our cows in the head, as we have done already. Then listen to them boller about the price of dairy products. I do not know how you can expect to keep the price of dairy products down if we are not allowed an opportunity to produce them. You cannot produce them if you have the Luckman approach. He did not even want the farmers to feed the cows last year. The dairymen didn't pay too much attention to him. If the poultry people had followed Luckman, eggs would be $2 a dozen today. But the poultry people did not pay much of any attention to Mr. Luckman either. However, it seemed that a lot of other people contracted the disease that I call "Luckmanitis," because they are trying to do indirectly what Mr. Luckman was trying to do directly. You cannot feed the American people unless somebody uses a little judgment. And the first step is not to kill off more dairy cows, which the passage of the Rivers bill will do. I repeat, gentlemen, we are down below one quart a day in the United States today; the lowest they have ever been since they started keeping the records. Even the national school lunch program is using unfortified skim milk in their program. Probably the Pilgrims did not have that much, but ever since we started keeping records we have had around 800 pounds per capita in the United States. And we are not going to have it, for the reason that even the Bureau of Agricultural Economics does not dare be too optimistic about what the production is going to be for 1948. We do know that the population is increasing, and the production of milk is decreasing. There is a bad psychological effect that is going to come from passing the Rivers bill. If they will just leave us alone, the dairy people are fair-minded people. I was born and raised with them. As for these things that you complain about, they do not like them either. If you leave them alone, they will work out a program that will be fair to everybody concerned. I know them. They are not the type of people that are trying to take undue advantage over anyone. If you lived in a dairy country, you would know that. They make their money by milking their cows, and they do not make it by lying awake nights trying to figure out ways and schemes of milking the United States Treasury. How many people realize that the State of Wisconsin during the war increased its production from 12,000,000,000 pounds of milk to 15,000,000,000 pounds of milk. No other State came near that. No other State came near increasing it 1,000,000,000 pounds. Wisconsin accounted for one-fourth to one-third of all the increase of milk production in the whole United States. We sent millions of pounds of cheese overseas, which under ordinary circumstances is the poor man's meat. And now, when the war is over with, do you wish to say, "We have let this thing ride for all these years, but now we want to do a little something for somebody, because we think they want it done. So now, we will come around and kick you in the teeth. We do not really appreciate the fact that you did increase your milk production during the war from 12,000,000,000 to 15,000,000,000 pounds." Well, if the rest of the country had increased its milk production like Wisconsin did, its dairy products would be at a reasonable price today. That is all I have to say, Mr. Chairman, except that I would like to state for the record that in my appearance here, and the statement I have made in connection with the Rivers bill, I am associated with and have the concurrence of my Wisconsin colleagues, Congressmen Lawrence H. Smith, Glenn R. Ďavis, William H. Stevenson, John C. Brophy, Charles J. Kersten, John W. Byrnes, and Alvin E. Ó'Konski. At this point I wish to include the prepared statement of Congressman Merlin Hull, who has a lifetime record of support for the dairy industry of the Nation. (The statement referred to is as follows:) STATEMENT OF MERLIN HULL A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WISCONSIN Mr. CHAIRMAN: Representing one of the largest dairy districts in Wisconsin, with more than 30,000 dairy farmers, I heartily agree with my colleague, Mr. Murray, in opposing the bill to repeal the taxes on oleomargarine, and particularly the 10-cent tax on oleomargarine colored to resemble butter. In Wisconsin are hundreds of cooperative creameries, with thousands of farmer patrons, who well realize that repeal of such taxes will mean a return of the competition in the sale of oleo as butter, with all the bootlegging practices which became a national scandal in the days before the taxes were imposed. Wisconsin's dairy production is one of the most important of our national industries, amounting to more than $500,000,000 annually. The campaign of falsehood and prejudice carried on by the oleo interests against the farmers of the Middle West in particular, is poor recompense for the tireless endeavors of the farmers to produce the food which won the war. Passage of the Rivers bill would result in disaster to many creameries, and the consequence would be serious and far reaching. I hope that your committee and the Senate will defeat this unfair and unjustified measure. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much for coming, Congressman. Representative MURRAY. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Charles W. Holman, secretary of the National Cooperative Milk Producers Federation. STATEMENT OF CHARLES W. HOLMAN, SECRETARY, NATIONAL COOPERATIVE MILK PRODUCERS FEDERATION Mr. HOLMAN. Mr. Chairman, before opening my testimony, I have a few statements that were sent in by member organizations from outside of Washington, who have asked me to file them for the record, and with your permission I will file them with the reporter, without necessarily itemizing them. The CHAIRMAN. We will be very glad to have them, Mr. Holman. We will have them digested, appropriate credit will be given to the authors, and as digested they will be brought to the attention of the committee. (The letters referred to will be found in the appendix.) Mr. HOLMAN. I thank you very much. My name is Charles W. Holman. I am secretary of the National Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, with national headquarters in this city at 1731 I Street. This federation now consists of 86 member associations, and about 600 submember groups. These associations are all farmer-owned and farmer-controlled dairy cooperatives, with more than 430,000 farm families living in 47 States. The only State in the Union where we do not have farm membership is South Carolina. Incidentally, that is where this legislation originated, Mr. Chairman. The volume of whole milk equivalent handled by the members of the federation approximates 18,000,000,000 pounds annually, which represents about 18 percent of all milk and separated cream that leaves the farms of America in commerce. I am filing for the record a list of our member organizations with addresses, and a list of the officers and directors of the federation. THE NATIONAL COOPERATIVE MILK PRODUCERS FEDERATION, NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON 6, D. C. OFFICERS George W. Slocum, treasurer. John Brandt, president. W. P. Davis, first vice president. W. H. Austin, Lake Cormorant, Miss. DIRECTORS M. R. Moomaw, Canton, Ohio. H. H. Rathbun, New Hartford, N. Y. B. E. Stallones, Houston, Tex. Honorary director for life: N. P. Hull, Lansing, Mich. MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS Akron Milk Producers, Inc., 194 Carroll Street, Akron 4, Ohio. Arizona Milk Producers, 724 Heard Building, Phoenix, Ariz. Arrowhead Cooperative Creamery Association, 224 North Fifty-seventh Avenue West, Duluth 7, Minn. Central Grade A Cooperative, 315 College Avenue, Appleton, Wis. Central Missouri Milk Cooperative, Marshall, Mo. The Central Ohio Cooperative Milk Producers, Inc., 2 North Third Street, Columbus 15, Ohio. Challenge Cream and Butter Association, 929 East Second Street, Los Angeles 12, Calif. Chattanooga Area Milk Producers Association, 460 Dodson Avenue, Chattanooga, Tenn. Cheese Producers Marketing Association, Seventeenth Avenue at Illinois Central tracks, Monroe, Wis. Coastal Bend Milk Producers Association, Box 837, Corpus Christi, Tex. Connecticut Milk Producers' Association, 990 Wethersfield Avenue, Hartford 6, Conn. Consolidated Badger Cooperative, 116 North Main Street, Shawano, Wis. Cooperative Pure Milk Association of Cincinnati, Plum and Central Parkway, Cincinnati 2, Ohio. Dairy Cooperative Association, 1313 Southeast Twelfth Avenue, Portland 14, Oreg. Dairy Farmers Cooperative Association, Inc., Kentwood, La. Dairy Producers Cooperative, 703-713 South McDonough Street, Montgomery 5, Ala. Dairyland Cooperative Association, Juneau, Wis. Dairymen's Cooperative Sales Association, 451 Century Building, Pittsburgh 22, Pa. Dairymen's League Cooperative Association, Inc., 11 West Forty-second Street, New York 18, N. Y. Denver Milk Producers, Inc., 945 Eleventh Street, Denver 4, Colo. Des Moines Cooperative Dairy, 1935 Des Moines Street, Des Moines 16, Iowa. Enid Cooperative Creamery Association, 402 West Walnut Street, Enid, Okla. Evansville Milk Producers' Association, Inc., 413 American Building, Evansville 8, Ind. Falls Cities Cooperative Milk Producers Association, 229 Bourbon Stock Yards Building, Louisville 6, Ky. Farmers Equity Union Creamery Co., 169 Grove Avenue, Lima, Ohio. Georgia Milk Producers Confederation, 661 Whitehall Street SW., Atlanta, Ga. Golden Guernsey Dairy Cooperative, 2206 North Thirtieth Street, Milwaukee 8, Wis. Guilford Dairy Cooperative Association, 1700 West Lee Street, Greensboro, N. C. Hi-Land Dairyman's Association, 700 Vine Street, Murray, Utah. Indiana Dairy Marketing Association, 401 Broadway, Muncie, Ind. Indianapolis Dairymen's Cooperative, Inc., 729 Lemcke Building, Indianapolis 4, Ind. Inland Empire Dairy Association, 1803 West Third Avenue, Spokane 2, Wash. Inter-State Milk Producers Cooperative, Inc., 401 North Broad Street, Philadelphia 8, Pa. Farmers Cooperative Creamery, Drawer No. 2, Keosauqua, Iowa. Knoxville Milk Producers Association, 508 Morgan Street, Knoxville 17, Tenn. Lehigh Valley Cooperative Farmers, 1026 North Seventh Street, Allentown, Pa. Prairie Farms Creamery of Bloomington, 103 North Robinson Street, Bloomington, Ill. Madison Milk Producers Cooperative Association, 29 Coyne Court, Madison 5, Wis. Manchester Dairy System, Inc., 226 Second Street, Manchester, N. H. Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Association, Inc., 1756 K Street NW., Washington 6, D. C. Maryland Cooperative Milk Producers, Inc., 810 Fidelity Building, Baltimore 1, Md. Miami Home Milk Producers Association, 2451 Northwest Seventh Avenue, Miami, Fla. Miami Valley Cooperative Milk Producers' Association, Inc., 136-138 West Maple Michigan Milk Producers Association, 406 Stephenson Building, Detroit 2, Mich. Milk Producers Federation of Cleveland, 1012 Webster Avenue, Cleveland 15, Nashville Milk Producers, Inc., 901 Second Avenue North, Nashville 3, Tenn. Nebraska Cooperative Creameries, Inc., Fifteenth and Webster Streets, Omaha 2, Nebr. Nebraska-Iowa Non-Stock Cooperative Milk Association, 402 North Twentyfourth St., Omaha, Nebr. New Bedford Milk Producers Association, Inc., 858 Kempton Street, New Bedford, Mass. New England Milk Producers Association, 51 Cornhill, Boston 8, Mass. North Carolina Milk Producers Federation, Box H-1, Greensboro, N. C. The Northwestern (Ohio) Cooperative Sales Association, Inc., 2211⁄2 Detroit Avenue, Toledo 6, Ohio. Paducah Graded Milk Producers Association, Inc., Route 1, Paducah, Ky. Peoria Milk Producers, Inc., 216 East State Street, Peoria 2, Ill. Producers Creamery Co., 555 West Phelps Street, Springfield, Mo. Pure Milk Association, 608 South Dearborn Street, Chicago 5, Ill. Pure Milk Producers Association of Greater Kansas City, Inc., 853 Live Stock Exchange Building, Kansas City 15, Mo. Pure Milk Products Cooperative, 18 West First Street, Fond du Lac, Wis. Richmond Cooperative Milk Producers Association, 516 Lyric Building, Richmond 19, Va. Roanoke Cooperative Milk Producers Association, Inc., 508 Mountain Trust Building, Roanoke 11, Va. Rochester Dairy Cooperative, Rochester, Minn. St. Joseph (Mo.) Milk Producers Association, Inc., 1024 South Tenth Street, St. Joseph 26, Mo. Sanitary Milk Producers, 1439 Chouteau Avenue, St. Louis 3, Mo. Sioux City Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Inc., 511 Benson Building, Sioux City 15, Iowa. South Texas Producers Association, Inc., 3600 Center Street, Houston, Tex. The Stark County Milk Producers Association, Inc., 212 Canton Building, Canton 2, Ohio. Tillamook County Creamery Association, Room 107, I. O. O. F. Building, Tillamook, Oreg. Twin City Milk Producers Association, 2424 Territorial Road, St. Paul 4, Minn. Twin Ports Cooperative Dairy Association, 6128 Tower Avenue, Superior, Wis. United Dairymen's Association, 635 Elliott Avenue West, Seattle 99, Wash. United Farmers of New England, Inc., 86 Cambridge Street, Boston 29, Mass. Valley Milk Producers Association, McAllen, Tex. Valley of Virginia Cooperative Milk Producers Association, 41 West Washington Street, Harrisonburg, Va. Vigo Cooperative Milk Marketing Co., Inc., 414 Mulberry Street, Terre Haute, Ind. Weber Central Dairy Association, Inc., 2569 Ogden Avenue, Ogden, Utah. My short testimony today is divided into two parts. The first will be a discusion of the consumer opinion poll on oleomargarine, and the second a discussion of three amendments which we will propose to the pending legislation. In the heat of any battle as emotional as the butter-oleomargarine controversy, statements and claims are often made without regard to fact. And I don't like to call it a butter-oleomargarine controversy. I think it is a case of the 26 oleomargarine manufacturers versus the 212 million dairy farmers. As I say, in this type of controversy, statements and claims are often made without regard to fact. Unfortunately, many such claims come to be accepted without further examination of the source, the basis, or the real principle involved. For some time our dairy farmers have realized that the people of this country were being deliberately misled and confused by highpressure publicity for the repeal of oleo taxes. They have seen that it was incumbent upon them to seek out the true facts, before serious harm could result to the agricultural economy of the consumer's pocketbook. Our dairy farmer population of 10,000,000 people has a big, but by no means the only stake in this battle. We have ample evidence to substantiate our belief in the soundness of present oleo controls. A large part of our testimony today is based upon scientific research |