DISPOSITION OF EXECUTIVE PAPERS

FEBRUARY 5, 1945.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. ELLIOTT, from the Joint Committee on the Disposition of Executive Papers, submitted the following

REPORT

The joint select committee of the Senate and House of Representatives appointed on the part of the Senate and House of Representatives, and acting in compliance with the provisions of the act approved July 7, 1943 (57 Stat. 380), respectfully reports to the Senate and House of Representatives that it has received and examined the report of the Archivist of the United States No. 45-22, dated January 29, 1945, to the Seventy-ninth Congress, first session, submitting the following lists or schedules, or parts of lists or schedules, covering records proposed for disposal by the Government agencies indicated:

the said lists or

Your committee reports that the records proposed for disposal in the Archivist of the United States do not, or will not after the lapse of schedules, or parts of lists or schedules, reported by the period specified, have sufficient administrative, legal, research, or other value to warrant their continued preservation by the Government and recommends that their disposal be accomplished, subject to the provisions of section 9 of the aforementioned act, in accordance

with the regulations promulgated by the National Archives Council under the provisions of said act.

Respectfully submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives.

CONTINUING THE COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION

AS AN AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 7, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. SPENCE, from the Committee on Banking and Currency, submitted

the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 2023]

The Committee on Banking and Currency, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2023) to continue the Commodity Credit Corporation as an agency of the United States, increase its borrowing power, revise the basis of annual appraisal of its assets, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

EXPLANATION BY SECTIONS

Section 1 of the bill amends the act of March 8, 1938, so as to provide for an increase from $3,000,000,000 to $5,000,000,000 in the amount of the bonds, notes, debentures, and other similar obligations which the Commodity Credit Corporation is authorized to issue and have outstanding at any one time. This increase in the borrowing power of Commodity Credit Corporation is considered essential in order fully to assure that the Corporation will have ample funds with which to carry out its operations. In this connection it may be noted that in the event of a partial cessation of hostilities in the present war foods for the armed forces and lend-lease a considerable expansion and a curtailment of the purchase of agricultural commodities and will be required in the operations of the Corporation for the purpose of supporting the prices of agricultural commodities in fulfillment of commitments to farmers. section 381 (c) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, which conSection 2 of the bill would substitute for the existing provisions of tains restrictions on the sale of cotton, new provisions which would, for a period of not less than 2 years after the present war, prohibit, with

specified

trolled by the Corporation at less than the parity or comparable price

exceptions, the sale of any farm commodity owned or con

H. Repts., 79-1, vol. 1-14

therefor. Such prohibition against sales of farm commodities below the parity or comparable price therefor and the exceptions thereto are, for the most part, now included as provisos to the Commodity Credit Corporation item (for administrative expense) in the Department of Agriculture Appropriation Act, 1945, and, for a number of years, have been so included in the annual appropriation act for the Department of Agriculture. Section 2 of the bill, if enacted, would render unnecessary the reenactment of these provisions each year in the annual appropriation act. Under the existing provisions of section 381 (c) the Commodity Credit Corporation may not sell cotton held on behalf of the United States unless the proceeds are sufficient to reimburse the United States for all amounts paid out with respect to such cotton, or sell more than 300,000 bales of cotton in any calendar month, or more than 1,500,000 bales in any calendar year. As amended by section 2 of the bill section 381 (c) would, until the end of the 2-year period beginning with the 1st day of January immediately following the date on which hostilities in the present war have terminated, prohibit the Commodity Credit Corporation from selling any farm commodity owned or controlled by it at less than the parity or comparable price therefor, except that this restriction would not apply to the following sales:

(1) Sales for new or byproduct uses. (2) Sales of peanuts for the extraction of oil. (3) Sales for export. (4) Sales for seed or feed, but no wheat or corn may be sold for feed at less than the parity price for corn at the time such sale is made, and, in making regional adjustments in the sale price of corn or wheat for feed the minimum price need not be higher in any area than the United States average parity price for corn. (5) Sales of commodities which have substantially deteriorated in quality or of nonbasic perishable commodities where there is danger of loss or waste through spoilage. (6) Sales for the purpose of establishing claims against persons who have committed fraud, misrepresentation, or other wrongful acts with respect to the commodity. The method that is now used for the purposes of Commodity Credit Corporation loans for determining the parity price or its equivalent for %-inch Middling cotton at the average location used in fixing the base loan rate for cotton must also be used for determining the parity for %-inch Middling cotton at such average location for the purposes of the prohibition against sales of cotton below parity.

The exceptions to the prohibition against sales of farm commodities below the parity or comparable price contained in section 2 of the bill which are not contained in or differ in any substantial respect from the exceptions contained in the Commodity Credit Corporation item in the Department of Agriculture Appropriation Act, 1945, are those relating to sales of nonbasic perishable commodities, sales to establish claims against persons who have committed wrongful acts with respect to the commodity being sold, and sales for export. The appropriation item permits the sale of perishable fruits and vegetables if there is danger of deterioration or accumulation of stocks. Section 2 of the bill, as noted above, permits the sale of any nonbasic perishable commodity if there is danger of waste or loss through spoilage. The appropriation item does not contain an exception permitting sales of commodities in order to establish claims against persons who have committed wrongful acts with respect to the commodity. Also the appropriation item does not contain an exception for sales for export.

The exception of sales for export is consistent with section 21 (c) of the Surplus Property Act of 1944, which authorizes Commodity Credit Corporation to make sales for export at competitive world prices.

Section 3 of the bill makes it clear that the last paragraph of section 2 (e) of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended by the Stabilization Extension Act of 1944 (which, if the Price Control Act is further extended in its present form, would prohibit the payment directly or indirectly of subsidies after June 30, 1945) is not to apply to operations of the Commodity Credit Corporation designed to support prices or obtain production of agricultural commodities. Section 3 also permits the continued absorption of abnormal costs in connection with the transportation of agricultural commodities and foods which have resulted from the war emergency. Section 3 of the bill would permit the continuation after June 30, 1945, of all operations of the character now being carried out by Commodity Credit Corporation, involving the making of subsidy payments or the absorption of losses through the purchase of commodities for resale at a loss, such as the operations of the Commodity Credit Corporation with respect to fruits for processing, vegetables for processing, dry edible beans, soybeans, peanuts, Cheddar cheese, fluid milk, shortening, peanut butter, feed wheat, and the dairy production payment program. These operations are all designed to support the price or obtain the production of agricultural commodities, the making of the subsidy payment or the absorption of the loss being for the purpose of supporting prices and obtaining production without an increase in price ceilings established pursuant to the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended and supplemented.

Section 4 of the bill provides for a revision in the date and basis of the annual appraisal of the assets and liabilities of the Commodity Credit Corporation by the Treasury. The appraisal date is changed from March 31 of each year to June 30, the close of the fiscal year, thus putting the appraisal on a fiscal-year basis. The section also changes the basis of the valuation of the assets to the cost or average market price during the last month of the fiscal year, whichever is lower. The present basis is the average market price for a 12-month period or cost, including not more than 1 year of carrying charges, whichever is lower. The revision made by section 4 will simplify the appraisal, give a more accurate indication of the financial condition of the Corporation as of the date of the appraisal, and facilitate the use in making the appraisal of the report of the Comptroller General's audit, which is on a fiscal-year basis. Section 4 is substantially the same as section 1 of H. R. 3477, which was passed by both Houses of the Seventy-eighth Congress, second session, but which was, because of its provisions relating to subsidies, vetoed by the President.

Section 5 of the bill extends the life of the Commodity Credit Corporation as an agency of the Government through June 30, 1947, or such earlier date as may be fixed by the President by Executive order.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, as introduced, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be