from time to time designate, or at points which may be conveniently reached therefrom, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, including payment of such fees as will be reasonable and as nearly as may be to cover the cost for the service rendered: Provided, That certificates issued by the authorized agents of the department shall be received in all courts of the United States as prima facie evidence of the truth of the statements therein contained, $175,000; For collecting, publishing, and distributing, by telegraph, mail, or otherwise, timely information on the market supply and demand, commercial movement, location, disposition, quality, condition, and market prices of live stock, meats, fish, and animal products, dairy and poultry products, fruits, and vegetables, peanuts and their products, grain, hay, feeds, and seeds, and other agricultural products, independently and in cooperation with other branches of the Government, State agencies, purchasing and consuming organizations, and persons engaged in the production, transportation, marketing, and distribution of farm and food products, $405,000;

In all, general expenses, $1,769,180.

That hereafter the powers conferred and the duties imposed by law on the Bureau of Markets, Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates, and the Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics of the Department of Agriculture shall be exercised and performed by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.

Approved, May 11, 1922.

[H. R. 7893]

An Act To create a division of cooperative marketing in the Department of Agriculture; to provide for the acquisition and dissemination of information pertaining to cooperation; to promote the knowledge of cooperative principles and practices; to provide for calling advisers to counsel with the Secretary of Agriculture on cooperative activities; to authorize cooperative associations to acquire, interpret, and disseminate crop and market information, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when used in this Act the term "agricultural products" means agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, and dairy products, livestock and the products thereof, the products of poultry and bee raising, the edible products of forestry, and any and all products raised or produced on farms and processed or manufactured products thereof, transported or intended to be transported in interstate and/or foreign

commerce.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to establish a division of cooperative marketing with suitable personnel in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the Department of Agriculture or in such bureau in the Department of Agriculture as may hereafter be concerned with the marketing and distribution of farm products. Such division shall be under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture.

SEC. 3. (a) The division shall render service to associations of producers of agricultural products, and federations and subsidiaries thereof, engaged in the cooperative marketing of agricultural products, including processing, warehousing, manufacturing, storage, the cooperative purchasing of farm supplies, credit, financing, insurance, and other cooperative activities.

(b) The division is authorized

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(1) To acquire, analyze, and disseminate economic, statistical, and historical information regarding the progress, organization, and business methods of cooperative associations in the United States and foreign countries.

(2) To conduct studies of the economic, legal, financial, social, and other phases of cooperation, and publish the results thereof. Such studies shall include the analyses of the organization, operation, financial, and merchandising problems of cooperative associations. (3) To make surveys and analyses if deemed advisable of the accounts and business practices of representative cooperative associations upon their request; to report to the association so surveyed the results thereof; and with the consent of the association so surveyed to publish summaries of the results of such surveys, together with similar facts, for the guidance of cooperative associations and, for the purpose of assisting cooperative associations in developing methods of business and market analysis.

(4) To confer and advise with committees or groups of producers, if deemed advisable, that may be desirous of forming a cooperative

association and to make an economic survey and analysis of the facts surrounding the production and marketing of the agricultural product or products which the association, if formed, would handle or market.

(5) To acquire from all available sources information concerning crop prospects, supply, demand, current receipts, exports, imports, and prices of the agricultural products handled or marketed by cooperative associations, and to employ qualified commodity marketing specialists to summarize and analyze this information and disseminate the same among cooperative associations and others.

(6) To promote the knowledge of cooperative principles and practices and to cooperate, in promoting such knowledge, with educational and marketing agencies, cooperative associations, and others. (7) To make such special studies, in the United States and foreign countries, and to acquire and disseminate such information and findings as may be useful in the development and practice of cooperation.

SEC. 4. The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, in his discretion, to call advisers to counsel with him and/or his representatives relative to specific problems of cooperative marketing of farm products or any other cooperative activity. Any person, other than an officer, agent, or employee of the United States, called into conference, as provided for in this section, may be paid actual transportation expenses and not to exceed $10 per diem to cover subsistence and other expenses while in conference and en route from and to his home.

SEC. 5. Persons engaged, as original producers of agricultural products, such as farmers, planters, ranchmen, dairymen, nut or fruit growers, acting together in associations, corporate or otherwise, in collectively processing, preparing for market, handling, and marketing in interstate and/or foreign commerce such products of persons so engaged, may acquire, exchange, interpret, and disseminate past, present, and prospective crop, market, statistical, economic, and other similar information by direct exchange between such persons, and/or such associations or federations thereof, and/or by and through a common agent created or selected by them. SEC. 6. The Secretary of Agriculture may make such rules and regulations as may be deemed advisable to carry out the provisions of this Act and may cooperate with any department or agency of the Government, any State, Territory, District, or possession, or department, agency, or political subdivision thereof, or any person; and may call upon any other Federal department, board, or commission for assistance in carrying out the purposes of this Act; and shall have the power to appoint, remove, and fix the compensation of such officers and employees not in conflict with existing law and make such expenditure for rent, outside the District of Columbia, printing, telegrams, telephones, books of reference, books of law, periodicals, newspapers, furniture, stationery, office equipment, travel, and other supplies and expenses as shall be necessary to the administration of this Act in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $225,000 to be available for expenditure during the fiscal years

1926 and 1927, and the appropriation of such additional sums as may be necessary thereafter for carrying out the purposes of this Act is hereby authorized.

SEC. 7. That if any provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional or the applicability thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and the applicability of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby, and nothing contained in this Act is intended, nor shall be construed, to modify or repeal any of the provisions of the Act of February 18, 1922 (chapter 57, Fortysecond Statutes at Large, page 388).

Approved, July 2, 1926.

(H. R. 10510]

An Act To prevent the destruction or dumping, without good and sufficient cause therefor, of farm produce received in interstate commerce by commission merchants and others and to require them truly and correctly to account for all farm produce received by them.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That after June 30, 1927, any person, firm, association, or corporation receiving any fruits, vegetables, melons, dairy, or poultry products or any perishable farm products of any kind or character, hereinafter referred to as produce, in interstate commerce, or in the District of Columbia, for or on behalf of another, who without good and sufficient cause therefor, shall destroy, or abandon, discard as refuse or dump any produce directly or indirectly, or through collusion with any person, or who shall knowingly and with intent to defraud make any false report or statement to the person, firm, association, or corporation from whom any produce was received, concerning the handling, condition, quality, quantity, sale or disposition thereof, or who shall knowingly and with intent to defraud fail truly and correctly to account therefor shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $3,000, or by imprisonment for a period of not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. The Secretary of Agriculture shall by regulation provide for the making of prompt investigations and the issuing of certificates as to the quality and condition of produce received in interstate commerce or in the District of Columbia, upon application of any person, firm, association, or corporation shipping, receiving, or financially interested in, such produce. Such regulations shall designate the classes of persons qualified and authorized to make such investigations and issue such certificates, except that any such investigation shall be made and any such certificate shall be issued by at least two disinterested persons in any case where such investigation is not made by an officer or employee of the Department of Agriculture or of any State or political subdivision thereof or of the District of Columbia. A certificate made in compliance with such regulations shall be prima facie evidence in all Federal courts of the truth of the statements therein contained as to the quality and condition of the produce; but if any such certificate is put in evidence by any party, in any civil or criminal proceeding, the opposite party shall be permitted to crossexamine any person signing such certificate, called as a witness at the instance of either party, as to his qualifications and authority and as to the truth of the statements contained in such certificate.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to enforce this Act. It is hereby made the duty of all United States attorneys to prosecute cases arising under this Act, subject to the supervision and control of the Department of Justice.