The Glacier Reporter

SUPPORT PRICE BLOC LOSES

In an important early test of strength a group of Senate Democrats, with some Republican support, lost on a key roll call vote in an effort to extend ninety per cent parity price supports on the six basic crops. The vote was 48-40, and the result was highly significant.

On the same day, the Senate supported Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson by refusing to increase dairy price supports - which the secretary recently slashed. The Senate also passed the administration's price support bill for wool in another administration victory.

The result of this early farm test in the Senate greatly increases the administration's chances of getting a flexible price support bill through Congress this year. Although there is still bitter fighting to be done and although there is still a possibility that a one-year extension of ninety per cent parity price supports will pass, the administration's position is far stronger than had been thought.

The most surprising result of the first Senate test is the failure of high-support advocates to pass the extension. Some had predicted they would pass such an extension by a two-thirds majority. The next test will come in the Senate only after the House Agriculture Committee has reported out a farm bill and has been acted upon in the House.

The House Committee is not inclined to go along with the Secretary of Agriculture in his flexible support program, and it may be that the Senate will have another chance to vote on the same question - an extension of the present high support system. Whether or not this develops, it is obvious that President Eisenhower and Secretary of Agriculture Benson have won a significant round in their fight for a flexible price support system and have strengthened their position considerably.