Excerpt from Post-War Economic Policy and Planning, Vol. 5 The fourth report of the House Special Committee on Postwar Economic Policy and Planning, issued September 8, 1944, contained a brief discussion of the principal problems of agriculture in the postwar reconversion period. Shortly after the publication of that report the Subcommittee on Agriculture and Mining undertook a series of hearings to investigate further the problems discussed in the fourth report. As a first step the subcommittee felt it was important to inquire into the longer range goals toward which our agriculture should seek to reconvert. Without a clarification of our objectives in this field it seemed clear-that no constructive national policy could be developed other than one of temporizing with immediate problems and complaints. The subcommittee's inquiry was begun on August 23, 1944, with testimony from Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard and War Food Administrator Marvin Jones. After receiving statements from these two administrative officials, it was felt that a canvass should be made of the views of the leading nongovernmental students of agricultural problems. The bulk of these hearings therefore record the views of some of the people who have been associated with programs for agriculture and have made exhaustive studies of its problems. In inviting its witnesses to appear at the hearings, the subcommittee asked for suggestions upon four basic questions: 1. Basic long-run policies to lessen instability of income resulting from variations in production and in demand; 2. Basic policies to place agriculture on a satisfactory self-sustaining basis in long run; 3. Policies to promote higher levels of consumption and nutrition; and 4. Relationship between our foreign trade policy and domestic agriculture policies. On the basis of this testimony the subcommittee plans to reexamine the major goals to be sought in framing agricultural legislation to the end that specific laws may be coordinated and directed toward more definitely understood goals. One of the assignments of the House Special Committee on Postwar Economic Policy and Planning has been that of studying and reporting to the Congress upon the basic components of a coordinated postwar economic policy for the Nation. It is the plan of this Subcommittee on Agriculture and Mining to examine the problems of agriculture from the points of view both of the farmers themselves and also of the national well-being and the attainment of our goal of a stable and prosperous economy, one which preserves, protects, and promotes freedom, enterprise, and high attainment. The views expressed in this report of hearings contain valuable contributions to this end. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.