(b) whether the application contains any materially false or misleading statement or involves any misrepresentation, concealment, or withholding of facts respecting any violation of the Act by any officer, agent, or employee of the applicant. If after investigation the Secretary believes that the applicant should be refused a license, the applicant shall be given an opportunity for hearing within sixty days from the date of the application to show cause why the license should not be refused. If after the hearing the Secretary finds that the applicant is unfit to engage in the business of a commission merchant, dealer, or broker by reason of having prior to the date of the application engaged in any practice of the character prohibited by this Act, or because the application contains a materially false or misleading statement made by the applicant or by its representative on its behalf, or involves a misrepresentation, concealment, or withholding of facts respecting any violation of the Act by any officer, agent, or employee, the Secretary shall refuse to issue a license to the applicant."

SEC. 7. That paragraph (a) of section 5 of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(a) If any commission merchant, dealer, or broker violates any provision of section 2 he shall be liable to the person or persons injured thereby for the full amount of damages sustained in consequence of such violation."

SEC. 8. That paragraph (b) of section 6 of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(b) Any officer or agency of any State or Territory having jurisdiction over commission merchants, dealers, or brokers in such State or Territory and any employee of the United States Department of Agriculture or any interested person may file, in accordance with rules and regulations of the Secretary, a complaint of any violation of any provision of this Act by any commission merchant, dealer, or broker and may request an investigation of such complaint by the Secretary."

SEC. 9. That paragraph (e) of section 6 of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(e) In case a complaint is made by a nonresident of the United States, the complainant shall be required, before any formal action is taken on his complaint, to furnish a bond in double the amount of the claim conditioned upon the payment of costs, including a reasonable attorney's fee for the respondent if the respondent shall prevail, and any reparation award that may be issued by the Secretary of Agriculture against the complainant on any counter claim by respondent: Provided, That the Secretary shall have authority to waive the furnishing of a bond by a complainant who is a resident of a country which permits the filing of a complaint by a resident of the United States without the furnishing of a bond."

SEC. 10. That section 7 of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(a) If after a hearing on a complaint made by any person under section 6, or without hearing as provided in section 6, paragraphs (c) and (d), or upon failure of the party complained against to

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answer a complaint duly served within the time prescribed, or to appear at a hearing after being duly notified, the Secretary determines that the commission merchant, dealer, or broker has violated any provision of section 2, he shall, unless the offender has already made reparation to the person complaining, determine the amount of damage, if any, to which such person is entitled as a result of such violation and shall make an order directing the offender to pay to such person complaining such amount on or before the date fixed in the order;

"(b) If any commission merchant, dealer, or broker does not pay the reparation award within the time specified in the Secretary's order, the complainant, or any person for whose benefit such order was made, may within three years of the date of the order file in the district court of the United States for the district in which he resides or in which is located the principal place of business of the commission merchant, dealer, or broker, or in any State court having general jurisdiction of the parties, a petition setting forth briefly the causes for which he claims damages and the order of the Secretary in the premises. The orders, writs, and processes of the district courts may in these cases run, be served, and be returnable anywhere in the United States. Such suit in the district court shall proceed in all respects like other civil suits for damages, except that the findings and orders of the Secretary shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts therein stated, and the petitioner shall not be liable for costs in the district court, nor for costs at any subsequent state of the proceedings, unless they accrue upon his appeal. If the petitioner finally prevails, he shall be allowed a reasonable attorney's fee, to be taxed and collected as a part of the costs of the suit;

"(c) Either party adversely affected by the entry of a reparation order by the Secretary may, within thirty days from and after the date of such order, appeal therefrom to the district court of the United States for the district in which said hearing was held. Such appeal shall be perfected by the filing of a notice thereof together with a petition in duplicate which shall recite prior proceedings before the Secretary, and shall state the grounds upon which petitioner relies to defeat the right of the adverse party to recover the damages claimed, with the clerk of said court with proof of service thereof upon the adverse party, together with a bond in double the amount of the reparation award conditioned upon the payment of the judgment entered by the court plus interest and costs, including a reasonable attorney's fee for the appellee, if the appellee shall prevail. The clerk of court shall immediately forward a copy thereof to the Secretary of Agriculture, who shall forthwith prepare, certify, and file in said court a true copy of the Secretary's decision, findings of fact, .conclusions, and order in said case, together with copies of the pleadings upon which the case was heard and submitted to the Secretary. Such suit in the district court shall be a trial de novo and shall proceed in all respects like other civil suits for damages, except that the findings of fact and order or orders of the Secretary shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts therein stated. Appellee shall not be liable for costs in said court if appellee prevails he shall be allowed a reasonable attorney's fee to be taxed and collected as a part of his costs. Such petition and pleadings certified by the Secretary upon which decision was made by him shall upon filing in the

district court constitute the pleadings upon which said trial de novo shall proceed subject to any amendment allowed in that court;

"(d) Unless the licensee against whom a reparation order has been issued shows to the satisfaction of the Secretary within five days from the expiration of the period allowed for compliance with such order that he has either taken an appeal as herein authorized or has made payment in full as required by such order his license shall be suspended automatically at the expiration of such five-day period until he shows to the satisfaction of the Secretary that he has paid the amount therein specified with interest thereon to date of payment: Provided, That if on the appeal the appellee prevails or if the appeal is dismissed the automatic suspension of license shall become effective at the expiration of ten days from the date of the judgment on the appeal unless prior thereto the judgment of the court has been satisfied."

SEC. 11. That section 8 of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. 1930, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(a) Whenever (a) the Secretary determines, as provided in section 6, that any commission merchant, dealer, or broker has violated any of the provisions of section 2, or (b) any commission merchant, dealer, or broker has been found guilty in a Federal court of having violated section 14 (b) of this Act, the Secretary may publish the facts and circumstances of such violation and/or, by order, suspend the license of such offender for a period not to exceed ninety days, except that, if the violation is flagrant or repeated, the Secretary may, by order, revoke the license of the offender;

"(b) The Secretary may, after thirty days' notice and an opportunity for a hearing, revoke the license of any commission merchant, dealer, or broker who, after the date given in such notice, continues to employ in any responsible position any individual whose license was revoked or who was responsibly connected with any firm, partnership, association, or corporation whose license has been revoked. Employment of such individual by a licensee in any responsible position after one year following the revocation of any such license shall be conditioned upon the filing by the employing licensee of a bond, in such reasonable sum as may be fixed by the Secretary, or other assurance satisfactory to the Secretary that its business will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this Act:

"(c) If, after a license shall have been issued to an applicant, the Secretary believes that the license was obtained through a false or misleading statement in the application therefor or through a misrepresentation. concealment, or withholding of facts respecting any violation of the Act by any officer, agent, or employee, he may, after thirty days' notice and an opportunity for a hearing, revoke said license, whereupon no license shall be issued to said applicant or any applicant in which the person responsible for such false or misleading statement or misrepresentation, concealment, or withholding of facts is financially interested, except under the conditions set forth in paragraph (b) of section 4.

"(d) In addition to being subject to the penalties provided by section 3 (a) of this Act, any commission merchant, dealer, or broker who engages in or operates such business without a valid and effective license from the Secretary shall be liable to be proceeded

against in any court of competent jurisdiction in a suit by the United States for an injunction to restrain such defendant from further continuing so to engage in or operate such business, and, if the court shall find that the defendant is continuing to engage in such business without a valid and effective license, the court shall issue an injunction to restrain such defendant from continuing to engage in or to operate such business without such license."

SEC. 12. That section 14 of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"(a) The Secretary is hereby authorized, independen dy and in cooperation with other branches of the Government, State, or municipal agencies and/or any person, whether operating in one or more jurisdictions, to employ and/or license inspectors to inspect and certify, without regard to the filing of a complaint under this Act, to any interested person the class, quality, and/or condition of any lot of any perishable agricultural commodity when offered for interstate or foreign shipment or when received at places where the Secretary shall find it practicable to provide such service, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, including the payment of such fees and expenses as will be reasonable and as nearly as may be to cover the cost for the service rendered: Provided, That fees for inspections made by a licensed inspector, less the percentage thereof which he is allowed by the terms of his contract of employment with the Secretary as compensation for his services, shall be deposited into the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts; and fees for inspections made by an inspector acting under a cooperative agreement with a State, municipality, or other person shall be disposed of in accordance with the terms of such agreement: Provided further, That expenses for travel and subsistence incurred by inspectors shall be paid by the applicant for inspection to the United States Department of Agriculture to be credited to the appropriation for carrying out the purposes of this Act: And provided further, That official inspection certificates for fresh fruits and vegetables issued by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to any law shall be received by all officers and all courts of the United States, in all proceedings under this Act, and in all transactions upon contract markets under Commodities Exchange Act (7 U. S. C., Supp. 2, secs. 1 to 17 (a)), as prima-facie evidence of the truth of the statements therein contained;

"(b) Whoever shall falsely make, issue, alter, forge, or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be falsely made, issued, altered, forged, or counterfeited, or willingly aid, cause, procure or assist in, or be a party to the false making, issuing, altering, forging, or counterfeiting of any certificate of inspection issued under authority of this Act, the Produce Agency Act of March 3, 1927 (7 U. S. C., sec. 491-497), or any Act making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture; or shall utter or publish as true or cause to be uttered or published as true any such false, forged, altered, or counterfeited certificate, for a fraudulent purpose, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment for a period of not more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court.

Approved, August 20, 1937.

[CHAPTER 756-1ST SESSION]

[S. J. Res. 207]

JOINT RESOLUTION

Expressing the views of the Congress as to a program for the relief and benefit of agriculture.

Whereas the whole Nation suffers when agriculture is depressed; and Whereas the Nation has felt and still feels the unfavorable economic consequences of two different kinds of misfortune in agriculture; and

Whereas the first of these misfortunes was the ruinous decline in farm prices from 1929 to 1932; and

Whereas the second kind of misfortune was the drought of 1934 followed by the drought of 1936; and

Whereas a permanent farm program should (a) provide not only for soil conservation but also for developing and improving the crop-adjustment methods of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, (b) protect agriculture and consumers against the consequences of drought, and (c) safeguard farmers and the business of the Nation against the consequences of farm-price decline; and Whereas it is the sense of Congress that the permanent farm legislation should be based upon the following fundamental principles:

(1) That farmers are entitled to their fair share of the national income;

(2) That consumers should be afforded protection against the consequences of drought, floods, and pestilence causing abnormally high prices by storage of reserve supplies of big crop years for use in time of crop failure;

(3) That if consumers are given the protection of such an ever-normal granary plan, farmers should be safeguarded against undue price declines by a system of loans supplementing their national soil-conservation program; and

(4) That control of agricultural surpluses above the evernormal granary supply is necessary to safeguard the Nation's investment in loans and to protect farmers against a price collapse due to bumper yields resulting in production beyond all domestic and foreign need.

(5) That the present Soil Conservation Act should be continued, its operations simplified, and provision made for reduced payments to large operators on a graduated scale to promote the interest of individual farming;

(6) That, linked with control of agricultural surpluses, there should be research into new uses for agricultural commodities and the products thereof and search for new uses, new outlets, and new markets, at home and abroad;

(7) That provision should be made for applications to the Interstate Commerce Commission for correction of discriminations now existing against agricultural products in the freightrate schedules.