Mr. BRANNAN. That is right.
Mr. COLE. So is food.

Mr. BRANNAN. That is right.
Mr. COLE. So is clothing.

Mr. BRANNAN. That is right.

Mr. COLE. If that is true, why should we not further consider a bill which will authorize us to give a person with a low income, with inadequate food, with inadequate clothing, $500 a year? We have a basic concept here to consider. You may not have, but we in Congress certainly do.

Mr. BRANNAN. Well, all I can say is that that is one of the questions that Congress will decide.

Mr. HULL. May I ask a question right there?

As a matter of fact, these food subsidies granted during the war were put on for the benefit of the city consumer, in order to keep the farmers' prices down, were they not? It is a subsidy just the same as though given to a man buying groceries in the cities. Is there any difference between a citizen living in a city of a million inhabitants and a man on the farm, as far as his citizenship is concerned?

Mr. BRANNAN. None whatsover.

Mr. HULL. Is the farmer still in the picture, or is he out of it?
Mr. BRANNAN. We are doing our best to keep him in it.

Mr. HULL. But after the election probably nobody will care whether he stays in it or not.

Mr. MULTER. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Multer.

Mr. MULTER. Mr. Brannan, this title we are talking about here relating to farmers, title VII, was stricken out of the bill by the Senate committee before the bill went to the Senate floor, and on the floor of the Senate it was reinstated; is that right?

Mr. BRANNAN. That is my recollection.

Mr. MULTER. You are familiar, are you not, with the hearings which were conducted by the Joint Housing Committee as a result of which that committee recommended housing research in this bill?

Mr. BRANNAN. Yes.

Mr. MULTER. What you are trying to do, in part, here, in title VII, is to give the same facilities, technical research and assistance, to the farmers?

Mr. BRANNAN. For rural areas; yes, sir.

Mr. RILEY. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Riley.

Mr. RILEY. Mr. Brannan, what are the present facilities for financing farm housing?

Mr. BRANNAN. From the Department of Agriculture?

Mr. RILEY. Yes.

Mr. BRANNAN. Practically none, with the exception of this: There is going forward some research on farm home plans, and the benefits of that research are made available through the Extension Service to farmers of the country. There are some plans of kitchens adaptable to farm homes, general home plans, and through the county agents they are available to farmers. And through the county agents, too, a minimum of technical assistance that they can give is also available.

Mr. RILEY. No, I am interested in the present facilities for financing farm home building or farm home repairs.

Mr. BRANNAN. Under the Farm Credit Administration programs, under certain circumstances, money can be borrowed for doing repairs to farm housing. It is the usual, conventional type of operation. If the value of the land to be improved or the financial condition of the borrower are such as to warrant the loan, the loan is made for that purpose. There are limitations, of course, on the amounts.

Mr. RILEY. Is that secured by a mortgage?

Mr. BRANNAN. It is secured, in all cases, by a mortgage, and, I think, in all cases by a first mortgage.

Mr. RILEY. Suppose you wanted to add a bathroom or put a new roof on your farm house. Are there any facilities for short-term credit, installment credit, such as in title I of the National Housing Act applying to city homes?

Mr. BRANNAN. No, there really is not, except the credit available from private sources and the credit available through the Federal Land banks. In some cases the low-income group can get some help, too, on credit terms, if

Mr. RILEY. Are there any insured mortgages for farm home construction or repair?

Mr. BRANNAN. Under the most recent legislation for the Farmers Home Administration there are some insurance provisions. I am not quite certain, but I do not think there have been very many insured loans to date.

Mr. RILEY. That is information I would like to have. I do not know whether there has been any use of that provision as yet. I wondered whether or not you had the authority.

Mr. BRANNAN. I am sure the authority is still in the act, sir.
Mr. RILEY. The Farmers Home Administration Act?

Mr. BROWN. Would you mind giving the record of the tenant farmers who were aided under the Bankhead-Jones Act?

Mr. BRANNAN. Mr. Brown, I apologize. I missed the first part of your question.

Mr. BROWN. Would you mind giving us the record of the tenant farmers who were aided under the Bankhead-Jones Act? In my section of the country they have all made good, and many have repaid their loans before maturity.

Mr. BRANNAN. We will certainly supply that by State or in any fashion the committee would like to have it.

I can say this, though, in general terms: That the Bankhead-Jones loans, over the whole country, are probably paid in advance, on the average, and the number of delinquencies is not more than 2 or 3 or 4 percent, if that high.

Mr. BROWN. That was my understanding. Thank you.

Mr. BRANNAN. It has been an extremely successful program.

Mr. RILEY. Mr. Brannan, coming back to the Farmers Home Administration on the farms that you finance for purchase you repair the buildings and put them in condition before they are turned over to the purchaser and, as a rule, see that they are in good condition when you finance them?

75674-4822

Mr. BRANNAN. That is correct, in general, sir. Might I just qualify it to say that at no time does the Government have either the title or the possession of the farm. We are simply, through Farmers Home Administration, in the position of a person making a loan, just as a bank would or anybody else would, except that the terms of the loan are much more liberal than anybody else would be allowed to make, and as part of the terms of making the loan some technical assistance as to needed repairs or new construction is included in the over-all plan. But the purchaser carries out the plan, with whatever facilities are available to him in the neighborhood, or does it himself, just as the circumstances warrant.

Mr. RILEY. But you provide the financing, however?

Mr. BRANNAN. We do that, sir.

Mr. RILEY. Based on his making those repairs.

Mr. BRANNAN. Yes, sir.

Mr. RILEY. Your experience, as a result of that, has been very fine, has it not?

Mr. BRANNAN. It has been very fine. Certainly in financial terms, which is not the only factor, by any means. Those loans are in a very safe condition. Most of them are current, and many of them are paid in advance.

Mr. RILEY. Has not this program also tended to improve the productivity of those farms and to increase the usefulness of those citizens to the community?

Mr. BRANNAN. It certainly has. That was demonstrated during the war by the quality of the people who came from those farms for war duty.

Mr. RILEY. Thank you very much.

Mr. MCMILLEN. Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McMillen.

Mr. MCMILLEN. Did I understand that you were prepared to furnish data containing a break-down of the assistance in making these farm loans for building these farm homes and improving them in the various States?

Mr. BRANNAN. We are prepared to give you the experience of the Farmers Home Administration. That was what I understood was

asked for.

Mr. MCMILLEN. The what?

Mr. BRANNAN. The Farmers Home Administration loans-the loan records.

Mr. McMILLEN. That is, as to the past.

Mr. BRANNAN. Yes.

Mr. McMILLEN. Have you gathered data as to the need for future improvements? I would like to have a break-down of what your investigation shows as to the State of Illinois so that I can compare that with what is proposed in the other States of the Union and what will eventually be done.

Can your furnish such data?

Mr. BRANNAN. We can, sir, for groups of States. It is taken from the census records, for the most part. There have been census records in 1940 and then a small survey in 1947.

Mr. MCMILLEN. Will you furnish that for the record?
Mr. BRANNAN. Very well, sir.

Mr. McMILLEN. There is no provision in the law for the States to make any contribution to this plan?

Mr. BRANNAN. None, sir.

(The information above referred to is as follows:)

TABLE 13.—Estimated ordinary dwelling units in need of major repairs,1 for the United States, by regions, 1947

1 Dwelling units reported as in need of major repairs include those which require major repair or replacement of floors, roof, plaster, walls, foundation, or other major structural components. A repair is major when its neglect seriously impairs the soundness of the structure and creates a hazard to its safety as a place of residence or if the repair has been neglected so long that the structure is already unsound.

Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.

Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas.

Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas. Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California.

Source: Adapted from Current Population Reports-Housing, Bureau of the Census, Series P-70, No. 1, Oct. 29, 1947.

TABLE 14.-Estimated ordinary dwelling units without running water in dwelling unit, for the United States, by regions, 1947

TABLE 15.-Estimated ordinary dwelling units with private bath and private flush toilet, for the United States, by regions, 1947

TABLE 16.-Estimated ordinary dwelling units without electric lighting, for the United States, by regions, 1947

Mr. MONRONEY. Many States do, by homestead exemptions on any home-whether farm or city home. Is that not right?

Mr. BRANNAN. Yes, sir. But that is common to urban, rural or any other types of homes.

Mr. MONRONEY. Yes.

Mr. McMILLEN. Would the farmer himself make any contribution, say, in the form of labor, during his idle months on the farm, toward the specific proposed improvement on the farm?

Mr. BRANNAN. Certainly it would be to his advantage to do so, and I assume that he would in every case.

Mr. McMILLEN. Is there anything that will require him to do that? Mr. BRANNAN. Nothing other than just plain common sense.

He

is not going to borrow money to pay for a job to be done when he can do it himself. And I do not think anybody is going to loan him money under those circumstances.

Mr. McMILLEN. Is is your idea that these homes would be made modern as to heat, bathrooms, and other sanitary provisions?

Mr. BRANNAN. That is one of the objectives of a good housing program for rural America.

Mr. MCMILLEN. Do you think there would be any temptation on the part of the farmer to get his improvements out of balance? There is no provision here for building shelter for expensive machinery, for crops after they are harvested, or for livestock.

Do you think there might be some danger of finding that farm improved with a house but without the other necessary facilities for successful farming?

Mr. BRANNAN. Well, of course we would attempt to prevent that sort of thing from happening, and, as you are well aware, the tendency of the average American farmer runs just in the opposite direction. He will spend more of his money on improving his equipment, machinery, and buildings than he will on improving his home. That seems to have been a common thing.

Mr. McMILLEN. But there is no provision for him doing anything else, under this proposed bill, except improving his home on that farm. Mr. BRANNAN. That is right, sir.

Mr. McMILLEN. Do you feel that the individual States should make some contribution to this plan or not? Do you not feel that it would improve the land so that it would make it a base for increased taxes and therefore be a source of revenue to the State, in addition to what it has now, through the various taxing bodies of the State and the other communities?