Show U S ENDORSE BENSONS SALE FUND PLAN american sheep men through their rint notional ional organization have endorsed the plan n proposed by secretary 0 of P ag agriculture ar I 1 cu ure ezra benson as cart eart of a program authorized y congress to increase sales gales of 01 wool and wool products this plan plan calls for the government erdmen to divert one tent a pound from its proposed subsidy to under the 1954 agricultural act to a special fund which would bo be used by a 1 pro proposed p 0 sed american sheep producers council solely to promote sales ahr plan was endorsed at the recent annual convention of the national wool growers association but it must still bo be approved by a two thirds vote of or all wool producers in a national referendum next spring it will mean they will give up a cent a pound of pro prospective S C t ive immediate returns return S f from r om tv the treasury to finance the national sales cam palan 1955 subsidy set it is part of a larger program the wool section of t the grogram e 1934 1954 agricultural act gives the secretary of agriculture power to subsidize ize wool growers directly from the treasury he has set the 1955 subsidy to be paid in 1856 1956 at a high enough point to bring wool growers an average 62 cents a pound on the average 19 1955 clip this compares with a 1954 floor of 54 cents under the now discarded plan by which the government loaned growers money to support the price at the farm in 1958 1955 growers will sell at the unsupported market price whatever it may be govern ment experts will figure out the average price nationwide and ard government check checks will then be distributed la lo suf af fluent to bring their average returns at the farm up to 62 cents the money will come from the treasury but its ostensible source T is a set aside of 70 per cent of the Treas receipts from the tariff on imported wool if it wool growers produce as much woof wool in 1955 as they did in 1954 and the payment in 1950 1956 should shoula be set say at io 10 cents a pound then they would get an additional in all from the government in 1956 in addition to the total which the wool may have brought in the market the direct subsidy or production payment feature is similar to the brannan plan of former Secretary Sec I 1 of agriculture charles F brannan for for direct go production payments to producers acers of perishable farm farin crops this was rejected by congress in the form in which he proposed ft it and was denounced by republican republican campaign speakers inc including I 1 president isenhower Elsen hower in the 1952 campaign reward for marketing acumen however the university of wyoming traditional research center for wool production points out that this present incentive is framed so as to reward wool growers for care and acumen in marketing and especially pec ally tally in preparing wool for market a point on which they have been criticized for lagging behind the australians an and other foreign producers the long range purpose of the whole program is to increase the domestic wool clip to pounds yearly from the tha e 1954 level lowest for many years of pounds 10 american wool production has been slipping steadily for many years due cue to many factors but the one of which the sheep men complain most vociferously ferou sly is the competition from australia and other we I 1 countries over a tariff tar barrier b r which they say is much too low the better a farmer prepares his wool and the more marketing alertness he shows the better price he will originally get since checks will wm bo be distributed in 1956 on the basis of the average price for the 1955 crop the farmer who sold his wool originally for a cent or two over that average price will get a geck premium when his government check comes in but if the wool growers in their spring referendum approve the marketing plan now approved proved by their national a association S 0 C cia IF tion average actual 1956 returns to growers will be 61 cents rather than 62 the extra a cent will be clipped off and pu put t in the special advertising and promotion fund to be by the proposed sheep producers council it if the 1955 clip equals the 1954 clip again the fund will amount to about long rang purpose they therefore take special satisfaction in turning the tariff into a two edged sword by the device of ostensibly taking their own direct subsidy from it so eo as to make it strike v double blow in their behalf beside the national wool growers association members of the proposed sheep producers council would be the national wool marketing corp american farm bureau federation national farmers Fan ners union national livestock producers association ohio sheep improvement pro association and pacific wool growers association other organizations may mav become members later C D monitor an epidemic of spruce budworm dest destroyed myed timber umber in new england canada and minnesota minn ta that would have sup supplied anit 11 enough enough pulpwood to keep united S suites a tes newspapers in newsprint for 25 years |