2 A BILL DECLARING AN EMERGENCY IN RESPECT OF CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, TO PROMOTE PURCHASE AND SALE OF FARM PRODUCTS. MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 1924. UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10 o'clock a. m., in room 326, Senate Office Building, Senator George W. Norris presiding. Present: Senators Norris (chairman), Capper, Gooding, Ladd, Norbeck, Harreld, McKinely, Smith, Kendrick, Ralston, and Johnson. The CHAIRMAN. I will ask Senator Ladd to preside at the hearings this morning. (Senator Ladd here assumed the chair.) Senator LADD. I understand this morning that this meeting was called to give those who desired to appear an opportunity to express their views with regard to the pending legislation in agricultural matters, and with regard to any specific bill that they may be interested in. I will ask the reporter to have printed in the hearings the bills under consideration. (The bills referred to are here printed in full, as follows:) [S. 1642, Sixty-eighth Congress, first session.] A BILL To provide for the purchase and sale of farm products. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the short title of this act shall he "The Farmers' and Consumers' Financing Corporation Act." SEC. 2. When used in this act the term "person" includes partnerships, corporations, associations, cooperative organizations of producers, cooperative organizations of consumers, and municipal corporations, as well as individuals. SEC. 3. A board of directors, consisting of three members appointed as hereinafter provided, are hereby created a body corporate by the name, style, and title of "The Farmers' and Consumers' Financing Corporation (herein called the corporation), and shall have succession until dissolved by act of Congress. SEC. 4. That the capital stock of the corporation shall be $100,000,000, all of which shall be subscribed by the United States of America, and such subscription shall be subject to call upon the vote of two-thirds of the board of directors of the corporation at such time or times as may be deemed advisable; and there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $100,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for the purpose of making payment upon such subscriptions when and as called. Receipts for payments by the United States of America for or on account of such stock shall be issued by the corporation to the Secretary of the Treasury and shall be evidence of stock ownership. SEC. 5. That the management of the corporation shall be vested in a board of directors, consisting of three members, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The term of office of members of said board shall be eight years, but in the first appointments made under this act one director shall be appointed for four years, one for six years, and one for eight years, and thereafter appointments shall be made for eight years: Provided, That in case of the appointment of any member of said board to fill a vacancy the appointment shall be made for the unexpired term. The member of said board, except in appointments made to fill a vacancy, having the shortest term to serve shall be the chairman thereof. No' director, officer, attorney, agent, or en.ployee of the corporation shall in any manner, directly or indirectly, participate in the determination of any question affecting his personal interests r the interest of any corporation, partnership, or association in which he is directly or indirectly interested; and each director shall devote his time to the business of the corporation. Before entering upon his duties each of the directors so appointed and each officer shall take oath faithfully to discharge the duties of his office. Any member of said board of directors can be removed from office at any time by concurrent resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives. SEC. 6. That the directors of the corporation appointed as hereinbefore provided shall receive annual salaries, payable monthly, of $10,000. SEC. 7. That the principal office of the corporation shall be located in the District of Columbia, but the board of directors shall have power to establish agencies or branch offices in any place in the United States and in foreign countries. SEC. 8. That the corporation shall be empowered and authorized to adopt, alter, and use a corporate seal; to make contracts; to purchase or lease and hold or dispose of such real estate as may be necessary for the prosecution of its business; to sue and be sued; to complain and defend in any court of competent jurisdiction, State or Federal; to appoint, by its board of directors, and fix the compensation of such officers, employees, attorneys, and agents as are necessary for the transaction of the business of the corporation, to define their duties, require bonds of them, and fix the penalties thereof and to dismiss at pleasure such officers, employees. attorneys, and agents, and to prescribe, amend, and repeal, by its board of directors, by-laws regulating the manner in which its general business may be conducted and the privileges granted to it by law may be exercised; Provided, That in the appointment or promotion of any such officers and employees, attorneys, or agents, the board shall give no consideration whatever to the politics of such persons, but all such appointments and promotions, as well as all other business of the corporation, shall be conducted and transacted entirely on a nonpartisan basis. SEC. 9. That the corporation shall be empowered and authorized (1) to build, buy, lease, and operate elevators and storage warehouses; (2) to buy agricultural products from any person within the United States, and to sell such products to any person within the United States, and to any person or to any government, or subdivision of government without the United States; (3) to act as agent of any person producing or dealing in agricultural products, either in their natural or prepared state, within the United States, in the sale of such products either within or without the United States; and (4) to make advances for the purpose of assisting any person in financing the sale. or exportation and sale, of such agricultural products, but in no case shall any of the money so advanced be expended without the United States. Every such advance, and any sale of such products made on time, shall be secured by adequate security of such character as shall be prescribed by the board of directors. It is hereby declared to be the object and purpose of this act to provide a market for the sale of agricultural products, and to eliminate as far as possible the commissions and charges that are exacted upon agricultural products from the time such products leave the producer until the same reaches the consumer, and to thereby increase the price which the producer receives and decrease the price which the consumer pays. SEC. 10. That the operation shall be empowered and authorized to issue and have outstanding at any one time its bonds in an amount aggregating not more than five times its paid-in capital. Such bonds shall mature not more than ten years from the respective dates of issue, and shall bear such rate of interest as shall be fixed by the board of directors with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. The bonds may be offered for sale publicly or to any person at such price or prices as the board of directors, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, may determine. SEC. 11. That the net earnings of the corporation not required for its operation shall be accumulated as a reserve until such time as such reserve amounts to $100,000,000; and thereafter all the net earnings of the corporation not required for the redemption of any of its bonds shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States until such payments equal the amount advanced by the United States for the capital stock of the corporation. SEC. 12. That any and all bonds issued by the corporation shall be exempt, both as to principal and interest, from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States, any State, or any of the possessions of the United States, or by any local taxing authority, except (a) estate or inheritance taxes, and (b) graduated additional income taxes, commonly known as surtaxes, and excess-profits and war-profits taxes, now or hereafter imposed by the United States upon the income or profits of individuals, partnerships, corporations, or associations. The interest on an amount of such bonds the principal of which does not exceed in the aggregate $5,000 owned by any individual, partnership, corporation, or association shall be exempt from the taxes referred to in clause (b). The corporation, including its franchise and the capital and reserve or surplus thereof, and the income derived therefrom, shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States, any State, or any of the possessions of the United States, or any local taxing authority, except that any real property of the corporation shall be subject to State, county, or municipal taxes to the same extent. according to its value, as other real property is taxed. SEC. 13. That whoever makes any statement, knowing it to be false, for the purpose of obtaining for himself or for any other person any advance under this act, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. Whoever willfully overvalues any security by which any such advance is secured shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both. Whoever (1) falsely makes, forges, or counterfeits any bond, coupon, or paper in imitation of or purporting to be in imitation of a bond or coupon issued by the corporation; or (2) passes, utters, or publishes, or attempts to pass, utter, or publish any false, forged, or counterfeited bond, coupon, or paper purporting to be issued by the corporation, knowing the same to be falsely made, forged, or counterfeited; or (3) falsely alters any such bond. coupon, or paper; or (4) passes, utters, or publishes as true any falsely altered or spurious bond, coupon, or paper issued or purporting to have been issued by the corporation, knowing the same to be falsely altered or spurious, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. SEC. 14. That whoever. being connected in any capacity with the corporation (1) embezzles, abstracts, or willfully misapplies any moneys, funds, or credits thereof, or (2) with intent to defraud the corporation or any person, or to deceive any officer of the corporation (a) makes any false entry in any book, report, or statement of the corporation, or (b) without authority from the directors, draws any order or assigns any note, bond, draft, mortgage, judgment, or decree thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10.000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to direct and use the Secret Service Division of the Treasury Department to detect, arrest, and deliver into the custody of the United States marshal having jurisdiction any person committing any of the offenses punishable under this section. SEC. 15. That for the purpose of securing reduced rates for export shipments of any of the products handled by the corporation, said corporation is hereby given authority to operate any of the vessels now owned by the United States which are not chartered or leased to any other person or corporation for the purpose of carrying any such products to foreign ports; and the President of the United States is authorized to turn any such vessel or vessels over to such corporation when in his judgment the business of said corporation is sufficient to warrant it. No charge shall be exacted of said corporation for the use of any such vessels, but the corporation shall keep all such vessels so turned over in good repair during the time it shall use the same. In case of war, or when in the judgment of the President of the United States there is danger of war, any such vessel or vessels so turned over to the corporation shall, upon the demand of the President of the United States, be immediately returned to the Government of the United States. |