In addition, there is authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for each of the ten fiscal years succeeding the first fiscal year for which an appropriation is made under the preceding sentence, a sum not in excess of $50,000,000, and the sums appropriated in pursuance of this authorization shall be available to the Corporation for the purposes of this Act.

(d) The Corporation, including its property, franchise, capital, reserves, surplus, and other funds, and its loans and income, shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States, by any Territory, dependency, or possession thereof, or by any State, county, municipal, or other local taxing authority; except that any real property of the Corporation shall be subject to Territorial, State, county, municipal, and other local taxation to the same extent according to its value as other real property is taxed. Mortgages, notes, and other lien and credit instruments executed to, or held by, the Corporation and any obligations issued or executed by it shall be deemed and held to be instrumentalities of the United States, and as such they and the income derived therefrom shall be exempt from Federal, Territorial, State, county, municipal, and other local taxation. The Corporation, when designated for that purpose by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be a depositary of public money, except receipts from customs, under such regulations as may be prescribed by said Secretary; and may also be employed as a financial agent of the Government; and shall perform all such reasonable duties, as depositary of public money and financial agent of the Government, as may be required of it. The Corporation may also function as an agent of the United States with respect to lands in the public domain to the extent and in the manner prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, or by the Commissioner of the General Land Office with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. The Corporation, with the consent of any board, commission, independent establishment, or executive department of the Government, may avail itself of the use of information, services, facilities, officers, agents, and employees thereof in carrying out the provisions of this Act.

(e) The directors shall have power, without regard to the provisions of other laws applicable to the employment of officers and employees of the United States, to employ and to prescribe the powers and duties of such officers, examiners, attorneys, other experts, and employees and agents as may be necessary to carry out the powers and duties conferred upon the Corporation by this Act, to require bonds of them and fix the penalties thereof, and to dismiss them at pleasure, but the rates of compensation of such officers, examiners, attorneys, other experts, and employees and agents of the Corporation shall not exceed the rates of compensation prescribed for comparable duties by the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. The Corporation shall be entitled to the free use of the United States mails for its official business in the same manner as the executive departments of the Government.

(f) The Comptroller General of the United States is hereby authorized and directed to audit at least once each governmental fiscal year, and at such other times as he may prescribe, the books, records, and accounts of the Corporation. Such audit shall be for the sole purpose of making a report to the President of the United States and the Congress, together with such recommenda tions thereon as the Comptroller General deems advisable.

SEC. 3. (a) The Corporation shall have the power, and it shall be its duty, to establish, and to assist in the establishment of, farms and farm homes, for the purpose of encouraging the ownership of farm homes and improving the situation of farm tenants.

(b) The Corporation shall have power, in order effectively to exercise its functions under subsection (a)—

(1) To construct, maintain, or acquire necessary buildings, improvements. furnishings, equipment, implements and machinery, supplies, facilities, and livestock.

(2) To enter into contracts, to make loans, and to acquire, by purchase, gift, or otherwise, any real or personal property or any interest therein: Provided, That (A) no real property shall be purchased by the Corporation except upon an appraisal by a competent expert, reported in writing and sworn to and filed and preserved for inspection by the Congress, or any authorized committee thereof; (B) no real property shall be purchased by the Corporation at a price in excess of the value as determined by said appraisal; (C) in making an appraisal of farm real property the normal value of the land for agricultural purposes shall be the basis of appraisal and the earning power of said land

shall be a principal factor; (D) no purchases of real property by the Corporation shall be made upon credit or paid for in installments, except that nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the Corporation from acquiring, and making payments on, options to purchase such property; and (E) no real property or interest therein shall be acquired (except for adminstrative purposes) in any county except with the approval of the county committee of that county provided for in subsection (e).

(3) To improve, develop, or maintain any property or interest therein acquired in accordance with paragraph (2) of this subsection.

(4) To sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of any such property or interest therein.

(5) To borrow money: Provided, That no indebtedness shall have maturities in excess of one year, and that the aggregate amount of such indebtedness shall at no time exceed one-fifth of the paid-in capital of the Corporation.

(6) To prescribe, consistently with the provisions of this Act, the terms, covenants and conditions of deeds, leases, and contracts of sale.

(7) To establish and maintain such branch and local offices as it may deem necessary.

(8) To buy and sell bonds of the United States or the bonds of any corporation, which are fully and unconditionally guaranteed both as to interest and principal by the United States.

(9) To exercise all such incidental powers as may be necessary or appropriate to the carrying out of its powers and duties.

(c) The Corporation shall have succession in its corporate name until dissolved by Act of Congress, and shall have power

(1) To sue and be sued in its corporate name in any court of competent jurisdiction, Federal or State.

(2) To adopt and use a corporate seal which shall be judicially noticed. (3) To lease such real estate as may be necessary for the transaction of its business.

(4) To exercise and perform such other powers and duties as may be conferred or imposed upon it by or pursuant to any Act of Congress.

(d) Only natural persons who are farmers or are about to become engaged in farming shall be eligible to receive the benefits of this Act; but no such person shall be eligible if the income from farm property owned by him is sufficient to maintain his family, pay operating expenses and taxes, maintain such property, and discharge the interest and principal payments on any indebtedness secured by a lien on such property. In making available the benefits of the Act, the Corporation shall give preference to applicants who are married or who have dependent families, or who are farm tenants, sharecroppers, farm laborers, or who were recently farm tenants, sharecroppers, or farm laborers. (e) The board of directors shall appoint in each county in which the activities of the Corporation are carried on a committee of three persons, one of whom must be a farmer, one a businessman, and one an experienced credit man, all of whom shall have been bona-fide residents of the county for at least one year immediately prior to the date of their appointment. It shall be the duty of the committee so appointed to certify to the Corporation, under such regulations as the Corporation shall prescribe, those persons within the county in which the committee members reside who, in the opinion of the committee, are likely to meet the obligations which will be required of persons receiving the benefits of this Act; and the Corporation shall not make such benefits available to any person who has not been so certified by the committee. Members of the committee shall receive no compensation for their services, but may be allowed actual and necessary expenses when engaged in the business of the Corporation. SEC. 4. (a) The power of the Corporation, conferred by section 3 (b), to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of real property, when exercised in favor of those persons eligible to receive the benefits of this Act, shall be subject to the following limitations and conditions:

(1) No loan shall be made for the total or partial refinancing of any indebtedness incurred in the acquisition of real property acquired otherwise than from the Corporation.

(2) No title to farm real property shall be transferred by the Corporation to a purchaser until at least 25 per centum of the purchase price has been paid; and no farm real property shall be sold which is not limited in area to the approximate size, as determined by the preceding Federal census, of an average farm in the same locality, or which exceeds in cost the price of property of similar size and value in the same locality.

(3) No real property or interest therein shall be leased by the Corporation for a term in excess of five years and no more than one renewal for a term of five years shall be allowed to any one such lessee, except that the Corporation may lease real property for a period not in excess of ten years, provided an option, to be exercised in accordance with the provisions of the following paragraphs of this subsection, to purchase said property is given to the lessee.

(4) Any lease with an option to purchase shall provide (A) for annual rental payments to the Corporation, during the period of the lease, equal in the aggregate amount to at least 25 per centum of the agreed purchase price, such payments to be credited upon said purchase price in case of the exercise of the option; (B) that the lessee shall be entitled to make prepayments of the annual rental or payments in excess of the total annual rental, which amounts may be credited upon the lessee's obligations to the Corporation as they mature and in the interim invested by the Corporation, for and on behalf of the lessee, in bonds of the United States or bonds which are fully and unconditionally guaranteed both as to principal and interest by the United States; (C) that upon the expiration or termination of the lease the lessee shall be entitled to receive from the Corporation the amount of any payments, plus the income thereon, which have not been credited upon the obligations of the lessee to the Corporation; (D) that the lessee shall, at the time that said 25 per centum of said purchase price has been paid to the Corporation in the form of rental payments or otherwise, as aforesaid, advise the Corporation that he has determined to exercise or not to exercise the option to purchase; and (E) that such lease shall not be assigned or sold without the consent of the Corporation.

(5) Upon the determination by any lessee to exercise his option to purchase real property leased by him as herein provided, or in the case of a sale of real property not involving a lease with an option to purchase, title to said property shall be transferred to the purchaser in accordance with a contract of sale executed by him and the Corporation in accordance with the provisions of this section, and the unpaid balance of the purchase price shall be secured by a first lien on the property sold under said contract of sale.

(6) The interest rate on the unpaid balance of the purchase price shall be the rate of interest charged, at the time the option to purchase is exercised (or at the time of the execution of the contract of sale, in any case not involving a lease with an option to purchase), for direct loans by the Federal land bank of the land-bank district in which the property to be sold is located, and the unpaid balance of the purchase price shall be paid to the Corporation in accordance with amortization schedules prescribed by it, within a period not in excess of forty years from the date upon which the title has been transferred to the purchaser.

(7) Each contract of sale and lien instrument executed as herein provided shall contain a provision that if a voluntary lien is created by the purchaser on any of the property sold, or if the purchaser thereof shall sell or agree to sell such property, or if an involuntary lien is established, the Corporation may declare all unpaid installments of principal and interest to be immediately due and payable.

(8) No real property or any interest therein in any county (except property used for administrative purposes) shall be sold, leased, or otherwise disposed of except with the approval of the county committee of that county provided for in section 3 (e).

(9) No purchaser shall be permitted to resell without the consent of the Corporation any real property purchased from or through the Corporation until his obligations to the Corporation have been fully repaid.

(b) Loans made under the provisions of section 3 (a) of this Act for general agricultural purposes or for acquiring, raising, breeding, or fattening of livestock shall have maturities not exceeding years, and the interest rate on any such loan shall be the rate of interest charged, at the time the loan is made, by the production credit association (organized under the Farm Credit Act of 1933) serving the locality in which the loan is made. Loans made to provide buildings shall be subject to the maturity and interest rate provisions of paragraph (6) of subsection (a). Except in those cases specifically provided for, loans by the Corporation shall have such maturities and shall bear such rates of interest as may be prescribed by the board of directors.

SEC. 5. The jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over persons resident on lands acquired under this Act shall not be changed by reason of such acquisi

tion: Provided, however, That this section shall not be deemed to affect the jurisdiction of the United States to punish offenses against the United States; the intent of this section being that the several States in which such lands are situated shall not, by reason of such acquisition, lose their jurisdiction, nor the inhabitants thereof their rights and privileges as citizens, or be absolved from their duties as citizens, of the respective States.

SEC. 6. The Federal Reserve banks are authorized, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to act as depositaries, custodians, and fiscal agents for the Corporation.

SEC. 7. (a) Whoever makes any material representation, knowing it to be false, or whoever willfully overvalues any property, for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of the Corporation upon any application, advance, discount, purchase, or repurchase agreement, contract of sale, lease, or loan, or any change or extension of any of the same by renewal, deferment of action or otherwise, or the acceptance, release, or substitution of security therefor, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.

(b) Whoever, being connected in any capacity with the Corporation, (1) embezzles, abstracts, purloins, or willfully misapplies any moneys, funds, securities, or other things of value, whether belonging to the Corporation or pledged or otherwise entrusted to it; or (2) with intent to defraud the Corporation, or any other body politic or corporate, or any individual, or to deceive any officer, auditor, or examiner of the Corporation, makes any false entry in any books, report, or statement of, or to, the Corporation or draws any order, or issues, puts forth, or assigns any note or other obligation or draft, mortgage, judgment, or decree thereof; or (3) with intent to defraud the Corporation, participates or shares in or receives directly or indirectly any money, profit, property, or benefits through any transaction, loan, commission, contract, or any other act of the Corporation, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. (c) Whoever willfully shall conceal, remove, dispose of, or convert to his own use or to that of another, any property mortgaged or pledged to, or held by, the Corporation, as security for any obligation, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.

(d) The provisions of sections 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, and 117 of the Criminal Code of the United States (U. S. C., title 18, secs. 202-207, inclusive), insofar as applicable, are extended to apply to contracts or agreements of the Corporation, which for the purposes hereof shall be held to include advances, loans, discounts, purchase and repurchase agreements, contracts of sale, and leases; extensions and renewals thereof; and acceptances, releases, and substitutions of security therefor.

(e) Whoever conspires with another to accomplish any of the acts made unlawful by the preceding provisions of this section shall, on conviction thereof, be subject to the same fine or imprisonment, or both, as is applicable in the case of conviction for doing such unlawful act.

SEC. 8. No officer, attorney, or employee of the Corporation shall, directly or indirectly, be the beneficiary of or receive any fee, commission, gift, or other consideration for or in connection with any transaction or business of the Corporation other than such salary, fee, or other compensation as he may receive from the Corporation. No person, partnership, association, or corporation shall, directly or indirectly, demand or receive any fee, commission, gift, or other consideration from any person entitled to receive the benefits of this Act for services rendered such person in connection with any transaction or business with the Corporation, except in such amounts as may be authorized by regulations prescribed by the Corporation. Any person, partnership, association, or corporation violating the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

SEC. 9. The Corporation is hereby authorized to exercise and perform all of the powers, functions, and duties conferred or imposed upon the Resettlement Administration or its Administrator by Executive Orders Numbered 7027 (April 30, 1935), 7028 (April 30, 1935), 7041 (May 15, 1935), 7143 (August 19, 1935), and 7200 (September 26, 1935). There is hereby transferred to and vested in the Corporation, without regard to the provisions of any Act of Congress relating to the transfer or disposition of personal property of the United States, all the personal property or any interest therein (together with all funds, con

tracts, options, rights, interests, books, papers, memoranda, and records) acquired by or allocated, allotted, or transferred to the Resettlement Administration or its Administrator. The President of the United States is hereby authorized to provide for the transfer, either in whole or in part, to the Corporation or to the Department of Agriculture of the tracts or parcels of real property or any interest therein or appurtenant thereto, which are now under the jurisdiction and control of the Resettlement Administration or the Administrator thereof.

SEC. 10. (a) If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.

(b) The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is hereby reserved.

ANALYSIS OF PROVISIONS OF H. R. 8, INTRODUCED BY MR. JONES AND REFERRED TO THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

(This bill is quite similar to S. 106 introduced by Senator Bankhead and referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.)

Section 1: Entitles the act the "Farmers' Home Act."

Section 2, subsection (a): Establishes the Farmer's Home Corporation, a Federal agency and instrumentality located in the District of Columbia, to be managed by three directors (and, in their absence, by alternates), appointed by the President, one from the Treasury, one from Agriculture, and one from the Farm Credit Administration; the directors will receive no additional compensation for their services as directors; the Corporation is required to report annually to the Congress.

NOTE.-Senator Bankhead's bill (S. 106) provides that the directors shall be the Secretary of Agriculture, the Under Secretary of Agriculture, and the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture; and does not require an annual report.

Subsection (b): Empowers the board of directors to select a chairman and a vice chairman; determines the manner in which the obligations of the Corporation shall be incurred, allowed, and paid; and to adopt bylaws and rules and regulations.

Subsection (c): Fixes the capital of the Corporation at $50,000,000, to be subscribed by the United States, subject to call by the directors; requires the Corporation to issue receipts to the Secretary of the Treasury for payments made for stock subscriptions, which receipts shall evidence the stock ownership of the United States; appropriates not in excess of $50,000,000 for each of the next succeeding 10 years for the purposes of the act.

Subsection (d): Exempts the Corporation from all taxation except upon its real property; provides that mortgages, etc., executed to or held by it shall be deemed Federal instrumentalities; that it may be designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as a depositary of public money and also employed as financial agent of the Government; that it may, as prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior or the Commissioner of the General Land Office, function as an agent of the United States with respect to lands in the public domain; and conditionally entitles it to the use of the services and facilities of Government departments and establishments.

Subsection (e): Authorizes the directors to employ personnel, without regard to the other laws, but provides that the rates of compensation shall not exceed the rates for comparable duties fixed by the Classification Act of 1923; and confers the franking privilege.