[S. J. Res. 78]

JOINT RESOLUTION

For the amendment of the Plant Quarantine Act of August 20, 1912, to allow the States to quarantine against the shipment therein or through of plants, plant products, and other articles found to be diseased or infested when not covered by a quarantine established by the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other

purposes.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act of August 29, 1912 (Thirty-seventh United States Statutes at Large, page 315), as amended by the Act of March 4, 1917 (Thirty-ninth United States Statutes at Large, page 1165), be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding at the end of section 8 thereof the following:

"Provided further, That until the Secretary of Agriculture shall have made a determination that such a quarantine is necessary and has duly established the same with reference to any dangerous plant disease or insect infestation, as herein above provided, nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent any State, Territory, Insular Possession, or District from promulgating, enacting, and enforcing any quarantine, prohibiting or restricting the transportation of any class of nursery stock, plant, fruit, seed, or other product or article subject to the restrictions of this section, into or through such State. Territory, District, or portion thereof, from any other State, Territory, District, or portion thereof, when it shall be found, by the State, Territory, or District promulgating or enacting the same, that such dangerous plant disease or insect infestation exists in such other State. Territory, District, or portion thereof: Provided further, That the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized, whenever he deems such action advisable and necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act, to cooperate with any State, Territory, or District, in connection with any quarantine, enacted or promulgated by such State, Territory, or District, as specified in the preceding proviso: Provided further, That any nursery stock, plant, fruit, seed, or other product or article, subject to the restrictions of this section, a quarantine with respect to which shall have been established by the Secretary of Agriculture under the provisions of this Act shall, when transported to, into, or through any State, Territory, or District, in violation of such quarantine, be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such State, Territory, or District, enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same extent and in the same manner as though such nursery stock, plant, fruit, seed, or other product or article had been produced in such State, Territory, or District, and shall not be exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced therein in original packages or otherwise."

Approved, April 13, 1926.

[H. R. 7893]

AN ACT

To create a division of cooperative marketing in the Department of Agricul ture; to provide for the acquisition and dissemination of information pertaining to cooperation; to promote the knowledge of cooperative principles and practices; to provide for calling advisers to counsel with the Secretary of Agriculture on cooperative activities; to authorize cooperative associations to acquire, interpret, and disseminate crop and market information, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when used in this Act the term "agricultural products" means agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, and dairy products, livestock and the products thereof, the products of poultry and bee raising, the edible products of forestry, and any and all products raised or produced on farms and processed or manufactured products thereof, transported or intended to be transported in interstate and/or foreign

commerce.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to establish a division of cooperative marketing with suitable personnel in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the Department of Agriculture or in such bureau in the Department of Agriculture as may hereafter be concerned with the marketing and distribution of farm products. Such division shall be under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture.

SEC. 3. (a) The division shall render service to associations of producers of agricultural products, and federations and subsidiaries thereof, engaged in the cooperative marketing of agricultural products, including processing, warehousing, manufacturing, storage, the cooperative purchasing of farm supplies, credit, financing, insurance, and other cooperative activities.

(b) The division is authorized

(1) To acquire, analyze, and disseminate economic, statistical, and historical information regarding the progress, organization, and business methods of cooperative associations in the United States and foreign countries.

(2) To conduct studies of the economic, legal, financial, social, and other phases of cooperation, and publish the results thereof. Such studies shall include the analyses of the organization, operation, financial, and merchandising problems of cooperative associations. (3) To make surveys and analyses if deemed advisable of the accounts and business practices of representative cooperative associations upon their request; to report to the association so surveyed the results thereof; and with the consent of the association so surveyed to publish summaries of the results of such surveys, together with similar facts, for the guidance of cooperative associations and for the purpose of assisting cooperative associations in developing methods of business and market analysis.

(4) To confer and advise with committees or groups of producers, if deemed advisable, that may be desirous of forming a cooperative association and to make an economic survey and analysis of the facts surrounding the production and marketing of the agricultural product or products which the association, if formed, would handle or market.

(5) To acquire from all available sources information concerning crop prospects, supply, demand, current receipts, exports, imports, and prices of the agricultural products handled or marketed by cooperative associations, and to employ qualified commodity marketing specialists to summarize and analyze this information and disseminate the same among cooperative associations and others.

(6) To promote the knowledge of cooperative principles and practices and to cooperate, in promcting such knowledge, with educational and marketing agencies, cooperative associations, and others. (7) To make such special studies, in the United States and foreign countries, and to acquire and disseminate such information and findings as may be useful in the development and practice of cooperation. SEC. 4. The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, in his discretion, to call advisers to counsel with him and/or his representatives relative to specific problems of cooperative marketing of farm products or any other cooperative activity. Any person, other than an officer, agent, or employee of the United States, called into conference, as provided for in this section, may be paid actual transportation expenses and not to exceed $10 per diem to cover subsistence and other expenses while in conference and en route from and to his home.

SEC. 5. Persons engaged, as original producers of agricultural products, such as farmers, planters, ranchmen, dairymen, nut or fruit growers, acting together in associations, corporate or otherwise, in collectively processing, preparing for market, handling, and marketing in interstate and/or foreign commerce such products of persons so engaged, may acquire, exchange, interpret, and disseminate past, present, and prospective crop, market, statistical, economic, and other similar information by direct exchange between such persons, and/or such associations or federations thereof, and/or by and through a common agent created or selected by them.

SEC. 6. The Secretary of Agriculture may make such rules and regulations as may be deemed advisable to carry out the provisions of this Act and may cooperate with any department or agency of the Government, any State, Territory, District, or possession, or department, agency, or political subdivision thereof, or any person; and may call upon any other Federal department, board, or commission for assistance in carrying out the purposes of this Act; and shall have the power to appoint, remove, and fix the compensation of such officers and employees not in conflict with existing law and make such expenditure for rent, outside the District of Columbia, printing, telegrams, telephones, books of reference. books of law, periodicals, newspapers, furniture, stationery, office equipment, travel, and other supplies and expenses as shall be necessary to the administration of this Act in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $225,000 to be available for expenditure during the fiscal years

1926 and 1927, and the appropriation of such additional sums as may be necessary thereafter for carrying out the purposes of this Act is hereby authorized.

SEC. 7. That if any provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional or the applicability thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and the applicability of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby, and nothing contained in this Act is intended, nor shall be construed, to modify or repeal any of the provisions of the Act of February 18, 1922 (chapter 57, Forty-second Statutes at Large, page 388).

Approved, July 2, 1926.

[H. R. 7818]

AN ACT

To amend section 304 of an Act entitled "An Act to regulate interstate and foreign commerce in livestock, livestock products, dairy products, poultry, poultry products, and eggs, and for other purposes," approved August 15, 1921.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 304 of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate interstate and foreign commerce in livestock, livestock products, dairy products, poultry, poultry products, and eggs, and for other purposes," approved August 15, 1921, be, and is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 304. It shall be the duty of every stockyard owner and market agency to furnish upon to furnish upon reasonable request, without discrimination, reasonable stockyard services at such stockyard: Provided, That in any State where the weighing of livestock at a stockyard is conducted by a duly authorized department or agency of the State, the Secretary, upon application of such department or agency, may register it as a market agency for the weighing of livestock received in such stockyard, and upon such registration such department or agency and the members thereof shall be amenable to all the requirements of this Act; and upon failure of such department or agency or the members thereof to comply with the orders of the Secretary under this Act he is authorized to revoke the registration of such department or agency and to enforce such revocation as provided in section 315 of this Act." Approved, May 5, 1920.