AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL FARM LOAN ACT

JANUARY 20, 1932.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. STEAGALL, from the committee of conference, submitted the following

CONFERENCE REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6172]

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. 6172) to amend the Federal farm loan act, as amended, to provide for additional capital for Federal land banks, and for other purposes, having met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend, and do recommend, to their respective Houses as follows:

That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendments of the Senate numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, and 30, and agree to the

same.

Amendment numbered 16:

That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate numbered 16, and agree to the same with an amendment as follows:

On page 3 of the Senate engrossed amendments, line 14, insert before the word "Farm" the word Federal; and the Senate agree to the same.

Amendment numbered 28:

That the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate numbered 28, and agree to the same with an amendment as follows:

In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the Senate amendment insert:

Sec. 5. Section 13 of the Federal Farm Loan Act, as amended (U. S. C., title 12, ch. 7, sec. 781), is amended by adding at the end thereof a new paragraph to read as follows:

"Tenth. When in the judgment of the directors conditions justify it, to extend, in whole or in part, any obligation that may be or become unpaid

under the terms of any mortgage, and to accept payment of any such obligation during a period of five years or less from the date of such extension in such amounts as may be agreed upon at the date of making such extension. The sum of $25,000,000 of the amount authorized to be appropriated under section 5 of this Act, as amended, shall be used exclusively for the purpose of supplying any bank with funds to use in its operations in place of any amounts of which such bank may be deprived by reason of extensions made as provided in this paragraph" and a period; and on page 2, lines 10 and 11 of the House bill, strike out "$100,000,000" and insert in lieu thereof $125,000,000; and the Senate agree to the same.

H. B. STEAGALL,

C. H. BRAND,

W. F. STEVENSON,

L. T. MCFADDEN,
JAMES G. STRONG,

Managers on the part of the House.

PETER NORBECK,

FREDERICK STEIWER,

ROBERT D. CAREY,

DUNCAN U. FLETCHER,

ALBEN W. BARKLEY,

Managers on the part of the Senate.

The managers on the part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. 6172) to amend the Federal farm loan act, as amended, to provide for additional capital for Federal land banks, and for other purposes, submit the following written statement in explanation of the effect of the action agreed upon by the conferees and recommended in the accompanying conference report.

The following amendments make clerical changes and the House recedes: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30.

Amendment No. 1: This amendment was made in order to remove any doubt as to the applicability of certain provisions of existing law to the Federal land bank stock for which the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to subscribe under the House bill. Without the amendment, the sixth paragraph of section 5 of the Federal farm loan act might be interpreted to require 25 per cent of all amounts received by any such bank from stock subscriptions by the Secretary of the Treasury to be applied to the retirement of its original capital stock. The House recedes.

Amendment No. 2: This amendment is formal only and was made. necessary by Amendment No. 1. The House recedes.

Amendment No. 3: This amendment provides that the Federal land bank stock subscribed for by the Secretary of the Treasury shall be nonvoting; and the House recedes.

Amendment No. 7: The House bill provided that the Federal Farm Loan Board might require the Federal land bank stock subscribed for by the Secretary of the Treasury to be paid off and retired "out of available resources of the bank." Under this provision, if a question were raised as to the availability of the bank's resources for such purposes, it would have to be determined ultimately by the courts The Senate amendment in effect provides that the Federal Farm Loan Board is to determine if the bank has resources available for paying off and retiring such stock. Under the amendment the findings of the board would undoubtedly be upheld unless they were arbitrary or unreasonable. The House recedes.

Amendment No. 10: This amendment provides that the provisions of the House bill relating to the reserve requirements of Federal land banks shall become effective on July 1, 1932; and the House recedes. Amendmen No. 11: This amendment was made necessary by Amendment No. 10; and the House recedes.

Amendment No. 15: This amendment is a clarifying amendment and the policy is the same as in the House bill; and the House recedes. Amendment No. 16: This amendment in effect provides that dividends declared by joint stock land banks shall be subject to the approval of the Federal Farm Loan Board; and the House recedes. Amendment No. 18: This amendment provides that the effective date of the provisions of the bill relating to the reserve requirements of national farm loan associations shall be July 1, 1932; and the House recedes.

Amendments Nos. 21 and 22: The House bill provided that 20 per cent of the net earnings of every national farm loan association should

be semiannually carried to reserve account until the reserve account should be equal to the outstanding capital stock of the association. The Senate amendments provide that 10 per cent of the net earnings of every such association shall semiannually be carried to reserve account until the account is equal to the 25 per cent of the outstanding capital stock of the association. The House recedes.

Amendments Nos. 23 and 27: These amendments were made necessary by amendments Nos. 22 and 21, respectively; and the House recedes.

Amendment No. 28: The House bill provided by an amendment to section 25 of the Federal farm loan act, as amended (relating to defaulted loans), that Federal land banks were authorized, when in the judgment of their directors conditions justified it, to extend for five years or less the time for the payment by borrowers of their unpaid installments upon mortgages held by the banks. The repayment of the extended installments was to be made in equal amounts in addition to the regular installments to become due during the period of extension. The Senate amendment transfers the substance of the provisions of the House bill to section 13 of such act (relating to the powers of Federal land banks). It also provides that the power of extension is to apply to all unpaid obligations of the borrowers from the banks under the terms of a mortgage instead of installments but that the power is not to be exercised without the consent of the farm loan association through which the loan was made. Repayment is to be made in such amounts as may be agreed upon at the time of making the extension. The amendment also provides for an additional stock issue of $25,000,000 to be subscribed for by the Secretary of the Treasury and to be used exclusively for supplying the banks with funds to use in place of the amounts of which they are deprived by reason of such extensions. It is further provided that this is not to be construed as a limitation upon the use by the bank of funds otherwise available and certain factors are specified which the directors of the banks must consider in making the extensions.

The House recedes with an amendment which leaves the text as a part of section 13 of the Federal farm loan act, as amended, but which eliminates the language of the Senate amendment (1) requiring the consent of the farm loan associations before extensions are made, (2) relating to the use by the banks of funds otherwise available, and (3) specifying the factors to be considered by the directors of the banks in making extensions. Also by increasing by $25,000,000 the amount authorized to be appropriated under section 2 of the bill for the stock subscription, the language of the Senate amendment relating to the additional stock issue becomes unnecessary, and consequently it is merely stated that the $25,000,000 shall be used exclusively in connection with such extensions.

H. B. STEAGALL,

C. H. BRAND,

W. F. STEVENSON,
L. T. MCFADDEN,

JAMES G. STRONG,

Managers on the part of the House.

О

MINIMUM AREA FOR SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK

JANUARY 20, 1932.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. LANKFORD of Georgia, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 4712]

The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred (H. R. 4712) to establish a minimum area for the Shenandoah National Park, for administration, protection, and general development by the National Park Service, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon and recommend that it do pass with the following amendments:

Page 2, line 17, strike out the words "land was" and insert in lieu thereof the words "lands were".

Page 2, line 20, strike out the word "said" and insert in lieu thereof the word "such".

These amendments were suggested by the Secretary of the Interior in his letter of January 8, 1932, addressed to the chairman of the Public Lands Committee of the House of Representatives. This letter expresses the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior and is herein set out in full for the information of the House as follows: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, January 8, 1932.

Hon. JOHN M. EVANS,

Chairman Public Lands Committee,

House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: In response to your request of December 21, for a report on H. R. 4712, entitled "A bill to establish a minimum area for a Shenandoah National Park, for administration, protection, and general development by the National Park Service, and for other purposes, I transmit herewith a memorandum on the subject that has been submitted by the Director of the National Park Service and in which full details regarding the purpose of this legislation are given.

This legislation is considered urgently necessary and I am advised by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget that in so far as the financial program of the President is concerned there would be no objection to its enactment.

HR-72-1-VOL 1-18