are already doing what we find ourselves restricted from doing by a Federal regulation. Mr. Chairman, I could talk endlessly on this subject. In the interest of saving time, I will defer to any further testimony that will be offered today, sir, and I assure you that I think the presentation which has been made by people from, I believe, some 29 States— Kenny advises me that there have now been 33 States represented here in the interests of this legislation-I have no idea how many different organizations or how many, perhaps in the final analysis, individuals that, to me, have very sincerely and very conscientiously asked the Federal Government to give them permission to help themselves on the same basis that other commodity groups are able to help themselves, sir, at this time. I thank you very much. Mr. POAGE. Thank you very much, Mr. Short. Mr. FULK. Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate this opportunity. Mr. POAGE. May I suggest that among your witnesses this morning is Mr. Welder. I think he had a statement to make, and the Chair would like to hear his statement. I know that it has to do with the operation of the Beef Council, and we have not heard of the operation of the Beef Council. Mr. Welder, would you like to make a statement. If so we will be glad to hear from you now. STATEMENT OF LEO WELDER-Resumed Mr. WELDER. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, all that I would like to do is, I have some-I am Leo Welder, president of the Texas Beef Council, which is the promotional arm of the beef industry in Texas. I am also a director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers' Association. And I might say here that because we left the only copy of the resolution from that association with the Senators yesterday, if it is permissible, we may file that resolution at a later date. Mr. POAGE. That is all right. We will be glad to receive it. Mr. WELDER. And this other material that I have here is material that shows what the results of the operation of the Texas Beef Council have been over the first 2 years that we were in operation. If it is permissible, I would like to enter this in the minutes. These are some copies of an article, also, that appeared in the Progressive Farmer, that I think brings out very clearly why we need to do this job of promotion, and this article is entitled "Let's Begin Pulling Together— We Must Sell Meat!" Mr. POAGE. It was your idea to file this as part of the record? Mr. POAGE. Without objection, that may be received. (The documents referred to follow :) [Reprinted from the Progressive Farmer, April 1957] The Editorial Viewpoint LET'S BEGIN PULLING TOGETHER-WE MUST SELL MEAT This may come as a surprise to some, but the American public does not spend as great a share of its income on meat now as before the war. The fact that percapita consumption of meat has gone up since the war has lulled many people into complacency about meat consumption. Prewar people spent a quarter of their food dollar on meat. By 1955, meat purchases accounted for only a fifth of the food dollar, while overall food purchases have been increasing. And this has happened with one-third less hours of work now being needed to buy a pound of meat than in pre-war times. If our livestock economy is to continue to grow, vigorous action must be taken to "sell" the public that meat is a bargain and a healthful food. cents on Only recently have livestock leaders decided they must sell on a competitive basis with other foods and consumer goods. A loosely organized national livestock promotion group is pressing for legislation that will allow marketing agencies to deduct 10 cents a head on cattle, 5 cents a head on hogs and 2 sheep marketed. The fund so raised would be used to promote the eating of more meat. The plan is voluntary. It would be up to the producer to say whether the deduction would be made. The plan has the blessing of nearly all livestock producer groups, and deserves widespread support of all producers of livestock. OPERATION OF THE TEXAS BEEF COUNCIL, DALLAS, TEX. MEMORANDUM ON RESULTS OF FIRST YEAR'S BEEF PRODUCTION, 1954-55 The Texas Beef Council's beef promotion program, consisting of a wellrounded program of publicity and education directed at teaching housewives more about the less expensive cuts of beef and how to cook them was launched in September 1954. Approximately $75,000 was spent in this educational work, on publicity materials, special events, research and preparation. At the end of the first year, a survey was made among meat retailers to appraise results. Meat retailers in the 14 principal Texas cities were asked the following seven questions: 1. Have you been aware of the Texas Beef Council's effort to sell more beef (and veal) during the past year? Of 581 retailers queried, 580 said "Yes." One said "No." 2. In your opinion, are the methods being used by the Council on the right track? 580 said "Yes." One said "No." 3. Are your beef sales up during the first 9 months of 1955 compared to previous years? 576 said "Yes." Five said "No." 4. If so, how much? Average increase reported by 576 stores is 16.7 percent. 5. Do you attribute this increase to the Beef Council's promotion efforts? 421 said "Yes." 159 didn't know. One said "No." 6. Should the Texas Beef Council continue its work? 537 said "Yes." Fortyfour did not respond. 7. Will you use Beef Council materials in the future? 579 said "Yes." Two did not respond. Twenty-two packers were asked approximately the same questions, with approximately the same results. MEMORANDUM ON RESULTS OF SECOND YEAR'S BEEF PROMOTION, 1955-56 During the second year's program, the Texas Beef Council had approximately $40,000 available for its program which was carried on along the same lines as its first year. At the end of the second year, 767 meat marketers were again surveyed. 1. Have the Texas Beef Council's efforts to familiarize homemakers with economy cuts helped you sell more beef? 767 said "Yes." 2. Have beef sales shown an increase over last year? 720 said "Yes." 6 said "No." 41 have leased operations; no figures available. 3. If so, how much? 720 averaged 16 percent gain. 4. Do you attribute this increase to the beef industry's promotion efforts? 698 said "Yes." 22 said "No." 47 didn't answer. 5. Are packaged frozen beef sales increasing? 441 said "Yes." 270 said "No." 6 failed to answer. 50 do not stock. 6. What percentage of total beef sales does frozen beef account for? 441 said "Slight." 7. Is the demand for forequarter cuts up? 522 said "Yes." 87 said "No." 117 said "Even." 41 failed to answer. 8. If so, how much? 522 averaged 9.4 percent increase. 9. Should the council continue its work? 767 said "Yes." Mr. WELDER. I would like to comment very briefly on what the results of our operations were in Texas. For 1954 and 1955, which was the first year, we queried 581 retailers and asked them what the results of beef promotion had been, if they thought there had been any increase in the consumption of meat in Texas over the first 9 months of the program. The report was this: 576 of the 581 queried said there was a 16.7percent increase; and we asked them if they thought the efforts of the beef council in any way helped this increased consumption. 421 said that they thought it did; 159 did not know; and 1 said or responded negatively. Then in the second year, which was 1955-56, we sent the same set of questions out. There was a little variation, but the pertinent ones were: Of 767 people, retailers, that were asked if consumption was up, 720 reported that there was an additional increase of 16 percent; which showed approximately 33 percent, for the 2 years, increased consumption of beef. 698 the second year reported that they thought the efforts of the beef council were responsible; 22 said "No"; and 47 did not answer. I believe that that is all, except that I would like to say that the question of competition was brought up here earlier, and if these people who are here today represent the livestock industry, I don't think there is any fear between the sheep people and the hog people and the cattle people that we are going to hurt each other by separate promotion plans. I thank you. Mr. POAGE. Mr. Welder, I just wonder if you would give us a little explanation about the beef council. It has never been explained how you function. Mr. WELDER. Well, sir, we are a promotional outfit. We haven't bought any advertising: we haven't had that kind of money. We would like to if we had the money. I would like to say, too, that we favor very strongly most of this money being spent on a national program, because we think that would be the most effective. But so far we have confined our operations, naturally, to Texas. We have used the material, a lot of the material, of the Meat Board. We have taken that material and, through our channels, have distributed it. We have done work, editorially and so forth, more in the public relations field. We have had speakers before home-demonstration groups, and before home-economics groups. We have had a film which has been shown on television which relates to preparation of meat. We have tried to push the economy cuts of meat, because we felt like these were the ones that the housewife did not know about, and we felt that they should know that steaks that cost a lot of money were not the only kind of meat; and that steaks, we felt, were high because some of the cheaper cuts were not broadly known about, they didn't know how to prepare them properly, and therefore would only move at a very reduced price. So we called attention to those facts. We distributed the first year over 2 million copies of a recipe folder which was put on the meat counters, and could be taken by people as they purchased meat; and there were 7 or 8, I have forgotten the number, recipes in there for the preparation of these economy cuts. Mr. POAGE. Just how is your beef council organized, and how are the officers selected? Who are the members? How is the financing done? You understand, there is nothing in this record which explains those things. Mr. WELDER. Well, the organization was set up in the beginning, we called together every known farm organization that we could think of in the State. I don't think we missed any. We had the Dairy Association, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers' Association, the Farm Bureau, all those people were asked to come to this meeting in the beginning, because we felt like it was a program that was related to anybody who was related at all to the industry, and in the beginning it was a membership proposition whereby we went out and got people to join this movement. We, of course, had to solicit these funds and attend a lot of meetings all over the State. This type of, I might add here, raising money is very expensive, and it ends up that in the final stages, after you have gotten all of the big contributors, it doesn't cost you as much to collect the money as to what you get, and that is why we are so much in favor of this other plan where the money Mr. POAGE. That is the only financing you have at the present time? Mr. WELDER. Yes, sir. At the beginning, you will notice there we had a lot of money we didn't have the second year, and that is because people in the related industries were asked to help us out, such as banks and feed mills, and so on, and we asked them to help us get off the ground, so to speak. and told them then that we wouldn't be back ever year for those kinds of contributions. So you can see there just what happened to our contributions after the first year. Mr. POAGE. Who are the members of the Texas Beef Council now? Mr. WELDER. Well, mostly they are-well, I would say anybody who contributes to it is a member. Mr. POAGE. How much is the average contribution? Mr. WELDER. Well, we put it on a $10 minimum; or if it was cattle 5 cents per head on a rendition basis, which would mean you would have to have over 200 cattle to pay more than $10. Mr. POAGE. You are the president of it now. Who elects you, how are you elected? I am going into this simply so that we may have some kind of a record here. Mr. WELDER. Well, we have an annual meeting, and there would be nominations, and if I was nominated, I would probably be elected, if there were no other nominations. But that is the way it has worked. Mr. POAGE. In other words, if somebody else would get you nominated first, you would be elected? Mr. WELDER. We haven't had any fights on the floor yet. We might have. Mr. POAGE. I have an idea that probably some of them will shirk their obligation rather than seek it." Mr. WELDER. Well, it is a liability in certain respects. Mr. POAGE. What other officers are there? Mr. WELDER. Sir? Mr. POAGE. What other officers are there? Mr. WELDER. Well, there is a vice president and a secretary and a treasurer. Mr. POAGE. The secretary and treasurer, are those paid positions? Mr. WELDER. No, sir. We have the manager of the thing, of course, who is paid. But the secretary and other officers, there is no salary connected with it. Mr. POAGE. Yes. Are there any further questions? I just felt we should have some idea as to what these are, and we are very much obliged to you for your presentation of it. Does that complete your presentation, Mr. Fulk? Mr. FULK. Yes, sir. I would just like to file some things I thought might bring out some of the information that could be studied later. For example, in this letterhead it shows that beef is the key, and that is for Beef Month in Iowa this year, an entirely donated deal, where we sell a little sticker, we sell them or give them away; where they want to donate for them, we take that money. There is no other money for doing it, and it lists some 30 organizations on the State level that cooperate. But we, the producers, put the money in, and the others join with us in putting over the program. Mr. POAGE. It will be necessary to file those, because they cannot be reproduced; that is, you cannot reproduce the coloring. Mr. FULK. Yes, sir. Mr. POAGE. We will file those for the record. (The documents referred to were filed with the committee.) Mr. FULK. Sir, on this, this can be reproduced. It just has a complete rundown of what our month was last year, and the different types of activities we did that would be of interest. Mr. POAGE. There are other statements which have been given to the clerk which certainly we would want to make part of the record, and without objection, it will be allowed. Mr. FULK. Thank you very much. Mr. POAGE. Thank you very much, Mr. Fulk. (The documents referred to follow :) Mr. POAGE. Now, are there any other proponents of the legislation who were not represented by Mr. Fulk and who desire to make a presentation at this time? I understand, Judge Montague, you will probably want to make a presentation a little later on in the proceedings; but are there any other proponents of this legislation now who wish to be heard? STATEMENT OF MRS. NOEL HARDY, WOLF CREEK, MONT. Mrs. HARDY. I am Mrs. Noel Hardy. I am a cattle rancher's wife in Wolf Creek, Mont. I am educational director of the Montana Beef Council, and have served in that capacity with that organization since its incorporation several years back. I would like to bring out here, gentlemen, the financial statement. of the Montana Beef Council funds, and what happened to them, for the months including November, December, 1956, and January 1957. |