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[CHAPTER 623-2D SESSION]

[S. 1688]

AN ACT

To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to compromise, adjust, or cancel certain indebtedness, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Agriculture, hereinafter referred to as the Secretary, is hereby authorized and directed to compromise, adjust, or cancel indebtedness arising from loans and payments made or credit extended to farmers under the provisions of the several Acts of Congress or programs enumerated in section 2: Provided, That the Secretary finds, after such investigation as he deems sufficient to establish the facts, that (1) said indebtedness has been due and payable for five years or more; (2) the debtor is unable to pay said indebtedness in full and has no reasonable prospect of being able to do so; (3) the debtor has acted in good faith in an effort to meet his obligation; and (4) the principal amount of said indebtedness is not in excess of $1,000. The Secretary is hereby further authorized at his discretion. to cancel and discharge indebtedness arising under said Acts of Congress or programs when the amount of said indebtedness is less than $10, or the debtor is deceased and there is no reasonable prospect of recovering from his estate, or his whereabouts has remained unknown for two years and there is no reasonable prospect of obtaining collection, or he has been discharged of the indebtedness in any proceeding under the Act entitled "An Act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States". The compromises, adjustments, or cancelations authorized by this section shall be effected through such agencies, upon such terms and conditions, and subject to such regulations, as the Secretary may prescribe, and the Secretary may delegate the exercise of any such powers and functions to such officers or employees of the Department of Agriculture as he may designate.

SEC. 2. The provisions of this Act shall apply to any indebtedness of farmers arising from loans or payments made or credit extended to them under any of the following Acts or programs: (a) July 1, 1918 (40 Stat. 635); March 3, 1921 (41 Stat. 1347); March 20. 1922 (42 Stat. 467): April 26, 1924 (43 Stat. 110); February 25, 1927 (44 Stat. 1245); February 28, 1927 (44 Stat., part II, 1251); February 25, 1929 (45 Stat. 1306), as amended May 17, 1929 (46 Stat. 3): March 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 78-79), as amended April 24, 1930 (46 Stat. 254): December 20, 1930 (46 Stat. 1032), as amended February 14, 1931 (46) Stat. 1160); February 23, 1931 (46 Stat. 1276); January 22, 1932 (47 Stat. 5); March 3, 1932 (47 Stat. 60); February 4, 1933 (47 Stat. 795); February 23, 1934 (48 Stat. 354); June 19, 1934 (48 Stat. 1056); February 20, 1935 (49 Stat. 28): March 21. 1935 (49 Stat. 50); April 8, 1935 (49 Stat. 115); (Executive Order Numbered 7305); January

29, 1937 (50 Stat. 5); and February 4, 1938 (52 Stat. 27); (b) Agricultural Adjustment Act (of 1933); Bankhead Cotton Act of April 21, 1934, on account of the several cotton tax-exemption certificate pools; Jones-Connally Cattle Act of April 7, 1934; Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935, approved June 19, 1934; Kerr Tobacco Act of June 28, 1934, and Public Resolution Numbered 76, approved March 14, 1936; section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, and related legislation; Supplemental Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1936; sections 7 to 17 of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act; Sugar Act of 1937; sections 303 and 381 (a) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and related or subsequent legislation authorizing parity or price adjustment payments; title IV and title V of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and related legislation; any amendment to any of the foregoing Acts heretofore and any other Act of Congress heretofore enacted authorizing payments to farmers under programs administered through the Agricultural Adjustment Agency; (c) Loans made by or through the Resettlement Administration or the Farm Security Administration out of funds appropriated or made available by or pursuant to the following Acts: April 8, 1935 (49 Stat. 115); June 22, 1936 (49 Stat. 1608); February 9, 1937 (50 Stat. 8); June 29, 1937 (50 Stat. 352); The Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, July 22, 1937 (50 Stat. 522 et seq.); the Water Facilities Act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 869 et seq.); March 2, 1938 (52 Stat. 83, Public Resolution Numbered 80); June 21, 1938 (52 Stat. 809); June 30, 1939 (53 Stat. 927); June 26, 1940 (Public Resolution Numbered 88); flood-restoration loans, Second Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1943 (57 Stat. 537, 542); and subsequent legislation appropriating or making available funds for such loans; commodity loan, purchase, sale, and other programs of the Commodity Credit Corporation; and crop-insurance programs formulated pursuant to title V of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (the Federal Crop Insurance Act), and any amendment or supplement thereto heretofore or hereafter enacted. This Act shall also apply to any indebtedness of farmers evidenced by notes or accounts receivable, title to which has been acquired in the liquidation of loans to cooperative associations made under the provisions of the Act of June 15, 1929 (46 Stat. 11).

SEC. 3. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such amount as may be necessary to enable the Secretary to carry out the provisions of this Act, and the current and subsequent appropriations to enable the Secretary to administer the respective Acts of Congress or programs to which the aforesaid payments or loans or extensions of credit relate shall also be available for the administrative expenses of carrying out this Act.

SEC. 4. (a) Whoever makes any material representation, knowing it to be false, for the purpose of influencing in any way the action. of the Secretary, or of any person acting under his authority, in connection with any compromise, adjustment, or cancelation of indebtedness provided for herein, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

(b) No officer or employee of the United States, and no person to whom the Secretary may delegate any power or function under this Act, shall accept any fee, commission, gift, or other consideration, directly or indirectly, for or in connection with any transaction or business related to the compromise, adjustment, or cancelation of indebtedness hereunder. Any person violating the foregoing provision shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

Approved December 20, 1944.

[CHAPTER 725-2D SESSION]

[H. R. 5566]

AN ACT

To amend section 502 (a) of the Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1944.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 502 (a) of the Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1944 (Public Law 425, Seventy-eighth Congress) is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 502. (a) Section 4 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, as amended (7 Ú. S. C. 901-914), is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 4. The Administrator is authorized and empowered, from the sums herein before aut) rized, to make loans to persons, corporations, States, Territories and subdivisions and agencies thereof, municipalities, peoples' uti ty districts and cooperative, nonprofit, or limited-dividend associations organized under the laws of any State or Territory of the United States, for the purpose of financing the construction and operation of generating plants, electric transmission and distribution lines or systems for the furnishing of electric energy to persons in rural areas who are not receiving central station service, and loans, from funds available under the provisions of sections 3 (d) and 3 (e) but without regard to the 10 per centum limitation therein contained, to cooperative associations for the purpose of enabling said cooperative associations to discharge or refinance long-term debts owed by them to the Tennessee Valley Authority on account of loans made or credit extended under the terms of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, as amended: Provided, That the Administrator, in making such loans, shall give preference to States, Territories, and subdivisions and agencies thereof, municipalities, peoples' utility districts, and cooperative, nonprofit, or limited-dividend associations, the projects of which comply with the requirements of this Act. Such loans shall be on such terms and conditions relating to the expenditure of the moneys loaned and the security therefor as the Adrinistrator shall determine and may be made payable in whole or in part out of the income: Provided further, That all such loans shall be self-liquidating within a period of not to exceed thirty-five years, and shall bear interest at the rate of 2 per centum per annum; interest rates on the unmatured and unpaid balance of any loans made pursuant to this section prior to the effective date of this amendment shall be adjusted to 2 per centum per annum, and the maturity date of any such loans may be readjusted to occur at a date not beyond thirty-five years from the date of such loan: And provided further, That no loan for the construction, operation, or enlargement of any generating plant shall be made unless the consent of the State authority having jurisdiction in the premises is first obtained. Loans under this section and section 5 shall not be made unless the Administrator finds and certifies that in his judgment the security therefor is reasonably adequate and such loan will be repaid within the time agreed." "

Approved December 23, 1944.

[CHAPTER 54-1ST SESSION]

[S. 298]

AN ACT

To continue Commodity Credit Corporation as an agency of the United States, increase its borrowing power, revise the basis of the annual appraisal of its assets, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the Act approved March 8, 1938 (52 Stat. 108), as amended, is amended by striking out "$3,000,000,000" and inserting in lieu thereof "$4,750,000,000".

SEC. 2. The provisions of subsection (c) of section 381 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (52 Stat. 67) are suspended until the expiration of the two-year period beginning with the 1st day of January immediately following the date on which the President, by proclamation, or the Congress, by concurrent resolution, declares that hostilities in the present war have terminated. During the period of such suspension the Commodity Credit Corporation shall not sell any farm commodity owned or controlled by it at less than the parity or comparable price therefor, except that the foregoing restriction shall not apply to (1) sales for new or byproduct uses; (2) sales of peanuts for the extraction of oil; (3) sales for export; (4) sales for seed or feed: Provided, That no wheat or corn shall be sold for feed at less than parity price for corn at the time such sale is made: And provided further, That in making regional adjustments in the sale price of corn or wheat for feed, the minimum price need not be higher in any area than the United States average parity price for corn; (5) sales of commodities which have substantially deteriorated in quality or of nonbasic perishable commodities where there is danger of loss or waste through spoilage; or (6) sales for the purpose of establishing claims against persons who have committed fraud, misrepresentation, or other wrongful acts with respect to the commodity. The method that is now used for the purposes of Commodity Credit Corporation loans for determining the parity price or its equivalent for seven-eighths-inch Middling cotton at the average location used in fixing the base loan rate for cotton shall also be used for determining the parity price for seven-eighths-inch Middling cotton at such average focation for the purposes of this section.

SEC. 3. The last paragraph of section 2 (e) of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended by the Stabilization Extension Act of 1944, shall not apply to the operations of the Commodity Credit Corporation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1946: Provided, That the making of subsidy payments and the buying of commodities for resale at a loss, by the Commodity Credit Corporation, shall be limited as follows: Obligations for making such payments and absorbing such losses may be incurred and paid by the Commodity Credit Corporation (a) in such amounts as may be necessary (1) to complete operations with respect to 1944 and prior year crop programs and (2) to fulfill

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