by appropriate conversion factors giving the quantity of articles customarily obtained from the processing of each unit of the commodity.

(c) The "tax period" shall mean the period with respect to which the claimant actually paid the processing tax to a collector of internal revenue and shall end on the date with respect to which the last payment was made. The "period before and after the tax" shall mean the twenty-four months (except that in the case of tobacco it shall be the twelve months) immediately preceding the effective date of the processing tax, and the six months, February to July, 1936, inclusive. If during any part of such period the claimant was not in business, or if his records for any part of such period are so inadequate as not to provide satisfactory data on prices paid for commodities purchased or prices received for articles sold, the average prices paid or received by representative concerns engaged in a similar business and similarly circumstanced may with the approval of the Commissioner, where necessary for a fair comparison, be substituted in making the necessary computations. If the claimant was not in business during the entire period before and after the tax, the average margin, during such period, of representative concerns engaged in a similar business and similarly circumstanced, as determined by the Commissioner, shall be used as his average margin for such period.

(d) If the claimant made any purchase or sale otherwise than through an arm's-length_transaction, and at a price other than the fair market price, the Commissioner may determine the purchase or sale price to be that for which such purchases or sales were at that time made in the ordinary course of trade.

(e) Either the claimant or the Commissioner may rebut the presumption established by subsection (a) of this section by proof of the actual extent to which the claimant shifted to others the burden of the processing tax. Such proof may include, but shall not be limited to

(1) Proof that the difference or lack of difference between the average margin for the tax period and the average margin for the period before and after the tax was due to changes in factors other than the tax. Such factors shall include any clearly shown change (A) in the type or grade of article or commodity, or (B) in costs of production. If the claimant asserts that the burden of the tax was borne by him and the burden of any other increased costs was shifted to others, the Commissioner shall determine, from the effective dates of the imposition or termination of the tax and the effective date of other changes in costs as compared with the date of the changes in margin (when margins are computed for weeks, months, or other intervals between July 1, 1931, and August, 1936, in the manner specified in subsection (b)), and from the general experience of the industry, whether the tax or the increase in other costs was shifted to others. If the Commissioner determines that the difference in average margin was due in part to the tax and in part to the increase in other costs, he shall apportion the change in margin between them;

(2) Proof that the claimant modified existing contracts of sale, or adopted a new form of contract of sale, to reflect the initiation,

termination, or change in amount of the processing tax, or at any such time changed the sale price of the article (including the effect of a change in size, package, discount terms, or any other merchandising practice) by substantially the amount of the tax or change therein, or at any time billed the tax as a separate item to any vendee, or indicated by any writing that the sale price included the amount of the tax, or contracted to refund any part of the sale price in the event of recovery of the tax or decision of its invalidity; but the claimant may establish that such acts were caused by factors other than the processing tax, or that they do not represent his practice at other times. If the claimant processed any product in addition to the commodity with respect to the processing of which there was paid or collected an amount as tax for which he claims a refund, and if the Commissioner has reason to believe that the burden of such amount was shifted in whole or in part by means of the transactions relating to such product, the average margin with respect to such product, and articles processed therefrom, shall also be considered, and shall be determined for the tax period applicable to the commodity and for the period before and after the tax in the manner prescribed in subsection (b) of this section. To the extent the Commissioner determines that the average margin with respect to such product was higher during the tax period than it was during the period before and after the tax, it shall be prima-facie evidence that such amount was not borne by the claimant but that it was shifted to others.

SEC. 908. LIMITATIONS ON ALLOWANCE OF CLAIMS AND INTEREST. (a) No claim shall be allowed under this title in an amount less than $10.

(b) No interest shall be allowed by the Commissioner or by any court with respect to any amount paid or collected as tax under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, except with respect to amounts, refund of which is made or allowed under this title.

SEC. 909. LIMITATIONS ON REVIEW.

In the absence of fraud or mistake in mathematical calculation, the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Commissioner upon the merits of any claim presented under this title shall not be subject to review by any other administrative or accounting officer, employee, or agent of the United States.

SEC. 910. LIABILITY OF COLLECTORS.

No collector of internal revenue or customs, or internal revenue or customs officer or employee, shall be in any way liable to any person for any act done by him in the assessment or collection of any amount as tax under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, or for the recovery of any money exacted by or paid to him and paid into the Treasury, in performance of his official duties under the provisions of such Act, or if such collector or officer acted under the direction of the Secretary or other proper officer of the Government.

SEC. 911. INAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN REFUNDS.

The provisions of this title shall not apply to any refund authorized under the provisions of sections 15, 16, or 17 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended and reenacted, or with respect to any articles exported under the provisions of section 317 of the Tariff Act of 1930. No refund shall be made or allowed of any amount paid or collected as tax under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended and reenacted, to the extent that refund or credit with respect to such amount has been made to any person.

SEC. 912. PERIOD NOT EXTENDED.

Any suit or proceeding with respect to any amount paid or collected as tax under the Agricultural Adjustment Act which is barred on the date of enactment of this Act shall remain barred. No claim with respect to any such amount which is barred from allowance at the time of the enactment of this Act shall hereafter be allowed in any amount.

SEC. 913. DEFINITIONS.

When used in this title—

(a) The term "tax" means a tax or exaction denominated a "tax" under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and shall include any penalty, addition to tax, additional tax, or interest applicable to such

tax.

(b) The term "processing tax" means any tax or exaction denominated a "processing tax" under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, but shall not include any amount paid or collected as tax with respect to the processing of a commodity for a customer for a charge or fee. (c) The term "commodity" means any commodity, prior to processing, of a type with respect to the processing of which a processing tax was imposed under the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

(d) The term "article" means the product which is obtained by processing a commodity, and includes the product obtained by further manufacture or by combination with other materials.

(e) The term "refund" includes any recovery, recoupment, set-off, credit, or counterclaim.

(f) The term "Agricultural Adjustment Act" means the Agricultural Adjustment Act as originally enacted and the amendments thereto adopted prior to January 6, 1936.

SEC. 914. AUTHORITY OF COMMISSIONER.

In connection with the establishment of the facts required to be established under this title, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue is hereby authorized, by any officer or employee of the Treasury Department and of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, including the field service, designated by him for that purpose, to examine any books, papers, records, or memoranda which are relevant and material in connection with any claim made pursuant to this title, to require the attendance of the claimant or of any officer or employee of the claimant, or the attendance of any other person having knowledge in the premises, and to take, or cause to be taken, his testimony with reference to any such matter, with power to administer oaths

to such person or persons. It shall be lawful for the Commissioner, or any person designated by him, to summon witnesses to appear before the Commissioner, or before any person designated by him, at a time and place named in the summons, and to produce such books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, or other records as the Commissioner may deem relevant or material, and to give testimony or answer interrogatories, under oath, relating to any claim made pursuant to this title. The provisions of 3174 and 3175 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, shall be applicable with respect to any summons issued pursuant to the provisions of this title. Any witness summoned under this title shall be paid the same fees and mileage as are paid witnesses in the courts of the United States. All information obtained by the Commissioner pursuant to this section shall be available to the Secretary of Agriculture upon written request therefor. Such information shall be kept confidential by all officers and employees of the Department of Agriculture, and any such officer or employee who violates this requirement shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 or to imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, and shall be removed from office.

SEC. 915. SALARIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.

Funds made available to the Secretary of Agriculture by the appropriation for the fiscal year 1936 in section 32 of Public Numbered 320, 74th Congress, approved August 24, 1935, to the extent of the unobligated balance thereof; and by the appropriation in section 12 (a) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, in an amount not in excess of $15,000,000; shall be available until June 30, 1937, for transfer to the Treasury Department for salaries and administrative expenses in carrying out the provisions of this title and of Title IV, including necessary investigative work, and for refunds and payments under Title IV. Such funds shall be available for expenditure by the Secretary of the Treasury for personal services and rent in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, for law books, books of reference, press releases, trade journals, periodicals, and newspapers, for contracting reporting services, printing and paper in addition to allotments under the existing law, travel expenses, for mileage and per diem of witnesses, in lieu of subsistence, payment of which mileage and per diem may be made in advance upon certification of such officer as the Commissioner or the Secretary may designate, and such certification shall be conclusive. In addition to the foregoing, the administrative expenses provided for in this section shall include such miscellaneous expenses as may be authorized or approved by the Commissioner or the Secretary for carrying out the provisions of this title, including witness fees and mileage for experts, notarial fees, or like services, and stenographic work for taking depositions.

SEC. 916. RULES AND REGULATIONS.

The Commissioner shall, with the approval of the Secretary, prescribe such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary to carry out the provisions of this title.

Approved, June 22, 1936, 9 p. m.

[H. R. 7459]

An Act To authorize the appropriation for use by the Secretary of Agriculture of certain funds for wool standards, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for expenditure by the Secretary of Agriculture, for the purposes hereinafter stated, all funds heretofore or hereafter collected by suit, or otherwise, pursuant to appropriations for the completion of the work of the domestic wool section of the War Industries Board, and for enforcing Government regulations for handling the wool clip of 1918 as established by the wool division of said board, pursuant to the Executive order dated December 31, 1918, transferring such work to the Bureau of Markets, now a part of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the Department of Agriculture, and for continuing as far as practicable the distribution among the growers of the wool clip of 1918 of all sums heretofore or hereafter collected or recovered with or without suit by the Government from all persons, firms, or corporations which handled any part of the wool clip of 1918, which he finds it impracticable to distribute among said growers, provided that not to exceed $50,000 may be expended in any fiscal year.

SEC. 2. Said funds may be used for the purpose of acquiring and diffusing among the people of the United States useful information relative to the standardization, grading, preparation for market, marketing, utilization, transportation, handling, and distribution of wool, and of approved methods and practices relative thereto, including the demonstration and promotion of the use of grades for wool in accordance with standards therefor which the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to establish. Said funds may be used for the grading of wool, and for such grading or other service rendered hereunder reasonable fees may be charged, and provided further that hereafter reasonable charges may be made for practical forms of grades for wool.

SEC. 3. The Secretary of Agriculture may make such rules and regulations as he deems advisable for carrying out any of the provisions of this Act. All receipts hereunder shall be deposited in the Treasury to the credit of miscellaneous receipts.

Approved, May 17, 1928.