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(b) Any stabilization corporation for an agricultural commodity (1) may act as a marketing agency for its stockholders or members in preparing, handling, storing, processing, and merchandising for their account any quantity of the agricultural commodity or its food products, and (2) for the purpose of controlling any surplus in the commodity in furtherance of the policy declared in section 1, may prepare, purchase, handle, store, process, and merchandise, otherwise than for the account of its stockholders or members, any quantity of the agricultural commodity or its food products whether or not such commodity or products are acquired from its stockholders or

members.

(c) Upon request of the advisory committee for any commodity the board is authorized to make loans from the revolving fund to the stabilization corporation for the commodity for working capital to enable the corporation to act as a marketing agency for its stockholders or members as hereinbefore provided. Not less than 75 per centum of all profits derived by a stabilization corporation each year from its operations as such a marketing agency shall be paid into a merchandising reserve fund to be established by the corporation. No such payment shall be required whenever the fund is in such amount as, in the judgment of the board, constitutes a sufficient reserve for such operations of the corporation. Out of the remainder of such profits for the year the corporation shall repay any outstanding loan made under this subdivision and the accrued interest thereon, or if all such loans and accrued interest have been fully repaid, then it may distribute a patronage dividend to its stockholders or members. Such patronage dividend shall be paid to each stockholder or member on the basis of the total volume of the commodity or its products for the year marketed for his account through the corporation.

(d) Upon request of the advisory committee for any commodity the board is authorized to make loans from the revolving fund to the stabilization corporation for the commodity to enable the corporation to control any surplus in the commodity as hereinbefore provided and for meeting carrying and handling charges and other operating expenses in connection therewith. The board shall require a stabilization corporation to establish and maintain adequate reserves from its profits from its surplus control operations before it shall pay any dividends out of such profits. All losses of the corporation from such operations shall be paid from such reserves, or if such reserves are inadequate, then such losses shall be paid by the board as a loan from the revolving fund. Any amounts so loaned for payment of losses shall be repaid into the revolving fund by the corporation from future profits from its surplus control operations. Any stabilization corporation receiving loans under this subdivision for surplus control operations shall exert every reasonable effort to avoid losses and to secure profits, but shall not withhold any commodity from the domestic market if the prices have become unduly enhanced, resulting in distress to domestic consumers. Stockholders or members of the corporation shall not be subject to assessment for any losses incurred in surplus control operations of the corporation.

(e) A stabilization corporation shall keep such accounts, records, and memoranda, and make such reports with respect to its transactions, business methods, and financial condition, as the board may

from time to time prescribe; shall permit the board to audit its accounts annually and at such other times as the board deems advisable; and shall permit the board, upon its own initiative or upon written request of any stockholder or member, to investigate the financial condition and business methods of the corporation.

(f) No loan shall be made to any stabilization corporation unless, in the judgment of the board, the loan is in furtherance of the policy declared in section 1.

CLEARING HOUSE ASSOCIATIONS

SEC. 10. Upon application of any cooperative association handling an agricultural commodity or of producers of an agricultural commodity, the board is authorized, if it deems such association or producers representative of the commodity, to assist in forming producer-controlled clearing house associations adapted to effecting the economic distribution of the agricultural commodity among the various markets and to minimizing waste and loss in the marketing of the commodity, if such assistance, in the judgment of the board, will be in furtherance of the policy declared in section 1. The board may provide for the registration, and for the termination of the registration, of any clearing house association in accordance with such regulations as the board may prescribe. Such clearing house associations are authorized to operate under rules adopted by the member cooperative associations and approved by the board. Independent dealers in, and handlers, distributors, and processors of, the commodity, as well as cooperative associations handling the commodity, shall be eligible for membership in the clearing house association: Provided, That the policy of such clearing house association shall be approved by a committee of producers which, in the opinion of the board, is representative of the commodity. Clearing house associations shall utilize the market news service and other facilities of the Department of Agriculture as far as possible.

PRICE INSURANCE

SEO. 11. The board is authorized, upon application of cooperative associations, to enter into agreements, subject to the conditions hereinafter specified, for the insurance of the cooperative associations against loss through price decline in the agricultural commodity handled by the associations and produced by the members thereof. Such agreements shall be entered into only if, in the judgment of the board, (1) coverage is not available from private agencies at reasonable rates, (2) the insurance will be in furtherance of the policy declared in section 1, (3) the agricultural commodity is regularly bought and sold in the markets in sufficient volume to establish a recognized basic price for the market grades of the commodity, and (4) there is available with respect to the commodity such market information as will afford an accurate record of prevailing prices for the commodity covering a period of years of sufficient length to serve as a basis to calculate the risk and fix the premium for the insurance. The agreements shall require payment of premiums so fixed and shall include such other terms as, in the judgment of the board, are necessary. The board may make advances from the

revolving fund to meet obligations under any insurance agreement, but such advances together with the interest thereon shall, as soon as practicable, be repaid from the proceeds of insurance premiums.

ADMINISTRATIVE APPROPRIATION

SEC. 12. For expenditures in executing the functions vested in the board by this Act (including salaries and expenses of members, officers, and employees of the board and per diem compensation and expenses of the commodity committees), incurred prior to July 1, 1930, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $1,500,000. No part of the moneys appropriated in pursuance of this authorization shall be available for expenditures, including loans and advances, for the payment of which the revolving fund or insurance moneys are authorized to be used.

AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION

SEC. 13. (a) The board shall, in cooperation with any governmental establishment in the Executive branch of the Government, including any field service thereof at home or abroad, avail itself of the services and facilities thereof in order to avoid preventable expense or duplication of effort.

(b) The President may by Executive order direct any such governmental establishment to furnish the board such information and data as such governmental establishment may have pertaining to the functions of the board; except that the President shall not direct that the board be furnished with any information or data supplied by any person in confidence to any governmental establishment in pursuance of any provision of law or of any agreement with a governmental establishment.

(c) The board may cooperate with any State or Territory, or department, agency, or political subdivision thereof, or with any person.

(d) The board shall, through the Secretary of Agriculture, indicate to the appropriate bureau or division of the Department of Agriculture any special problem on which a research is needed to aid in carrying out the provisions of this Act.

(e) The President is authorized, by Executive order, to transfer to or retransfer from the jurisdiction and control of the board the whole or any part of (1) any office, bureau, service, division, commission, or board in the Executive branch of the Government engaged in scientific or extension work, or the furnishing of services, with respect to the marketing of agricultural commodities, (2) its functions pertaining to such work or services, and (3) the records, property, including office equipment, personnel, and unexpended balances of appropriation, pertaining to such work or services.

EXAMINATION OF BOOKS AND ACCOUNTS OF BOARD

SEC. 14. Vouchers approved by the chairman of the board for expenditures from the revolving fund pursuant to any loan or advance or from insurance moneys pursuant to any insurance agreement, shall be final and conclusive upon all officers of the Government; except that all financial transactions of the board shall, subject to the above

limitations, be examined by the General Accounting Office at such times and in such manner as the Comptroller General of the United States may by regulation prescribe. Such examination, with respect to expenditures from the revolving fund pursuant to any loan or advance or from insurance moneys pursuant to any insurance agreement, shall be for the sole purpose of making a report to the Congress and to the board of expenditures and of loan and insurance agreements in violation of law, together with such recommendations thereon as the Comptroller General deems advisable.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

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SEO. 15. (a) As used in this Act, the term "cooperative association means any association qualified under the Act entitled "An Act to authorize association of producers of agricultural products," approved February 18, 1922. Whenever in the judgment of the board the producers of any agricultural commodity are not organized into cooperative associations so extensively as to render such cooperative associations representative of the commodity, then the privileges, assistance, and authority available under this Act to cooperative associations, shall also be available to other associations and corporations producer-owned and producer-controlled and organized for and actually engaged in the marketing of the agricultural commodity. No such association or corporation shall be held to be producer-owned and producer-controlled unless owned and controlled by cooperative associations as above defined and/or by individuals engaged as original producers of the agricultural commodity.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any member, officer, or employee of the board to speculate, directly or indirectly, in any agricultural commodity or product thereof, or in contracts relating thereto, or in the stock or membership interests of any association or corporation engaged in handling, processing, or disposing of any such commodity or product. Any person violating this subdivision shall upon conviction thereof be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

(c) It shall be unlawful (1) for any cooperative association, stabilization corporation, clearing house association, or commodity committee, or (2) for any director, officer, employee, or member or person acting on behalf of any such association, corporation, or committee, to which or to whom information has been imparted in confidence by the board, to disclose such information in violation of any regulation of the board. Any such association, corporation, or committee, or director, officer, employee, or member thereof, violating this subdivision, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(d) That the inclusion in any governmental report, bulletin, or other such publication hereafter issued or published of any prediction with respect to cotton prices is hereby prohibited. Any officer or employee of the United States who authorizes or is responsible for the inclusion in any such report, bulletin, or other publication of any such prediction, or who knowingly causes the issuance or publication of any such report, bulletin, or other publication containing any such prediction, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than $500 or more than $5,000, or imprisoned for not more than

five years, or both: Provided, That this subdivision shall not apply to the members of the board when engaged in the performance of their duties herein provided.

(e) If any provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional, or the applicability thereof to any person, circumstance, commodity, or class of transactions with respect to any commodity is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and the applicability of such provision to other persons, circumstances, commodities, and classes of transactions shall not be affected thereby.

(f) This Act may be cited as the "Agricultural Marketing Act." Approved, June 15, 1929.

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