Chapter 52. To provide further for the national security and defense by stimulating agriculture and facilitating the distribution of agricultural products
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CHAP. 52.— An Act To provide further for the national security and defense by stimulating agriculture and facilitating the distribution of agricultural products. August 10, 1917.[[H. R. 4188](/us/bill/65/hr/4188).][[Public, No. 40](/us/pl/65/40).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That, for the purpose of Agricultural food products, etc.Powers conferred to gather Information, increase supply, etc.more effectually providing for the national security and defense and carrying on the war with Germany by gathering authoritative information concerning the food supply, by increasing production, by preventing waste of the food supply, by regulating the distribution thereof, and by such other means and methods as are hereinafter provided, the powers, authorities, duties, obligations, and prohibitions hereinafter set forth are conferred and prescribed.
Sec. 2. That the Secretary of Agriculture, with the approval of the Investigation of demand, production, distribution, etc., of designated articles.President, is authorized to investigate and ascertain the demand for, the supply, consumption, costs, and prices of, and the basic facts relating to the ownership, production, transportation, manufacture, storage, and distribution of, foods, food materials, feeds, seeds, fertilizers, agricultural implements and machinery, and any article required in connection with the production, distribution, or utilization of food.
It shall be the duty of any person, when requested by Compulsory testimony, etc.the Secretary of Agriculture, or any agent acting under his instructions, to answer correctly, to the best of his knowledge, under oath or otherwise, all questions touching his knowledge of any matter authorized to be investigated under this section, or to produce all books, letters, papers, or documents in his possession, or under his 274Punishment for refusals, false statements, etc.control, relating to such matter.
Any person who shall, within a reasonable time to be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture, not exceeding thirty days from the date of the receipt of the request, willfully fail or refuse to answer such questions or to produce such books, letters, papers, or documents, or who shall willfully give any answer that is false or misleading, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both.
Sec. 3. Seeds for seeding may be bought to sell to farmers.That whenever the Secretary of Agriculture shall find that there is or may be a special need in any restricted area for seeds suitable for the production of food or feed crops, he is authorized to purchase, or contract with persons to grow such seeds, to store them, and to furnish them to farmers for cash, at cost, including the expense of packing and transportation. Sec. 4. Cooperation with States, etc.That the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to cooperate with such State and local officials, and with such public and private agencies, or persons, as he finds necessary, and to make such rules and regulations as are necessary effectively to carry out the preceding sections of this Act.
Sec. 5. Two additional Assistant Secretaries of Agriculture authorized.Duties, pay, etc.Vol. 25, p. 659, amended.That the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, may appoint two additional Assistant Secretaries of Agriculture, who shall perform such duties as may be required by law or prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture, and who shall each be paid a salary of $5,000 per annum. Sec. 6. Cooperation of other agencies, etc., to avoid duplication.That the President is authorized to direct any agency or organization of the Government to cooperate with the Secretary of Agriculture in carrying out the purposes of this Act and to coordinate their activities so as to avoid any preventable loss or duplication of work.
Sec. 7. Meaning of terms used.That words used in this Act shall be construed to import the plural or the singular as the case demands, and the word “person,” wherever used in this Act, shall include individuals, partnerships, associations, and corporations. Sec. 8. Appropriations for specified objects. That for the purposes of this Act, the following sums are hereby Eradicating livestock diseases, etc.appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, available immediately and until June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighteen:
For the prevention, control, and eradication of the diseases and pests of live stock; the enlargement of live-stock Conserving animal products.production; and the conservation and utilization of meat, poultry, dairy, and other animal products, $885,000. Procuring seeds, etc., for sale.For procuring, storing, and furnishing seeds, as authorized by section three of this Act, $2,500,000, and this fund may be used as a revolving fund until June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighteen.
Eradicating insects, plant diseases, etc.For the prevention, control, and eradication of insects and plant diseases injurious to agriculture, and the conservation and utilization of plant products, $441,000. Food conservation demonstrations, etc.For increasing food production and eliminating waste and promoting conservation of food by educational and demonstrational methods, through county, district, and urban agents and others, $4,348,400. Gathering information, market news, preventing waste, etc.For gathering authoritative information in connection with the demand for, and the production, supply, distribution, and utilization of food, and otherwise carrying out the purpose of section two of this Act; extending and enlarging the market news service; and preventing waste of food in storage, in transit, or held for sale; advise concerning the market movement or distribution of perishable Certifying condition of fruits, etc., at central markets.products; for enabling the Secretary of Agriculture to investigate and certify to shippers the condition as to soundness of fruits, vegetables, and other food products, when received at such important central markets as the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time designate and under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe:275 *Provided*, That certificates issued by the authorized agents of the *Provisos*.Effect of certificates.department shall be received in all courts as prima facie evidence of the truth of the statements therein contained; and otherwise carrying out the purposes of this Act, $2,522,000: *Provided further*, That the Women to be employed.Secretary of Agriculture shall, so far as practicable, engage the services of women for the work herein provided for.
For miscellaneous items, including the salaries of Assistant Secretaries Miscellaneous items.appointed under this Act; special work in crop estimating; aiding agencies in the various States in supplying farm labor; enlarging the informational work of the Department of Agriculture; and printing and distributing emergency leaflets, posters, and other publications requiring quick issue or large editions, $650,000. *Provided*, That the employment of any person under the provisions *Proviso*.Employees not exempt from military*Ante*, p. 76.of this Act shall not exempt any such person from military service under the provisions of the selective draft law approved May eighteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen.
It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Agriculture to submit to Report of expenditures.Congress at its regular session in December of each year a detailed report of the expenditure of all moneys herein appropriated. Sec. 9. That the Act of August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and Cattle quarantine, etc., modified.Vol. 26, p. 4 14, amended.*Post*, p. 1048.ninety, entitled “An Act providing for an inspection of meats for exportation, prohibiting the importation of adulterated articles of food or drink, and authorizing the President to make proclamation in certain cases, and for other purposes ” (Twenty-sixth Statutes at Large, page four hundred and fourteen), is hereby amended so as to Tick infested cattle for immediateslaughter may be imported.authorize the Secretary of Agriculture, within his discretion and under such joint regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Treasury, to permit the admission for immediate slaughter at ports of entry of tick-infested cattle which are otherwise free from disease and which have not been exposed to the infection of any other disease within sixty days next before their exportation from Mexico, South and Central America, the islands of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea into Ports to be designated.Vol. 26, pp, 416, 417.those parts of the United States below the southern cattle quarantine line at such ports of entry as may be designated by said joint regulations and also subject to the provisions of sections seven, eight, nine, and ten of said Act of August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety: *Provided*, That the importation of tick-infested cattle from any *Provisos*.Countries excluded.country referred to in this section in which foot-and-mouth disease exists, which existence shall be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, is prohibited: *Provided further*, That all cattle imported Meat inspection requirements to govern.under the provisions of this section shall be slaughtered in accordance with the provisions of the Act of June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and six (Thirty-fourth Statutes at Large, page six hundred and Vol. 34, pp. 674, 1260.seventy-four), commonly called the meat inspection amendment, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder by the Secretary of Agriculture, and that their hides shall be disposed of under Disposition of hides.rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture.
Sec. 10. That section six of the Act of Congress approved June Enlarged homesteads in Idaho.Vol. 36, p. 532, amended.seventeenth, nineteen hundred and ten, “An Act to provide for an enlarged homestead, ” be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: “Sec. 6. That whenever the Secretary of the Interior shall Lands without water for domestic use, to be designated.find any tracts of land in the State of Idaho, subject to entry under this Act, do not have upon them such a sufficient supply of water suitable for domestic purposes as would make continuous residence upon the lands possible ho may, in his discretion, designate such tracts of land, not to exceed in the aggregate one million acres, and thereafter they Area increased.Residence not required.*Provisos*.Amount to be cultivated reduced.shall be subject to entry under this Act without the necessity of residence upon the land entered: *Provided*, That the entryman shall in good faith cultivate not less than one-sixteenth of the entire area of 276the entry which is susceptible of cultivation during the first year of the entry, not loss than one-eighth during the second year, and not less than one-fourth during the third year of the entry and until State residence required.final proof: *Provided further*, That after six months from the date of entry and until final proof the entryman shall be a resident of the State of Idaho.
” Sec. 11. Reclamation Act.Suspension of residence requirement, etc. authorized.Vol. 32, p. 389.That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to suspend during the continuance of this Act that provision of the Act known as the “Reclamation Act” requiring residence upon lands in private ownership or within the neighborhood for securing water for the irrigation of the same, and he is authorized to permit the use of available water thereon upon such terms and conditions as he may deem proper.
Sec. 12. Act to cease after war terminates.That the provisions of this Act shall cease to be in effect when the national emergency resulting from the existing state of war shall have passed, the date of which shall be ascertained and Date.proclaimed by the President: but the date when this Act shall cease to be in effect shall not be later than the beginning of the next fiscal year after the termination, as ascertained ny the President, of the present war between the United States and Germany.
Approved, August 10, 1917.