77iTu CoaoRss HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES I

Ruoar
Bd e8ioin f
No. 2212

AMEND SECTION 344 (H) OF THE AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED
JuNo 5, 1942.-Committed to the Committee of the Wh House on he state
of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. WICKERSHAM, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the

following

REPORT
CTo accompany H. R. 7115)

The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred, the bill

(H. R. 7115) to promote the war effort by facilitang the plaiting
of the full allotted acreage of cotton as recommended b the Secretary
of Agriculture as the Nation's war goal having considered the same,
report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass, with the followig amendments:
Page 1, line 8, change the word "years" to "year"; change the word
"semicolon" to "period".;
Page 1, line 9, following the second "and" ad pecediig the worid
parity" insert the following new wording: "during the year 1942".
Page 2, line 2, following the word "transferred" and the period,
strike out the balance of the line; also strike all of lines 3 to 7, inclusive.
'STATEMENT

This bill provides that if a farmer temporarily gives up part of WS

allotted cotton acreage because of the fact be-does not desire to plant
that acreage to cotton, during the',year: 1942, both parity and soilconservation payments will remain with the farmer towhom the
original allotment was made. The farmer who receives the allotted
acreage receives neither payment. The only privilege that passes to
him is the right to market cotton grown on the emporril grw
additional acreage under the quota provisions voted by the cotton
growers.
There is shown below a letter from the Secretary of Agriculture
Claude R. Wickard, expressing the views of the Department and the
Bureau of the Budget on this propousd legislation.

2.

-AMEND

AGRICVLTURAL ADJlUTMeX T ACT Or 19388

D*PARTMYNT

Hon; H. P. FULMZR,

OF

AnaCuLTux*,

Chairman, Commite on Aprimture,

House of Repre"Wives.
DEAR MR. FULMER: This is in response to your request of May 21 1942, for a
report on H. R. 7116, a bill to promote the war effort by facilitating the planting
of the full allotted acreage of cotton as recommended by the Secretary of Agriculture as the Nation's war goal. The bill amends section 344 (h) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended.
with piagrpW (a) bfthe bill, it" would e neeary to establiih
In corlahe
allotments for future years without regard to the'reallocftioos under section 344
(h) of the act, as' 'iende&d 'by this bill. In establishing cotton-acreage allotments, no consideration is given to previous allotments. Rather, the future
allotment is limited by the highest planted plus diverted acreage during any of the
3 previous years. Thus, whether a farmer releases cotton-acreage allotment or
not, the limiting ,factor on future allotments will be based on his plantings and
s
ofi
i allotient.' As to farmers who receive additional acreage,' it
not thesize
would be necessary to adjust their cotton history so as to reflect what part of the
planting was due to the increased allotment resulting from the reallocation of
allotments. This, of course, would require an individual determination for each
of these farms which would entail considerable administrative difficulties, as well
as additional expense
A,
.
P. t graph (b) of HIR. 7'li5 Would dfrtt jthe dA'kngiof parity 'payfiient Ad
agricultural conservation payments .on. the basis of the original cotton acreage
allotment for farms where unused allotments are transferred between farms for
marketing quotas. As you know, cotton acreage allotments for fam are established under the Agricultural Adustmenlt Act of 1938, as amended, to divide the
available market for cotton equitably among al cotton farmers, with due consideration for the rights of consumers and small producers and the economic
factors involved in the growing of cotton., The oil Conservation and Domestic
Allotment Act as amended, although not primarily concerned with the marketing
of cotton, is designed to give fair and equitable treatment to all farmers, partidulariy to eniallfarmets -in apportioning acreage allotments and making payments for comnpliance witii thse allotments, due reafd aIo bellig given, to te
interests
,of consumers. In view of these considerations it has b en eded, as
a matter ,of administrative; policy cositent Tithe the. purposes of the two at tutes,' that the' acreage allotments for the purposed of marketing quotas shibe
te same 'a the allotment for te 'purposed of the agricultUral conservation and
parity payment programs. To permit a producer to release a porti6n of the'ori,al allotment onthe farm and yet retain-all payments with respect thereto would
result in the determination of two allotments for such a farm. This would increase considerably the ladFninistrative expenses maintaining additional records
in confusion among the farmers.
likely ,resit
and wonld
In tthis connecting, your attention is invited to the fact that section' 349 of the
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, provides that any person who
knowingly overplants.his marketing-quota-acreage allotment for-cotton shall 'not
be'eligible'for any payment whatsoever under the agricultural conservation program for that year.
Paragraph (b) of the bill further provides for waiving for farms receiving
additional allotments from the reallocation of released allotments, the proviso
iA; section 844 (h) of the act limiting allotments made under such subeection to
40 percent of the tilled, aereage on such farms. In the greater part of the Cotton
Belt the 1942 plantingg season for cotton is already past. Unused allotments
basis of the
odthehe
farms
where'released'bk' operators we r 'reallocated ft othe,
o66these farts
present provisions' of section '344 (h), The
thereby limiting allotments
to 40 percent of the tilled. acreage.'
operate to in-.
proposed change would
is still in prod
plantingseason
craseraellotmentbsfor 194, in ,res, where the
and to place in complianefaarms n which producers have planted or will plant?
mote than 40 percent of t'he tilled land on their farms in cotton iia'on which 'the
acreage planted, ot which Will be planted, to cotton exceeds 'thle respective farm
allotments. Furthermore, between 35 and 40 percent of the tilled acre ggfor
most frmsis already allottqd to cottonin the areas in which the enactment of
This compares. with
this bill would result in larger cotton allotments in 1942.
an average of about 27 percent of tilledacreage allotted to cotton over fhe Cotton
Belt as a whole.

AMEND AGRICULTURIAL ADiJeflLW Aar OF l 0as

About 95 percent of the cotton produced hi aea in which the proposed amendment would tend to increase obtctn alloumets for 1942 is less than 1 inch In
staple length. Our present sIpply of these short-staple ottos is about double
oUr needs on the basis Of the present rate of consumption. The Department, a
indicated i the pross release of March 4, 1942, not only requested farmers to
plant up to their full allotments, but also recommended a larger production within
the allotments of cotton of a staple length of 1 inch or more.
For these reasons the Department hoes not favor the enactment of this bill.
The Bureau of the budget advise that it has no objection to the submission of
this report.
oazeny yourC.uuI.W z ,
CLUrDE Rx WICag,

Secretary.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the

House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill
as reported are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted
is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italics, existing
law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman):
(Publc 411, 75th Con&)
APPORTIONMENT OF NATIONA ALLOTMENT
SEC. 844 (h) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the cotton
acreage allotment for any farm for 1938, 1939, and each subsequent year, after
making the allotments provided in subsectioti (g), shall be increased by such
amount as may be necessary to provide an allotment of not less than 50 per centum
of the sum of the acreage planted in cotton in 1937 and the acreage diverted from
cotton production in 1937 under the agricultural conservation program, as determined for each farm in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary and for any crop year any part of the aerbage allotted to individual farms in
the State which it is determined, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the
Secretary, will not be planted to cotton in the year for which the alotment is made,
shall be deducted from the allotments to such farnls and ma be apportioned, in
amounts determined by the Secretary to be fair and reasonable, preference being
given to farms in the same county receiving allotments which the Secretary
determines are inadequate and not representaUve in view of the past production of
cotton and the acreage diverted from the production of cotton on such farms under
the agricultural conservation program in the immediately preceding year: Pro'
vided, That any such transfer of allotment shall not affect apportionment of either
original allotte. or transferee for any subseauent year , and dui the year 194
the origs= allotted in th
parity and soil conservation payments eW remain
same manner as though no portion of allotment had been temporarily transferred.
: Provided, That this subsection shall not operate to raise the cotton acreage of
any farm above 40 per centum of the acreage on such farm which is tilled annually
or in regular rotation, as determined under regulations prescribed by the Sretar.