NOTE.- Senator Kennedy's statement was made in response to identical letters sent by Homer L. Brinkley, executive vice president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, to him and Vice President Nixon, the Republican presidential candidate, recommending public statements by each candidate in support of their respective party's platform pledges concerning farmer cooperatives. The complete text of Senator Kennedy's statement follows:

     Farmers' marketing, purchasing and service cooperatives are an essential part of our American system of private enterprises, and as such must be given an opportunity to function effectively.
     These are the farmers own enterprises, established by them to give greater bargaining power in the marketplace when they sell their products, and to reduce the cost of their production supplies, and to provide necessary services.
     Farmers suffer an almost unique disadvantage in our modern economy. Millions of individual farmers compete against each other when they sell their products. But the markets in which the farmer sells his products are dominated to an ever-increasing degree by a shrinking number of buyers. The market power of these fewer and larger firms grows steadily as each comes to command a growing share of the total market.
     A most important first step to take in restoring farmers' income is to create a climate in which farmers can combine their resources, as is done within other groups in our economy, and thus increase their bargaining power in buying and selling.
     The Federal Government has both an opportunity and an obligation to assist by providing a favorable economic and legal climate for farmers to help themselves in this way. This will be one of the first steps which a new Democratic administration will undertake in its efforts to raise farm income. We can - and we will - help to create this climate in which farmers can work together to strengthen their bargaining power.
     I believe in the spirit as well as the letter of the Democratic Party's platform pledge to protect and encourage the efforts of farmers to work together effectively through their own cooperative enterprises. I stand behind that pledge, and a Democratic administration will carry it out.
     During the past 8 years, farmer cooperatives have been harassed by confusing, conflicting, and openly hostile policies of the Republican administration's Treasury and Justice Departments. The administration hostility toward cooperatives has been supported and encouraged from the White House itself and by certain powerful Republican leaders. Under this Republican administration, even the Department of Agriculture has retreated from its traditional mission of championing farmer cooperatives.
     Farmers who choose to sell their products and buy their supplies through their own cooperatives have an unqualified right to do so. The Federal Government should defend and protect that right, instead of attempting to abridge it as the Republican administration has done.
     Likewise, farmers have an unqualified right to invest in their cooperatives in any way they see fit, including the savings which they realize through operation of their own cooperatives. The Federal Government has no moral or legal right to single out the investments made by farmers in their own cooperatives for special restrictions and penalties.
     Farmers who patronize cooperatives should be liable for a single tag on their income just as other citizens are, including that part of their income which comes to them through their cooperatives.
     Nor does the Federal Government have any right or reason to fix arbitrarily the rate of interest on such investments nor their duration. I publicly and vigorously oppose the recommendations which were made by the Republican administration to hamper farmer cooperatives in this manner.
     Farmers are entitled to adequate legal protection of their right to operate efficiently and effectively through cooperatives. To secure this legal protection the Capper-Volstead Act of 1922 was adopted, with bipartisan support. This act simply gives farmers the right to organize and to operate voluntary business associations to market their products, and to make the contracts necessary to carry out that purpose. This act rightfully does not give farmers the freedom to engage in predatory business practices, and it was never intended to do so.
     Recent court decisions, however, have jeopardized the right of farmers to act together effectively and efficiently in processing and marketing their products which the Capper-Volstead Act was intended to protect. It is of special importance that the original intent of the Capper-Volstead Act be reaffirmed and clarified by Congress in unmistakable terms. This will be recommended to Congress by a new Democratic administration early next year.
     Present-day changes in farming technology and marketing methods impose upon farmer cooperatives a pressing need for adequate capital to expand their facilities to meet the increasing needs of their members and patrons for improved and broader services. Farmers themselves have supplied most of the capital invested in cooperatives thus far, and it is desirable that this pattern be maintained to the greatest extent possible in the future. However, the severe decline in net income of
farmers, and the farmers' heavy requirement of capital to keep their own farming operations up to date and as efficient as possible, have made it impossible for them to supply adequate capital to meet the dual requirements of their cooperatives and their own farming operations.
     The Democratic Party's platform pledges that "we will encourage agricultural cooperatives by expanding and liberalizing existing credit facilities if necessary, to assist them in extending their marketing and purchasing activities * * *." I support this platform pledge, and a new Democratic administration will act promptly to make good on it. We will give particular attention to improving the individual farmer's own ability to invest needed funds in his cooperative, both by effective programs to raise farm income, and by providing ways whereby farmers will be helped through loans at reasonable interest rates to invest in their cooperatives.

     NOTE.- The Vice President's letter was in reply to identical letters sent by Mr. Brinkley on September 20 to Mr. Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic presidential candidate, recommending public statements by each in support of their respective party's platform pledges concerning farmer cooperatives. The complete text of the Vice President's reply to Mr. Brinkley follows:

     It is a pleasure to express to you and your farmer cooperative members my views on issues of current concern.
     We are all aware of the problems affecting large segments of the agricultural economy, problems caused by the higher costs of farm supplies coupled with lower prices for their produce. The Government has a clear responsibility to maintain policies which attack this cost-price squeeze at both ends and which will thereby permit the farmer to share fully in the general progress and prosperity of our Nation.
     In this connection, it is essential that we continue sound fiscal policies that have halted the runaway inflation which so raised farmers' costs. On the other side, the Government must accept the responsibility of helping to stabilize farm prices, to expand the farmer's marketing opportunities, and to protect his bargaining position within those markets.
     Most public attention with respect to agriculture in recent years has understandably been focused on those areas where Government programs over the past quarter century have led to the creation of vast surpluses and to a consequent decline in farm income. During the campaign I have outlined aggressive policies that I would initiate to raise farm income without, as my opponent would do, subjecting every farmer in the Nation to strict Government regimentation.
     It is generally recognized that the individual farmer would, acting alone, be in a disadvantageous position in many of his necessary transactions with other segments of the economy. A principal means developed by the farmer to improve his bargaining position, both in purchasing supplies and in selling his products, is the farmer-owned and farmer-operated cooperative. I have long been aware of the valuable service which these organizations provide for the farmers in my home State of California, and during my years in public life I have had an opportunity to observe and learn of their useful activities in agricultural areas throughout the Nation.
     It is clear to me that the Government, by assuring an economic and legal climate in which farmer-owned and farmer-operated cooperatives can effectively perform the functions for which they are designed, can very constructively assist all areas of the farm economy. This is a particularly attractive means of helping the farmers because it does not involve direct and costly Government interference in the agricultural economy. If I am elected President, therefore, I shall vigorously support the Republican platform pledge calling for the "encouragement of farmer-owned and farmer-operated cooperatives * * * "
     In keeping with this position that farmer-owned and farmer-operated cooperatives provide an effective and desirable instrument for the farmer to improve his bargaining position, the Republican Party has - since the time of the Capper-Volstead Act - supported the right of these cooperatives to acquire and own facilities for processing and distributing farm produce as well as their right to bargain collectively for prices and marketing conditions. Under the law they should be able to improve their overall efficiency and to adjust to changing marketing conditions through further economic integration if necessary, to broaden their services, and to effect consolidations, mergers, or asset acquisitions.
     In the future I shall certainly continue to uphold the right of farmer-owned and farmer-operated cooperatives to strengthen their position in these ways, recognizing - as the cooperatives themselves do - that the law is not intended to sanction predatory practices.
     As is the case with any business, an adequate supply of capital is essential to the successful operation of the farmer-owned and farmer-operated cooperative. Because of their very nature, these cooperatives must depend almost entirely on their members and patrons for capital. Technological changes in agriculture, as in other industries, have caused an ever-increasing demand by the farmer and his cooperatives for greater capital. The provision of credit is, therefore, another means I would use to encourage and strengthen them. The 13 banks for cooperatives are presently providing more than half the total credit used by farmers marketing, purchase, and service cooperatives. Their credit structure is adequate to support a greatly expanded volume of business, and I would assure that this vital assistance continues to be available.
     Perhaps the most direct way that Government affects the cooperative is in its tag policy. This is an area which understandably concerns corporate businesses, which would be at a disadvantage in competing with organizations enjoying more favorable tag treatment. Of course the member and patron should pay an income tag on the income and patronage returns received through his cooperative, and I agree with cooperative leaders who believe action is necessary to clarify the confusion which has arisen in this area. But I would certainly oppose any change in the tag treatment of cooperatives which would adversely affect their ability to perform the legitimate and desirable marketing and purchasing services I have mentioned above.
     I can foresee in the future increasing benefits to the Nation's farmers resulting from cooperative activity, and I would welcome the opportunity, as President of the United States, to lead an administration which would encourage and assist you in this effort.