolution states further the position of Farm Bureau that any funds raised for the purpose of promoting the sale of farm commodities should be collected on a voluntary basis, administered by an organization of producers, with handlers and processors included where it is mutually agreed that they should be included, and that such funds should be used solely for the specific purpose for which collected and not for legislative or political activities. |