beginning land-development work has been done. It is just a matter of scheduling the land-leveling work. A lot of area is already being rented to tenants on a dry-land farming basis.

Mr. DYKES. The Government owns the land now. It was bought with funds made available to the Farm Security Administration who turned it over to us. The land is in big blocks now and the water is available to it in one case, and water is being made available in the other case. What we need to do is divide it into farm units, level it, ditch it, and sell it. So far, farmers have been mighty anxious to buy similar lands.

Mr. ANDERSEN. I brought out earlier before today that we have good land being ruined because we cannot get the Government to assist to get the water off it, Mr. Dykes.

Mr. DYKES. That is right.

Mr. WHITTEN. That seems to cover what I have in mind in connection with this bureau. I have not read into the record any of the recent investigation made by the Appropriations Committee applying to the Soil Conservation Service. A copy of that report has been made available to the Secretary of Agriculture. I am sure it will be available to you. Among the charges made is the usual one that three agencies are dealing with the Soil Conservation Service and each wants to be complete in itself. It is also pointed out the Soil Conservation has a tendency to claim all the things that PMA and the Extension Service does, and that Extension and PMA each claim the whole thing, too. Another statement in the report is that it is necessary frequently for a man to stand in line to get a complete soil plan on his farm from your people, when all in the world he wants is one little pool or pond or one group of terraces. I point these out so that you may study that report. I do not know how the order is going to work out, but it is a move in the right direction.

We inserted in the language for the past 2 years this so-called 5percent provision in an effort to bring about closer coordination. And we are going to follow up on the Secretary's order. We do not want any paper reorganization but we want actual effort to fully coordinate these activities.

COMPLETION OF WORK IN DISTRICTS

Mr. ANDERSEN. Mr. Chairman, I think it was testified earlier today that we had some soil-conservation districts in which the work has been approximately 100 percent completed. Is that not correct? Mr. DYKES. Eighty percent or better.

Mr. ANDERSEN. I think you were saying, Doctor, that some celebrations might be held in the near future to celebrate completion of the work.

Dr. BENNETT. It is being considered now in a few districts.

Mr. ANDERSEN. If that is the case, will you not have available technicians connected with those districts to go out into new districts? Dr. BENNETT. Some of them; yes, sir.

Mr. DYKES. We think that is all we will have with 150 new districts in prospect and no new money.

Mr. ANDERSEN. But that situation in turn takes off a little bit of the load as far as the appropriation demands are concerned, is that not so, Dr. Bennett?

Dr. BENNETT. We hope it will go further pretty fast. That is the principle on which we built up this chart, and on the basis of our past experience.

Mr. ANDERSEN. Thank you, sir.

I would not like this occasion to pass by without saying that I personally regret that perhaps this is the last time that Dr. Bennett is going to appear before this committee in view of his coming retire

ment.

Mr. WHITTEN. Well, I hear reports that there might be some question about that. But be that as it may, we want you to know that we feel that you have rendered a great service to the Soil Conservation Service, Dr. Bennett. It is a pleasure always to have you before this committee. Whatever course you may follow, I know it is going to be in the best interests of soil conservation.

We wish you well wherever you may continue your efforts.

Dr. BENNETT. I appreciate that, and I want to say that I have been treated very nicely in coming before this committee. I do not know just precisely about my retirement.

Mr. WHITTEN. Thank you, gentlemen.

FEBRUARY 27, 1951.

FARMERS' HOME ADMINISTRATION

WITNESSES

DILLARD B. LASSETER, ADMINISTRATOR, FARMERS' HOME ADMINISTRATION

M. B. BRASWELL, DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION LOAN DIVISION, FARMERS' HOME ADMINISTRATION

HOWARD BERTSCH, DIRECTOR, FARM OWNERSHIP DIVISION, FARMERS' HOME ADMINISTRATION

C. C. BARNARD, CHIEF, BUDGET DIVISION, FARMERS' HOME ADMINISTRATION

JOSEPH C. WHEELER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Mr. STIGLER. Mr. Lasseter, we are mighty happy to have you and your associates with us.

Before you make your statement, I would like to have inserted in the record at this point pages 248 through 253 of volume II of the justifications.

(The pages referred to are as follows:)

PURPOSE STATEMENT

The Farmers' Home Administration established on November 1, 1946, pursuant to the Farmers' Home Administration Act of 1946, approved August 14, 1946, is authorized to perform the following activities:

1. Make direct farm ownership (farm tenant) loans to farm tenants, farm laborers, sharecroppers and other individuals for the purchase, enlargement or development of family size farms. Loans, at 4 percent interest amortized over 40 years, are made in amounts up to the normal value of a farm as improved base on long-term earning capacity values.

2. Insure 40-year farm ownership loans made by private lenders up to 90 percent of the normal value of the farm and necessary improvements at 3-percent interest plus a 1-percent insurance charge. Insured loans are for the same purposes and to the same classes of individuals eligible for direct farm ownership loans.

3. Make production and subsistence loans to farmers and stockmen for farm operating expenses and for other farm needs, including the refinancing of indebtedness and family subsistence. Loans are made up to $3,500 for 1 to 5 years at 5 percent interest with a limit of $5,000 on the total indebtedness of any farmer. 4. Make loans for the construction, repair, or improvement of water facilities in the arid and semiarid areas of the 17 Western States. These loans are made at 3-percent interest for periods up to 20 years to individuals and groups to provide domestic or irrigation water supply. Engineering assistance is given in planning and installing farmstead and irrigation facilities.

5. Make loans and grants to farm owners for the construction, improvement, alteration, repair, or replacement of dwellings and other farm buildings. Also, loans for the enlargement or development of farms to farm owners receiving loans and grants for farm dwellings and other farm buildings. Loans are made for periods up to 33 years at 4-percent interest under authority of title V of the Housing Act of 1949.

6. Make emergency loans to farmers and stockmen in areas where a production disaster has caused a need for agricultural credit not readily available from commercial banks, cooperative lending agencies, or other responsible sources. Also, make loans to bona fide fur farmers needing credit, unobtainable from commercial banks, cooperative lending agencies or other responsible sources, in order to carry on their present fur-farming operations. These loans are made at 3-percent interest for periods consistent with the anticipated ability of the borrower to repay. The total outstanding principal indebtedness on fur loans may not exceed $4,000,000 at any one time.

Supervisory assistance in planning and carrying out sound farm and home operations is provided all borrowers on the basis of their individual problems and needs. No loans are made to anyone who can secure adequate credit from other sources at reasonable rates. A local county committee is required to approve each applicant and each loan. In the case of farm ownership loans, they certify to the normal long-time earning capacity value of the farm and in the case of farm housing loans, certify as to the normal market value.

The Farmers' Home Administration maintains its central office in Washington with program activities decentralized to 40 State offices (a few of which service two or more States), 1,625 county offices, and 4 area finance offices. The Farmers' Home Administration, on November 30, 1950, had 6,380 full-time employees, 311 of whom are in Washington, and the balance in the field, and 9,429 State and county committeemen part-time employees paid an average of 8 to 10 days a

1 Includes $7,134,975 available from prior-year authorization for farm-housing loans.