Mr. WELLS. We have what we call a balance sheet of agriculture that estimates those various values. In other words, what is the value of the farm plant at current prices? What do farmers have in the way of cash in banks and savings bonds? What was the farm mortgage debt? The short-term debt? I would be very glad to supply you with that.

Mr. HUNTER. What I am trying to get at is the relative economic position of the farmer over a period of years. I think that this data would serve to clarify that.

Mr. WELLS. I would be very glad to supply that. We have a chart showing the farmer's financial position both in terms of current dollars and more important than that, deflated dollars. I mean dollars of constant purchasing power, 1940 to date.

INCREASE IN FARM SAVINGS

Mr. JOHNSON. I have the figures for 1940 and 1952 with some preliminary estimates for 1953. That is, you are speaking about the savings which are readily available, financial assets such as savings bonds, bank deposits, and so on. In 1940 they were $4,975,000,000. They were about $24 billion on January 1, 1953, but of course we need to relate the change to the increased price level, and also to what those savings will buy today as compared with what they would have bought at that time.

Mr. HUNTER. I am trying to find out what the position of the average farmer, not the total figures for all farmers because that would have to be weighted or adjusted in accordance with increases or decreases in farm population.

FARM INDEBTEDNESS ANALYZED

Mr. JOHNSON. Of course, the situation of the average farmer is a little difficult to get at because the young farmer starting in farming may be very heavily indebted and the man who has been farming for awhile so that he has established himself finds himself in a different position.

Mr. WELLS. Let me say this about the average position of most farmers. Farm mortgage debt is at a relatively low level, about what it was in 1940. The short-term debt, the nonmortgage debt, is today about three times what it was in 1940 and I think is associated very closely with the rise in cash farm operating expenses which are, I say, better than three times 1940, four times 1935-39. In addition to that, there is a third type of credit, CCC loans which I look upon as conditional sales and do not add into the short-term debt. Many statisticians do add them, the Commodity Credit Corporation loans, in short-term debt. Altogether, the total debt load of American farmers is relatively light. In other words, they had so much difficulty in the 1920's and early 1930's that most farmers have been very hesitant about going into debt. Some people who have bought farms in the last several years, young farmers who are trying to get startedthere are a number of those that are loaded fairly heavily. So you will find individual exceptions.

COMPARISON OF FARM AND URBAN INCOME

In terms of income, Mr. Hunter, I will simply say this, that the average per capita income of farm people is about half the average per capita income of nonfarm people-we can give it to you in many ways but that is about what it comes to. When we look at farm operators' incomes, in my opinion, we must realize that they are also businessmen and their returns must cover not only their labor but also their management skills and interest on their investment. Successfully managing commercial farms calls for just as much ingenuity as managing a corporation. We will be glad to prepare a statement covering these points more specifically if you care for it. (The information referred to is as follows:)

With the exception of a slight decline for 1950 the assets of agriculture have steadily increased in value since 1940. During the year ended January 1, 1952, total assets increased about 9 percent to a record total of $169 billion. For the entire period 1940 to 1952, assets increased 214 percent. Although the physical quantity of farm assets increased considerably, most of the increase resulted from higher valuations of all farm property. The table below shows the value of physical and financial assets in current dollars and in terms of 1940 dollars.

The farm balance sheet, United States, Jan. 1, 1940, 1952, and 1953

2 These deflated data reflect changes in the quantity of the physical assets of agriculture and changes in the quantity of goods and services that farmers could purchase with their financial assets.

VARYING WEIGHT YIELD OF MARKETED, BEEF

Mr. HUNTER. I believe your statistics reflect a larger amount of beef this year than last. I was wondering whether you measure that on the basis of the number of animals or the number of pounds. I have been told now by a number of cattlemen in California that they are slaughtering cattle at lesser weights, from 1,000 to 1,100 pounds, whereas formerly it was from 1,400 to 1,600 pounds. So possibly we do not have as much beef as we think we have, even though we have more animals.

Mr. WELLS. The estimates which I think most people are referring to now are numbers of cattle, hogs, and so forth, on hand January 1. The yield or production from those numbers varies from year to year depending upon the market situation, upon feeding rates, and upon whether or not we have drought. However, there is a long-term trend toward producing more meat per breeding animal, but that is a slow and gradual effect, so the actual production does differ from time to time in relation to numbers on hand; that is correct.

Mr. HUNTER. If that could be gotten out to the public, it might be valuable. I have a problem something like Mr. Andersen's, where the impression is gained that we are going to move more beef than actually will prove to be the case, and that tends to depress prices.

If it could be ascertained that actually in total pounds of beef we may have less than we had in 1952, although the 1952 number of animals may have increased, it would be well to make such information public so as to correct the erroneous impression.

Mr. WELLS. We do obtain statistics through the Federal Inspection Service and otherwise on the actual slaughter and production of meat by weeks and months. And I think the major disturbing influence over the last several weeks has been the fact that the market receipts of cattle have been running about 20 percent above a year ago. I am under the impression that the total live weight, or actual beef production, has been running about 20 percent above a year ago. That is an immediate market situation. I think people should also understand, however, in the case of hogs, exactly the reverse is true. Pork production is down substantially, 15 to 20 percent.

TOTAL AGRICULTURAL AND RELATED EMPLOYMENT

Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Wells stated that the on-the-farm population of the United States comprises only 15 percent of the total population. Do you know roughly the percentage of the population which is engaged in activities related to agriculture in one way or another?

Mr. WELLS. Mr. Congressman, I am sure that for every farm person there is another person who is engaged in directly handling, transporting, or selling farm products or whose livelihood otherwise depends on agriculture-this includes the bankers so at least a third of the population of the United States has a direct and immediate interest in agriculture and the products thereof. Further, I think the question of the relationship between farm and urban prosperity is actually much wider than that.

Mr. ANDERSEN. Are there any other questions, gentlemen?
We will continue at 9:30 Monday morning.