ments for new contracts in abeyance until after the present Congress adjourns and it can be known whether pending aviation legislation will be passed and will afford ample time to advertise these contracts and permit a sufficient period for the bidders to qualify and set up operation. Unless such an extension is authorized by Congress we feel that the Department must advertise these routes almost immediately as some of the contracts begin expiring early in January next. It is our opinion that we should advertise for 3 or 4 months, at least, in order that prospective bidders may have opportunity to make their arrangements in the foreign countries traversed by the routes and that we should then allow a period of approximately 1 year after the award is made in which the operator may set up operations. Pending legislation would change the method of authorizing routes from contracts to certificates of public convenience and necessity and would give present operators a presumptive right to such certificates. From the standpoint of fairness and justice it seems desirable that the advertising of the routes, if they are to be advertised, be delayed until we know whether Congress is going to change the law. Foreign air-mail route No. 1, between Newark and Montreal, is not included in the resolution and we do not think it should be included. In any event, it is our plan to have this route transferred from the foreign air-mail system to the domestic air-mail system and put it on the same basis as the domestic route between Boston and Montreal and the domestic route between Chicago and Winnipeg. The contract on the Newark-Montreal route originally called for pay of 96 cents a mile. Two or three years ago when we were readjusting the foreign airmail contracts with the contractors we succeeded in getting an agreement to reduce the rate on this route to 60 cents a mile for the remainder of the contract term. The average rate actually paid on the domestic route between Boston and Montreal is 30% cents and the average rate actually paid on the domestic route between Chicago and Winnipeg is 31.9 cents. There is no logical or valid reason why the Newark-Montreal route should be on any different basis from these other routes. To have it otherwise would be marked discrimination in favor of the Newark-Montreal route. Besides, the appropriation for 1939 for this route has been transferred by Congress from the foreign appropriation to the domestic appropriation and after July 1 we will have no funds in the foreign appropriation for this route. Under the general law we can extend a contract for 6 months. The Canadian Colonial Airways, Inc. which operates the route from Newark to Montreal, has furnished the Department a written agreement to enter into such an extension which would give ample time after Congress adjourns for the advertising and letting of a contract on this route. We do not need a year's extension such as is proposed for the other foreign routes and to give one would simply invite the contractor, in the event Congress does not pass pending air-mail legislation, to come in and urge us to defer the advertisement until another Congress could consider legislation, which may or may not be introduced. It has been ascertained from the Bureau of the Budget that this report is in accord with the program of the President. Sincerely yours, MAY 7, 1938.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. FLANNAGAN, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 8047] The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 8047) to amend the Meat Inspection Act of March 4, 1907, as amended and extended, with respect to its application to farmers, retail butchers, and retail dealers, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass. A letter from the Secretary of Agriculture, under date of September 15, 1937, to the chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, indicating the approval of the Department and of the Budget, of the proposed legislation, reads as follows: Hon. MARVIN JONES, Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. JONES: The Department acknowledges receipt of your letter of July 30, enclosing a copy of H. R. 8047, a bill to amend the Meat Inspection Act of March 4, 1907, as amended and extended, with respect to its application to farmers, retail butchers, and retail dealers. As drawn, the bill meets the approval of this Department as it defines those farmers, retail butchers, and retail dealers who are exempt from inspection, and those who are not exempt. The bill would not increase the cost to Federal inspection, but would restrict the exemption now granted to so-called farmers who have small parcels of land but who engage quite extensively in the slaughter of calves for shipment interstate under the present system of exemption for bona fide farmers. The situation regarding the latter will in no way be disturbed. Upon reference of the matter to the Bureau of the Budget, as required by Budget Circular 336, the Acting Director thereof advised the Department of Agriculture under date of September 4, 1937, that "there would be no objection by this office to the submission of your proposed report to the committee." Sincerely, H. A. WALLACE, Secretary. Also is shown a letter from the author of the measure, setting forth its purposes and the need thereof, which the committee considers sufficient explanation for this report. Hon. MARVIN JONES, HOUSE OF RepresentativES, Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I was requested to introduce this bill by every farmer organization in Wisconsin, and every cooperative shipping association in the State favored this type of legislation. Since I introduced the original bill, I heard from several State representatives, all favoring this type of legislation. Mr. Norman Draper, director, Institute of American Meat Packers, conferred with me and assisted in preparing the bill. Mr. J. H. Meek, director, Division of Markets of Virginia endorsed it. The Equity Co-Operative Livestock Sales Association, the Farmers Union Livestock Sales Associations, a branch of which is located at all the principle markets, have felt the need for this type of legislation for years. The Central Co-Operative Sales Association who handle 75 percent of all the livestock on the South St. Paul markets have fought for years for this type of legislation. The reason is twofold: Hundreds of thousands of calves, most of them unfit for human consumption, the majority only a few days old, are bought up by unscrupulous livestock buyers for a price ranging from $1 to $5 each. They then butcher them and haul them all to the markets of the large consuming centers and sell them to commission firms. They, in turn, sell them to retail butchers and thus they find their way to the consumers who usually buy the meat for a price that seems attractive, but because the calf has not had the benefit of consuming milk more than a few days, the meat is hardly fit for human consumption, and after the consumers have bought this type of veal a couple of times, they will refrain from buying veal in the future. Thus, it has a tendency to lower the price of all veal on all the markets and it greatly reduces the demand for veal. A great many calves are diseased and almost dead with dysentery, but still are killed and eventually consumed without inspection of any kind. The present law exempts actual farmers and they may sell their veal direct to a retail butcher or ship it to a commission firm without inspection. It was not intended that regular livestock buyers should come under this exemption. Evidently these buyers have made so much money on this business that it has grown by leaps and bounds and, as stated before, now reaches the figure of several hundred thousand in cities like Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee. I have figures from 1 small shipping center in central Wisconsin where an average of 700 calves are disposed of weekly. It is conservatively estimated that at least 500 of them are of the type described above and unfit for human consumption. That is true in every dairy section of the United States. This bill does not change the farmer's status, but it will prohibit livestock buyers from continuing this practice and I am certain will be to the benefit of the consumer because he will then get mostly inspected meat, and it will certainly benefit the farmers as a whole by maintaining a higher price level for all types of veal calves. This does not, in any way, affect a livestock buyer who handles calves or young stock alive. It only refers to butchered calves. Very truly yours, CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW B. J. GEHRMAN. In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets; new matter is printed in italics; existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): THE MEAT INSPECTION ACT (Extract from an Act of Congress entitled "An Act making appropriations for the Department of Agri culture for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907," approved June 30, 1906 (34 Stat. 674), and from an Act of Congress entitled "An Act making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908," approved Mar. 4, 1907 (34 Stat. 1260)) (21) [That the provisions of this Act requiring inspection to be made by the Secretary of Agriculture shall not apply to animals slaughtered by any farmer on the farm and sold and transported as interstate or foreign commerce, nor to retail butchers and retail dealers in meat and meat food products, supplying their customers: Provided, That if any person shall sell or offer for sale or transportation for interstate or foreign commerce any meat or meat food products which are diseased, unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food, knowing that such meat food products are intended for human consumption, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment for a period of not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment: Provided further, That the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to maintain the inspection in this Act provided for at any slaughtering, meat canning, salting, packing, rendering, or similar establishment notwithstanding this exception, and that the persons operating the same may be retail butchers and retail dealers or farmers; and where the Secretary of Agriculture shall establish such inspection then the provisions of this Act shall apply notwithstanding this exception.] That within the meaning of this Act (a) A "farmer" means any person or partnership chiefly engaged in producing agricultural products on whose farm the number of cattle, calves, sheep, lambs, swine, or goals is in keeping with the size of the farm or with the volume or character of the agricultural products produced thereon, but does not mean any person or partnership engaged in producing agricultural products who (1) actively engages in buying or trading in cattle, calves, sheep, lambs, swine, or goats; or (2) actively engages, directly or indirectly, in conducting a business which includes the slaughter of cattle, calves, sheep, lambs, swine, or goats for food purposes; or (3) actively engages, directly or indirectly, in buying or selling meat or meat food products other than those prepared by any farmer on the farm; or (4) actively engages, directly or indirectly, in salting, curing, or canning meat, or in preparing sausage, lard, or other meat food products; or (5) slaughters, or permits any person to slaughter, on his or their farm cattle, calves, sheep, lambs, swine, or goats which are not actually owned by him or them. (b) A "retail butcher" means any person, partnership, association, or corporation chiefly engaged in selling meat or meat food products to consumers only, except that the Secretary of Agriculture, at his discretion, may permit any retail butcher to transport in interstate or foreign commerce to consumers and meat retailers in any one week not more than five carcasses of cattle, twenty-five carcasses of calves, twenty carcasses of sheep, twenty-five carcasses of lambs, ten carcasses of swine, twenty carcasses of goats, or twenty-five carcasses of goat kids, or the equivalent of fresh meat therefrom, and to transport in interstate or foreign commerce to consumers only meat and meat food products which have been salted, cured, canned, or prepared as sausage, lard, or other meat food products, and which have not been inspected, examined, and marked a "Inspected and Passed" in accordance with the terms of the Meat Inspection Act of March 4, 1907, and Acts supplemental thereto, and with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture. (c) A "retail dealer" means any person, partnership, association, or corporation chiefly engaged in selling meat or meat food products to consumers only except that the Secretary of Agriculture, at his discretion, may permit any retail dealer to transport in interstate trade or foreign commerce to consumers and meat retailers in any one week not more than five carcasses of cattle, twenty-five carcasses of calves, twenty carcasses of sheep, twenty-five carcasses of lambs, ten carcasses of swine, twenty carcasses of goats, or twenty-five carcasses of goat kids, or the equivalent of fresh meat therefrom, and to transport in interstate or foreign commerce to consumers only meat and meat food products which have been salted, cured, canned, or prepared as sausage, lard, or other meat food products which have not been inspected, examined, and marked as "Inspected and Passed" in accordance with the terms of the Meat Inspection Act of March 4, 1907, and Acts supplemental thereto, and with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture. That the provisions of the Meat Inspection Act of March 4, 1907, requiring inspection to be made by the Secretary of Agriculture shall not apply to animals slaughtered by any farmer on the farm and sold and transported in interstate or foriegn commerce, nor to retail butchers and retail dealers in meat and meat food products, supplying their customers: Provided, That all meat and meat food products derived from animals slaughtered by any farmer on the farm which are salted, cured, canned, or prepared into sausage, lard, or other meat food products at any place other than by the farmer on the farm upon which the animals were slaughtered shall not be transported in interstate or foreign commerce under the farmers' exemption herein provided, and all fresh meat and all farm-cured or prepared meat and meat food products derived from animals slaughtered by any farmer on the farm which are to be used in interstate or foreign commerce shall be clearly marked with the name and address of the farmer on whose farm the animals were slaughtered: Provided further, That if any person shall sell or offer for sale or transportation for interstate or foreign commerce any meat or meat food products which are diseased, unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food, knowing that such meat food products are intended for human consumption, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment for a period of not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment: And provided further, That the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to maintain the inspection in this Act provided for at any slaughtering, meat canning, salting, packing, rendering, or similar establishment notwithstanding this exception, and that the persons operating the same may be retail butchers and retail dealers or farmers; and where the Secretary of Agriculture shall establish such inspection then the provisions of this Act shall apply notwithstanding this exception. |