Volume 49 · 930
Public Law 74–778
Authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to make an investigation with respect to agricultural income and the financial and economic condition of agricultural producers generally.
Approved August 27, 1935
Statutory text
JOINT RESOLUTION
Authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to make an investigation with respect to agricultural income and the financial and economic condition of agricultural producers generally.
Whereas the decline in agricultural income and the unsatisfactory
Agricultural income, etc., investigation.
Preamble.
condition of agriculture and of those engaged therein is a matter of increasing concern to the Congress, and affects the general welfare of the Nation and its citizens; and
Whereas in recent years the agricultural income has decreased while the earnings and profits of concerns processing or dealing in certain lines of farm products have increased or declined only moderately; and
Whereas there has developed an increasingly large proportionate spread between the prices received by the farmer for his products and the prices paid therefor by the consumer; and
Whereas, according to the latest statistics of income published by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, twenty-two large corporations reported making over 45 per centum of the gross sales of all corporations engaged in the processing and manufacture of food products in 1931, and one hundred and two large corporations reported making GO per centum of the gross sales of such corporations; and
Whereas it is charged that monopolistic, oppressive, and unfair methods and practices of various middlemen, warehousemen, processors, manufacturers, packers, and handlers are in whole or in part responsible for the conditions above described, and that wasteful and uneconomic methods have contributed toward bringing about these conditions; and
Whereas it is charged that said various middlemen, warehousemen, processors, manufacturers, packers, handlers, and others have violated the various antitrust laws of the United States, that they lave burdened, restricted and restrained interstate and foreign commerce and adversely affected the volume and price of farm products moving in intrastate and foreign commerce; and
Whereas it is charged that many lines of processing, warehousing, and/or dealing in farm products are so dominated by a handful of large concerns as to impede the free flow of interstate and foreign commerce to the detriment of both the farmer and the consumer; and
Whereas it is charged that through the payment of high and excessive salaries and other devices said middlemen, warehousemen, processors, manufacturers, packers, and others escape just taxation by the United States, that said salaries tend unduly to diminish the tax revenues of the United States and tend to burden and restrain interstate and foreign commerce in farm products, and to divert and conceal the earnings and profits of the concerns paying said salaries, and that by various devices those receiving said salaries escape their just share of Federal taxation; and
Whereas it is believed that the Congress should consider whether new legislation should be enacted or existing legislation amended on any of the subjects hereinbefore described and in aid thereof should be informed on all of said subjects: Therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Federal Trade Commission is hereby authorized and directed to investigate and report, at the next session of Congress—
First.
The extent of the decline in agricultural income in recent years, including the amount and percentage of such decline;
The extent of the increases or decreases in recent years in the income of the principal corporations engaged in the sale, manufacturing, warehousing and/or processing of the principal farm products, and of the other principal sellers, manufacturers, warehousemen, and/or processors of the principal farm products, as compared with the decline in agricultural income, including the amount and percentage of such changes; and
The proportion of total consumer cost of representative products manufactured or processed from the principal farm products which is represented by the proceeds received by (a) the farmer, (b) the manufacturers, processors, and warehousemen, and (c) the distributors and such principal farm products and such representative products manufactured therefrom.
Second.
The financial position of the principal corporations engaged in the manufacturing, processing warehousing, distribution, and marketing of the representative major products manufactured from such principal farm products, including—
The capitalization and assets of such corporations and the means and sources of the growth of such capitalization and assets;
The investment, costs, profits, and rates of return of such corporations;
The salaries of the officers of such companies; and
The extent to which said corporations avoid income taxes, if at all, and the extent to which officers receiving such salaries paid income taxes thereon.
Third.
The extent of concentration of control and of monopoly
Extent of control and monopoly in processing, etc., farm products.
in the manufacturing, processing, warehousing, distribution, and marketing of representative major farm products which is maintained or has been obtained by any corporation or other organization, including—
Methods and devices used by such corporations for obtaining and maintaining their control or monopoly of the manufacturing, marketing, processing, warehousing, and distribution of such commodities, and the proportion of any such major farm commodity handled by each of the large units involved; and
The extent to which fraudulent, dishonest, unfair, and injurious methods are employed in the grading, warehousing, and transportation of such farm products, including combinations, monopolies, price fixing, and manipulation of prices on the commodity exchanges.
Fourth.
The extent to which the cooperative agencies have entered
Extent of cooperative agencies.
into the processing, warehousing, and marketing of representative major farm products and the general effects of such cooperative agencies upon the producer and consumer.
Fifth.
The extent to which other countries have adopted or
Studies of foreign policies.
promoted processing, warehousing, and marketing agencies of a public, quasi-public, or cooperative sort for the simplification and cheapening of the processing, warehousing, and marketing of agricultural products, and other administrative agencies which may have been set up for the protection of the farmer-producer and the consumer.
Sixth.
Any conclusions and/or recommendations with regard to
Recommendations.
increasing the income of farm producers or other recommendations with regard to the improvement of the economic position of farmers or consumers growing out of the inquiry.
Sec. 2.
The Department of Agriculture, the National Recovery
Agencies to cooperate.
Administration, the Department of Justice, and other agencies of the Government are directed to cooperate with the Commission in such inquiry to the fullest extent possible.
Sec. 3.
For the purposes of this resolution the Federal Trade
Power to obtain data, etc.
Commission shall have the same right to obtain data and to inspect income-tax returns as the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives or the Committee on Finance of the Senate, and to submit any relevant or useful information thus obtained to the Congress or to either House thereof.
Sec. 4.
For the purpose of carrying out this resolution the
Jurisdiction extended.
Vol. 38, p. 717.
U. S. C., p. 514.
Federal Trade Commission, the Attorney General, and the courts of the United States shall have and may exercise all of the powers and jurisdiction severally conferred upon them by the Act entitled “An Act to create a Federal Trade Commission, to define its powers and duties, and for other purposes”, approved September 28, 1914.
Sec. 5.
There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any
Sum authorized for salaries and expenses.
Post, p. 1257.
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $150,000 which shall be available for expenditure, as the Federal Trade Commission may direct, for expenses and all necessary disbursements, including salaries, in carrying out this resolution and prosecuting litigation necessary in aid of the powers conferred hereunder.
Sec. 6.
The Federal Trade Commission is directed to present an
Preliminary and final reports.
interim report to the Congress on January 1, 1936, describing the progress made and the status of its work hereunder, and a final report with recommendations for legislation not later than July 1, 1936.
Approved, August 27, 1935.