UNITED STATES GRAIN STANDARDS ACT AMENDMENT HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Friday, May 11, 1928. The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Gilbert N. Haugen (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee has met this morning to give consideration to H. R. 106, a bill to amend the United States grain standards act by inserting a new section providing for licensing and establishing laboratories for making determinations of protein in wheat and oil in flax. [H. R. 106, 70th Congress, 1st Session] A BILL To amend the United States grain standards act by inserting a new section providing for licensing and establishing laboratories for making determinations of protein in wheat and oil in flax Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the United States grain standards act, approved August 11, 1916, be, and the same is hereby, amended by inserting between paragraphs 7 and 8 thereof a new section, designated as section 7a, as follows: "SEC. 7a. That the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make provision for making determinations of protein in wheat and oil in flax, where such grains are sold, offered for sale, consigned for sale, shipped, or delivered for shipment in interstate commerce, and to issue certificates showing the results of such determinations and tests upon request of any interested party. "The Secretary of Agriculture may issue a license to any person upon presentation to him of satisfactory evidence that such person is competent to make such determinations and tests under such reasonble rules and regulations as the Secretary may provide. The Secretary of Agriculture may suspend or revoke any license issued by him under this act whenever he shall determine that such licensee is incompetent or has knowingly or carelessly made determinations improperly, or has issued any false certificate with reference thereto, or has accepted any money or other consideration, directly or indirectly, for any neglect or improper performance of duty, or has violated any provision of this act or of the rules and regulations made hereunder. Such licensee shall receive no compensation from the United States, but only from the person for whom the test or determination is made. The Secretary of Agriculture shall require every person licensed under this act to keep complete and correct records of all tests made by him and to make reports to the Secretary of Agriculture in such forms and at such times as he may require, showing the place and date of test and such other information as the Secretary of Agriculture may deem necessary. The Secretary of Agriculture shall make publication of a summary of such facts as are ascertained at least as often as annually. "Whenever a test or determination has been made by such licensee and a dispute arises with reference to the correctness thereof, any interested party may appeal the question to the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to cause investigation to be made and such tests applied as he may deem necessary and to determine the true content. Such appeals shall be made only in accordance with the rules and regulations which the Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe therefor. For the purpose of making his final determinations upon such appeals, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to establish and maintain laboratories at such points as he may designate and deem necessary for the purpose of making determinations of protein in wheat and oil in flax. He shall, upon the determination of such appeal, issue his certificate setting out his findings and decision. Whenever an appeal shall be taken or a dispute referred to the Secretary of Agriculture under this paragraph, he shall charge and assess, and cause to be collected, a reasonable fee, in amount to be fixed by him. All such fees shall be deposited and covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. The findings of the Secretary of Agriculture as to content, signed by him or by such officer or officers, agent or agents, of the Department of Agriculture as he may designate, made upon such appeal, shall be accepted in the courts of the United States as prima facie evidence of the true content so determined." Mr. BURTNESS. Mr. Chairman, as you have stated, this is a hearing on H. R. 106, which I introduced on December 5, 1927, similar to H. R. 16776, introduced in the latter part of the last Congress. Inasmuch as my colleague, Mr. Sinclair, is here desiring to appear on behalf of the bill and has an appointment of importance later which he must keep, I would be very glad, with your permission, to yield to Mr. Sinclair for a short statement at this time. Mr. CLARKE. I move, Mr. Chairman, that we listen to Mr. Sinclair, who served for many years very effectively and very faithfully in the cause of agriculture. STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES H. SINCLAIR, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA Mr. SINCLAIR. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I want to say that I have been engaged in the business of raising wheat for a great many years, and I have long thought that the protein content of wheat should be made a factor in the grading of it. In fact, I have thought so much about it that about three years ago, I believe, I also introduced a bill on this subject at the suggestion of the Food Research Institute of the Stanford University of California, who had brought to my attention the fact that the people who raised wheat were not getting reflected to them the price of their products in the market. So I introduced a bill in December, 1925, and again in the last session of Congress, looking toward the establishment of some means by the Department of Agriculture for determing the protein content in reference to grading of wheat. I might add that the late Senator Ladd, of my State, while connected with the agricultural college, made extensive studies as to the milling value of wheat. His conclusions were that the present Federal grades are very inadequate in correctly reflecting the true value of wheat. Mr. CLARKE. In principle, it is just the same as testing milk for butter fat content, is it not? Mr. SINCLAIR. It is somewhat the same in principle. Of course, it involves a little different machinery. Mr. CLARKE. Oh, I know. Mr. SINCLAIR. But the principle is precisely the same. I am here to indorse Mr. Burtness's bill, because it is a much better bill than my bill. I think it goes much further and involves not only wheat, but also the determining of oil content in flax seed. I just want to say the necessity for this bill is the fact that the producer, as a rule, who sells grain to the local market or the local elevator does not get reflected back to him, in price, the protein content price which his wheat brings on the terminal market. I do say, however, that farmers who are able to ship their grain in carload lots and have it presented to the terminal market by sample, are very often able to get the price reflected back to them, that their grain is worth; but the average price that prevails in the primary market, or local market, does not take into consideration the differences or real qualities grain may have at different seasons or in different years. There is just one price in the elevator, they call it the card price. which is sent out from the terminal headquarters. Mr. ADKINS. Based on the wheat grades? Mr. SINCLAIR. Based on the wheat grades; yes. No. 1 will bring such and such a price; No. 2 another price. Now, within any one of those grades (and it will be demonstrated here by those who will follow me), there is a wide variation in price of from 10 to 45 cents, or probably more; at least 10 cents, within a single grade, all depending upon the protein content. Now my thought is this, in passing a bill of this kind, that the county agents of the various wheat-growing sections, some of the agricultural high schools and normal schools, the State universities, and the State agricultural colleges, can have laboratories established or do have laboratories estblished now with a licensed operator by the Federal Government who will do this work scientifically and with authority, and those laboratories, scattered all over the country, are easily accessible to the farmer or producer, who can send in his sample of grain and, within 24 hours, or such a matter, get a return a statement as to what the protein content of that grain is. Then, right while he is threshing, he is able to present these facts to his local buyer and demand, intelligently demand, a better price for his product. Mr. ANDRESEN. Does the bill contemplate limiting it to agricultural schools and colleges and other public institutions of that kind? Mr. SINCLAIR. Oh, no; I think not. I think it is all left to the discretion of the Department of Agriculture, just as they now license Federal grain inspectors in the usual trade. Mr. ANDRESEN. Do you not think, however, it should be limited to some State authority or municipal authority, rather than to licensed private individuals to operate these laboratories? Mr. SINCLAIR. I think, of course, that they can not be as generally licensed as grain buyers, because it takes a greater amount of scientific knowledge to determine the protein content of grain than it does just simply to grade grain. I think it does; perhaps I am mistaken in that, but I would judge it would take more scientific knowledge. I am not certain that it would be the best plan to license everybody generally, that is, in the wheat trade, to pass on the protein content. Mr. ADKINS. Do you not think that discretion can be safely left with the Department of Agriculture? Mr. SINCLAIR. I do. That is why I favor leaving it with the Department of Agriculture. They now license the grain inspectors and they certainly would have charge and use discretion in licensing those who would make these protein tests. Mr. ANDRESEN. They license those, though, after they have been selected by some State department or State authority? Mr. SINCLAIR. I do not think they do that in all cases; but I presume they would be guided by the recommendations of the State authorities or local authorities. For instance, in my State we have county agents and I think every one of those county agents, in fact, all of them, are graduates of the State Agricultural College or some other agricultural college. They are all high class men; they are well educated, scientifically educated men. There is not any doubt but what those men could determine the protein content of grain very |