omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italics, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): Section 4 of the act of March 8, 1938, as amended (15 U. S. C., 1940 ed., Supp. III, 713a-4): SEC. 4. With the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Commodity Credit Corporation is authorized to issue and have outstanding at any one time, bonds, notes, debentures, and other similar obligations in an aggregate amount not exceeding [$3,000,000,000 $5,000,000,000. Such obligations shall be in such forms and denominations, shall have such maturities, shall bear such rates of interest, shall be subject to such terms and conditions, and shall be issued in such manner and sold at such prices as may be prescribed by the Commodity Credit Corporation, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. Such obligations shall be fully and unconditionally guaranteed both as to interest and principal by the United States, and such guaranty shall be expressed on the face thereof, and such obligations shall be lawful investments and may be accepted as security for all fiduciary, trust, and public funds the investment or deposit of which shall be under the authority or control of the United States or any officer or officers thereof. In the event that the Commodity Credit Corporation shall be unable to pay upon demand, when due, the principal of, or interest on, such obligations, the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to the holder the amount thereof which is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and thereupon to the extent of the amount so paid the Secretary of the Treasury shall succeed to all the rights of the holders of such obligations. The Secretary of the Treasury, in his discretion, is authorized to purchase any obligations of the Commodity Credit Corporation issued hereunder, and for such purpose the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to use as a public-debt transaction the proceeds from the sale of any securities hereafter issued under the Second Liberty Bond Act, as amended, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under such Act, as amended, are extended to include any purchases of the Commodity Credit Corporation's obligations hereunder. The Secretary of the Treasury may at any time sell any of the obligations of the Commodity Credit Corporation acquired by him under this section. All redemptions, purchases, and sales by the Secretary of the Treasury of the obligation of the Commodity Credit Corporation shall be treated as public-debt transactions of the United States. No such obligations shall be issued in excess of the assets of the Commodity Credit Corporation, including the assets to be obtained from the proceeds of such obligations, but a failure to comply with this provision shall not invalidate the obligations or the guaranty of the same. The Commodity Credit Corporation shall have power to purchase such obligations in the open market at any time and at any price. Section 381 (c) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended (7 U. S. C., 1940 ed., 1381 (c)): SEC. 381. * (c) [The Commodity Credit Corporation is authorized on behalf of the United States to sell any cotton of the 1937 crop so acquired by it, but no such cotton or any other cotton held on behalf of the United States shall be sold unless the proceeds of such sale are at least sufficient to reimburse the United States for all amounts (including any price-adjustment payment) paid out by any of its agencies with respect to the cotton so sold. After July 31, 1939, the Commodity Credit Corporation shall not sell more than three hundred thousand bales of cotton in any calendar month, or more than one million five hundred thousand bales in any calendar year. The proceeds derived from the sale of any such cotton shall be used for the purpose of discharging the obligations assumed by the Commodity Credit Corporation with respect to such cotton, and any amounts not expended for such purpose shall be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.] During the continuance of the present war and until the expiration of the two-year period beginning with the 1st day of January immediately following the date upon which the President by proclamation or the Congress by concurrent resolution declares that hostilities in the present war have terminated, the Commodity Credit Corporation shall not sell any farm commodity owned or controlled by it at less than the parity or comparable price therefor, except that the foregoing restriction shall not apply to (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: Provided, That no wheat or corn shall be sold for feed at less than parity price for corn at the time such sale is made: And, provided further, That 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; or (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 7/8-inch Middling cotton at the average location used in firing the base loan rate for cotton shall also be used for determining the parity price for %-inch Middling cotton at such average location for the purposes of this section. Section 1 of the act of March 8, 1938, as amended (15 U. S. C., 1940 ed., Supp. III, 713a-1): SECTION 1. [As of the 31st of March in each year and as soon as possible thereafter, beginning with March 31, 1938, an appraisal of all the assets and liabilities of the Commodity Credit Corporation for the purpose of determining the net worth of the Commodity Credit Corporation shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury. The value of assets shall, insofar as possible, be determined on the basis of the cost, including not more than one year of carrying charges, of such assets of the Corporation, or the average market prices of such assets for a period of twelve months ending with March 31 of each year, whichever is less, and a report of any such appraisal shall be submitted to the President as soon as possible after it has been made.] As of the 30th of June in each year and as soon as possible thereafter, beginning with June 30, 1945, an appraisal of all of the assets and liabilities of the Commodity Credit Corporation for the purpose of determining the net worth of the Commodity Credit Corporation shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury. The value of assets shall be determined on the basis of the cost of such assets to the Commodity Credit Corporation, or insofar as practicable, the average market price of such assets during the last month of the fiscal year covered by the appraisal, whichever is the lower, and a report of any such appraisal shall be submitted to the President as soon as possible after it has been made. In the event that any such appraisal shall establish that the net worth of the Commodity Credit Corporation is less than $100,000,000, the Secretary of the Treasury, on behalf of the United States, shall restore the amount of such capital impairment by a contribution to the Commodity Credit Corporation in the amount of such impairment. To enable the Secretary of the Treasury to make such payment to the Commodity Credit Corporation, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated annually, commencing with the fiscal year 1938, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an amount equal to any capital impairment found to exist by virtue of any appraisal as provided herein. Section 7 (a) of the act of January 31, 1935, as amended (15 U. S. C., 1940 ed., Supp. III, 713, as amended by the act of February 28, 1944, Public Law 240, 78th Cong., 2d sess.): SEC. 7. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Commodity Credit Corporation, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware as an agency of the United States pursuant to the Executive order of the President of October 16, 1933, shall continue, until the close of business on [June 30, 1945] June 30, 1937, or such earlier date as may be fixed by the President by Executive order, to be an agency of the United States. During the continuance of such agency, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Governor of the Farm Credit Administration are authorized and directed to continue, for the use and benefit of the United States, the present investment in the capital stock of Commodity Credit Corporation, and the Corporation is hereby authorized to use all its assets, including capital and net earnings therefrom, and all moneys which have been or may hereafter be allocated to or borrowed by it, in the exercise of its functions as such agency, including the making of loans on agricultural commodities: Provided, however, That the Corporation shall at all times maintain complete and accurate books of account and shall determine the procedures to be followed in the transaction of the corporate business. For the information of the House there is set forth below the text of the last paragraph of section 2 (e) of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended by the Stabilization Extension Act of 1944 (Public Law 383, 78th Cong., 2d sess.), which is referred to in section 3 of the bill: After June 30, 1945, neither the Price Administrator nor the Reconstruction Finance Corporation nor any other Government corporation shall make any subsidy payments, or buy any commodities for the purpose of selling them at a loss and thereby subsidizing directly or indirectly the sale of commodities, unless the money required for such subsidies, or sale at a loss, has been appropriated by Congress for such purpose; and appropriations for such purpose are hereby authorized to be made. RELATING TO ESCAPES OF PRISONERS OF WAR AND INTERNED ENEMY ALIENS FEBRUARY 7, 1945.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed Mr. CELLER, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 1525] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1525) relating to escapes of prisoners of war and interned enemy aliens, having considered the same, report the bill favorably to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. In the Seventy-eighth Congress a similar bill was reported favorably and passed by the House of Representatives (H. R. 4108, H. Rept. No. 1371). The purpose of the bill is to make it a criminal offense to procure or to aid in the escape of any prisoner of war or the escape of any person who is interned as an enemy alien, or to render assistance to such person after his escape, knowing him to be such prisoner of war or enemy alien. Punishment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both is provided. GENERAL STATEMENT Existing law makes it a criminal offense for any person to procure the escape of any prisoner in the custody of the Attorney General or confined in any penal or correctional institution pursuant to the direction of the Attorney General (U. S. C., title 18, sec. 753i), as follows: It shall be unlawful for any person to procure the escape of any prisoner properly committed to the custody of the Attorney General or to any penal or correctional institution pursuant to the direction of the Attorney General, or to advise, connive at, aid, or assist in such escape, or to conceal any such prisoner after such escape, and upon conviction in a United States court such person shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three years. The bill would fill a gap in existing law by preventing a person from aiding in the escape of a prisoner of war or a person who is an interned enemy alien. The committee has been advised that there have been quite a number of escaped prisoners of war from time to time. In some instances the escape was facilitated by assistance received from citizens. of the United States or other persons residing in this country. The following letter from the Attorney General recommends enactment of the proposed measure: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, The Honorable the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. From time to time there have been cases of escape of prisoners of war and internees from camps in which they were held. In some of these instances the escape was facilitated by assistance received from civilians. Existing law contains no provision, other than the statute relating to treason, under which a person aiding such an escape may be prosecuted. Present law makes it unlawful for any person to procure the escape of any prisoner in the custody of the Attorney General or confined in any penal or correctional institution pursuant to the direction of the Attorney General (46 Stat. 327; 18 U. S. C. 753i). It seems appropriate that there should be similar legislation in respect to escapes of prisoners of war and interned enemy aliens. Under the Geneva Convention relating to prisoners of war, a prisoner of war who assists another prisoner of war to escape may not be punished criminally (Art. 51: Multilateral Convention-War Prisoners, July 27, 1929, 47 Stat. 2048). The last sentence of the proposed bill makes it clear that this provision of the Geneva Convention would not be superseded. Enclosed is a draft of a bill prepared in the Department of Justice to effectuate the foregoing purpose. The proposed bill is identical with legislation (H. R. 4108, 78th Cong.) suggested by me and passed by the House of Representatives on May 2, 1944. I recommend the enactment of the legislation. I have been advised by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget that this legislation is in accord with the program of the President. Sincerely yours, |