the date named therein, as the date when the vacation of designation shall take effect. Upon receipt of such notice the Secretary of Agriculture shall forthwith order the vacation of the designation of such board of trade as a contract market, effective upon the day named in the notice, and shall forthwith send a copy of the notice and his order to all other contract markets. From and after the date upon which the vacation became effective, the said board of trade can thereafter be designated again a contract market by making application to the Secretary of Agriculture in the manner herein provided for an original application.

SEC. 9. That the Secretary of Agriculture may make such investigations as he may deem necessary to ascertain the facts regarding the operations of boards of trade and may publish from time to time, in his discretion, the result of such investigation, and such statistical information gathered therefrom, as he may deem of interest to the public, except data and information which would separately disclose the business transactions of any person, and trade secrets or names of customers: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Secretary of Agriculture from making or issuing such reports as he may deem necessary, relative to the conduct of any board of trade, or of the transactions of any person found guilty of violating the provisions of this Act under the proceedings prescribed in section 6 of this Act: Provided further, That the Secretary of Agriculture in any report may include the facts as to any actual transaction. The Secretary of Agriculture, upon his own initiative or in cooperation with existing governmental agencies, shall investigate marketing conditions of grain and grain products, and by-products, including supply and demand for these commodities, cost to the consumer, and handling and transportation charges. He shall likewise compile and furnish to producers, consumers, and distributors, by means of regular or special reports, or by such methods as he may deem most effective, information respecting the grain markets, together with information on supply, demand, prices, and other conditions, in this and other countries that affect the markets. SEC. 10. That any person who shall fail to evidence any such contract by a memorandum in writing, or to keep the record, or make a report, or who shall fail to pay the tax, as provided in sections 4 and 5 hereof, or who shall fail to pay the tax required in section 3 hereof, shall pay in addition to the tax a penalty equal to 50 per centum of the tax levied against him under this Act and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

SEC. 11. That if any provision of this Act or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and of the application of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

SEC. 12. That no tax shall be imposed by this Act within four months after its passage, and no fine, imprisonment, or other penalty shall be enforced for any violation of this Act occurring within four months after its passage.

SEC. 13. The Secretary of Agriculture 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 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 expenditures for rent outside the District of Columbia, printing, telegrams, telephones, law books, books of reference, periodicals, 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, such sums as may be necessary for such purposes.

Approved, August 24, 1921.

[H. R. 11843.]

An Act For the prevention and removal of obstructions and burdens upon interstate commerce in grain, by regulating transactions on grain future exchanges, and for other purposes.

Be in enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. This Act shall be known by the short title of "The Grain Futures Act.

SEC. 2 (a) For the purposes of this ct "contract of sale' shall b held to include sales, agreements of sale, and agreements to sell. The word "person" shall be construed to import the plural or singular, and shall include individuals, associations, partnerships, corporations, and trusts. The word "grain" shall be construed to mean wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, flax, and sorghum. The term "future delivery," as used herein, shall not include any sale of cash grain for deferred shipment or delivery. The words "board of trade" shall be held to include and mean any exchange or association, whether incorporated or unincorporated, of persons who shall be engaged in the business of buying or selling grain or receiving the same for sale on consignment. The act, omission, or failure of any official, agent, or other person acting for any individual, association, partnership, corporation, or trust within the scope of his employment or office shall be deemed the act, omission, or failure of such individual, association, partnership, corporation, or trust, as well as of such official, agent, or other person. The words "interstate commerce" shall be construed to mean commerce between any State, Territory, or possession, or the District of Columbia, and any place outside thereof; or between points within the same State, Territory, or possession, or the District of Columbia, but through any place outside thereof, or within any Territory or possession, or the District of Columbia.

(b) For the purposes of this Act (but not in any wise limiting the foregoing definition of interstate commerce) a transaction in respect to any article shall be considered to be in interstate commerce if such article is part of that current of commerce usual in the grain trade whereby grain and grain products and by-products thereof are sent from one State with the expectation that they will end their transit, after purchase, in another, including, in addition to cases within the above general description, all cases where purchase or sale is either for shipment to another State, or for manufacture, within the State and the shipment outside the State of the products resulting from such manufacture. Articles normally in such current of commerce shall not be considered out of such commerce through resort being had to any means or device intended to remove transactions in respect thereto from the provisions of this Act. For the purpose of this paragraph the word "State" includes Territory, the District of Columbia, possession of the United States, and foreign

nation.

SEC. 3. Transactions in grain involving the sale thereof for future delivery as commonly conducted on boards of trade and known as

"futures" are affected with a national public interest; that such transactions are carried on in large volume by the public generally and by persons engaged in the business of buying and selling grain and the products and by-products thereof in interstate commerce; that the prices involved in such transactions are generally quoted and disseminated throughout the United States and in foreign countries as a basis for determining the prices to the producer and the consumer of grain and the products and by-products thereof and to facilitate the movements thereof in interstate commerce; that such transactions are utilized by shippers, dealers, millers, and others engaged in handling grain and the products and by-products thereof in interstate commerce as a means of hedging themselves against possible loss through fluctuations in price; that the transactions and prices of grain on such boards of trade are susceptible to speculation, manipulation, and control, and sudden or unreasonable fluctuations in the prices thereof frequently occur as a result of such speculation, manipulation, or control, which are detrimental to the producer or the consumer and the persons handling grain and products and byproducts thereof in interstate commerce, and that such fluctuations in prices are an obstruction to and a burden upon interstate commerce in grain and the products and by-products thereof and render regulation imperative for the protection of such commerce and the national public interest therein.

SEC. 4. It shall be unlawful for any person to deliver for transmission through the mails or in interstate commerce by telegraph, telephone, wireless, or other means of communication any offer to make or execute, or any confirmation of the execution of, or any quotation or report of the price of, any contract of sale of grain for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any board of trade in the United States, or for any person to make or execute such contract of sale, which is or may be used for (a) hedging any transaction in interstate commerce in grain or the products or by-products thereof, or (b) determining the price basis of any such transaction in interstate commerce, or (c) delivering grain sold, shipped, or received in interstate commerce for the fulfillment thereof, except

(a) Where the seller is at the time of the making of such contract the owner of the actual physical property covered thereby, or is the grower thereof, or in case either party to the contract is the owner or renter of land on which the same is to be grown, or is an association of such owners, or growers of grain, or of such owners or renters of land; or

(b) Where such contract is made by or through a member of a board of trade which has been designated by the Secretary of Agriculture as a "contract market," as hereinafter provided, and if such contract is evidenced by a record in writing which shows the date, the parties to such contract and their addresses, the property covered and its price, and the terms of delivery: Provided, That each board member shall keep such record for a period of three years from the date thereof, or for a longer period if the Secretary of Agriculture shall so direct, which record shall at all times be open to the inspection of any representative of the United States Department of Agriculture or the United States Department of Justice.

SEC. 5. The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to designate any board of trade as a "contract market”

when, and only when, such board of trade complies with and carries out the following conditions and requirements:

(a) When located at a terminal market where cash grain of the kind specified in the contracts of sale of grain for future delivery to be executed on such board is sold in sufficient volumes and under such conditions as fairly to reflect the general value of the grain and the differences in value between the various grades of such grain, and where there is available to such board of trade official inspection service approved by the Secretary of Agriculture for the purpose.

(b) When the governing board thereof provides for the making and filing by the board or any member thereof, as the Secretary of Agriculture may direct, of reports in accordance with the rules and regulations, and in such manner and form and at such times as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture, showing the details and terms of all transactions entered into by the board, or the members thereof, either in cash transactions consummated at, on, or in a board of trade, or transactions for future delivery, and when such governing board provides, in accordance with such rules and regulations, for the keeping of a record by the board or the members of the board of trade, as the Secretary of Agriculture may direct, showing the details and terms of all cash and future transactions entered into by them, consummated at, on, or in a board of trade, such record to be in permanent form, showing the parties to all such transactions, including the persons for whom made, any assignments or transfers thereof, with the parties thereto, and the manner in which said transactions are fulfilled, discharged, or terminated. Such record shall be required to be kept for a period of three years from the date thereof, or for a longer period if the Secretary of Agriculture shall so direct, and shall at all times be open to the inspection of any representative of the United States Department of Agriculture or United States Department of Justice.

(c) When the governing board thereof provides for the prevention of dissemination by the board or any member thereof, of false or misleading or knowingly inaccurate reports concerning crop or market information or conditions that affect or tend to affect the price of grain in interstate commerce.

(d) When the governing board thereof provides for the prevention of manipulation of prices or the cornering of any grain by the dealers or operators upon such board.

(e) When the governing board thereof does not exclude from membership in, and all privileges on, such board of trade, any duly authorized representative of any lawfully formed and conducted cooperative association of producers having adequate financial responsibility which is engaged in cash grain business, if such association has complied, and agrees to comply, with such terms and conditions as are or may be imposed lawfully on other members of such board: Provided, That no rule of a contract market shall forbid or be construed to forbid the return on a patronage basis by such cooperative association to its bona fide members of moneys collected in excess of the expense of conducting the business of such association.

(f) When the governing board provides for making effective the final orders or decisions entered pursuant to the provisions of para graph (b) of section 6 of this Act.