AGRICULTURAL MARKETING REVOLVING FUND

DECEMBER 18, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. Wood, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 15359]

The Committee on Appropriations, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 15359) making an additional appropriation to carry out the provisions of the agricultural marketing act, approved June 15, 1929, reports the same without amendment and with a favorable recommendation.

The amount recommended to be appropriated is $150,000,000 to be expended in accordance with, and for the purposes specified in the agricultural marketing act, and to become a part of the revolving fund to be administered by the Federal Farm Board as provided in such act. The amount recommended is pursuant to and based upon a Budget estimate submitted to Congress by the President in House Document No. 668 of the present session.

The agricultural marketing act authorized a total appropriation of $500,000,000 to be used as a revolving fund for the making of loans to cooperatives and stabilization corporations. Up to the present time appropriations have been made in the aggregate of $250,000,000. The amount carried in this bill brings the total up to $400,000,000. and an estimate of $100,000,000 is pending for the independent offices appropriation bill for the next fiscal year, which, when granted, will bring the total appropriations up to the full authorization of $500,000,000.

The revolving fund authorized by the act now consists of the appropriations already made of $250,000,000 and the amounts returned to the fund through the repayment of loans and payments of interest. As of December 13, 1930, the board had made commitments against the fund totaling $376,013,974.40, under which moneys have been advanced totaling $338,996,508.71. The balance in the revolving fund as of that date was $39,128,197.67, of which $37,017,465.69 was obligated by commitments approved by the board and the free balance available for new commitments was only $2,110,731.98.

The board has pending before it now applications totaling slightly in excess of $150,000,000. This sum includes the loans applied for by both the cotton and grain stabilization corporations and also includes bank obligations against stabilization commodities consisting of approximately $29,000,000 on account of wheat and $49,000,000 on account of cotton, a part of which bank loans the board expects to pay off from time to time.

There was outstanding as of the date of December 13, 1930, in loans $212,976,374.05. There will be some repayments of principal and interest to the revolving fund between now and July 1, next, under these loans and also some similar repayments from loans to be made between now and July 1, all of which proceeds will be covered into the revolving fund for the making of new loans.

The committee is of the opinion, based upon the best estimate of the representatives of the board who appeared, that the appropriation made herein, namely, $150,000,000, together with the repayments to be made to the revolving fund in the next six months will be sufficient to carry on the operations authorized by the act until July 1, next, when the additional appropriation should become available in the independent offices appropriation act for the fiscal year 1932.

There is included in the hearings on this bill a statement, by commodities, showing the amounts of commitments approved, commitments canceled, net commitments, advances, repayments, balances outstanding, and balances of commitments available for advance, in connection with all loans made by the Federal Farm Board under the provisions of the agricultural marketing act, as of November 30, 1930. In view of the very small free balance in the revolving fund and the obligations and duties which the Federal Farm Board is called upon to perform under the provisions of the act, it is recommended that the appropriation carried in the accompanying bill should have immediate and favorable action by the House.

CONTINGENT FUND OF THE HOUSE

DECEMBER 18, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. Wood, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. J. Res. 444]

The Committee on Appropriations, to which was referred House Joint Resolution No. 444, making an appropriation to supply a deficiency in the appropriation for the fiscal year 1931 for expenses of special and select committees of the House, reports the same without amendment and with a favorable recommendation.

The amount recommended to be appropriated is $45,000 to be expended for expenses of special and select committees which have been authorized by the House of Representatives. The current appropriation for this purpose is $60,000, which sum has been practically exhausted. In order that the special committees which the House has authorized may not be hampered by lack of funds and may be in a position to pay their bills promptly the committee recommends that the appropriation recommended in the accompanying joint resolution should have immediate and favorable action by the House.

O

DISPOSITION OF UNPLATTED PORTIONS OF GOVERNMENT TOWN SITES ON IRRIGATION PROJECTS

DECEMBER 18, 1930.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. LEAVITT, from the Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 14056]

The Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 14056) to amend the act approved March 2, 1929, entitled "An act to authorize the disposition of unplatted portions of Government town sites on irrigation projects under the reclamation act of June 17, 1902, and for other purposes," having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with the following amendment:

Page 2, line 6, strike out "or" and insert in lieu "on".

The purpose of the committee amendment is to correct a typographical error made in the printing of the bill under consideration. The purpose of the measure, which has the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, is to extend to purchasers of unplatted portions of Government town sites on irrigation projects the same terms with regard to time of payment as are allowed purchasers of platted portions. Discretion on the part of the Secretary of the Interior as to time of payment is provided.

The only change in the section (sec. 1, act of March 2, 1929, 45 Stat. L. 1522; U. S. C., Supp. III, title 43, sec. 571) is to substitute "under such terms as to time of payment as he may require" for the words "for cash" Otherwise the act remains unchanged. Enactment of this measure will make the section read as follows:

Be it

enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of ized, in his discretion, to appraise, and sell, at public auction, to the highest bidder, America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorfrom time to time, [for cash,] under such terms as to time of payment as he may require, any or all of the unplatted portions of Government town sites created under the act of April 16, 1906 (Thirty-fourth Statutes, page 116), on any irrigation project constructed under the act of June 17, 1902 (Thirty-second Statutes,