[H. R. 53]

An Act To provide for the collection and publication of statistics of tobacco by the Department of Agriculture.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Agriculture be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to collect and publish statistics of the quantity of leaf tobacco in all forms in the United States, in the possession of dealers, manufacturers, growers' cooperative associations, warehousemen, brokers, holders, or owners, other than the original growers of tobacco. The statistics shall show the quantity of tobacco in such detail as to types and groups of grades as the Secretary of Agriculture shall deem to be practical and necessary for the purposes of this Act, and said statistics shall show the stocks of tobacco of the last four crop years, including therein the production of the year of the report, which shall be known as new crops, separately from the stocks of previous years, which shall be known as old crops, and shall be summarized as of January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 of each year: Provided, That the Secretary of Agriculture shall not be required to collect statistics of leaf tobacco from any manufacturer of tobacco who in the preceding calendar year, according to the returns of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, manufactured less than fifty thousand pounds of tobacco, or from any manufacturer of cigars who during the preceding calendar year manufactured less than two hundred and fifty thousand cigars, or from any manufacturer of cigarettes who, during the preceding calendar year, manufactured less than one million cigarettes, or from any dealer in leaf tobacco who, on the average, had less than fifty thous and pounds in stock at the ends of the four quarters of the preceding calendar year.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish standards for the classification of tobacco. He shall specify the types and groups of grades which shall be included in the returns required by this Act. Such return shall show the quantity of tobacco by such types and groups of grades for new and old crops separately. The Secretary of Agriculture shall prepare appropriate blanks upon which the returns shall be made, and shall, upon request, furnish copies to persons who are required by this Act to make returns.

SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of every dealer, manufacturer, growers' cooperative association, warehouseman, broker, holder, or owner, other than the original grower, except such persons as are excluded by the proviso to section 1 of this Act, to furnish within ten days after January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 of each year, completely and correctly, to the best of his knowledge, a report of the quantity of leaf tobacco on hand, segregated in accordance with the blanks furnished by the Secretary of Agriculture. Any person, firm, association, or corporation required by this Act to furnish a

report, and any officer, agent, or employee thereof who shall refuse or willfully neglect to furnish any of the information required by this Act, or shall willfully give answers that are false or misleading, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $300 or more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

SEC. 4. The word "person "" as used in this Act shall be held to embrace also any partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity.

SEC. 5. The Secretary of Agriculture shall have access to the tobacco records of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and of the several collectors of internal revenue for the purpose of obtaining lists of the persons subject to this Act and for the purpose of aiding the collection of the information herein required, and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the several collectors of internal revenue shall cooperate with the Secretary of Agriculture in effectuating the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 6. The returns herein provided for shall be made under oath before a collector or deputy collector of internal revenue, a postmaster, assistant postmaster, or anyone authorized to administer oaths by State or Federal law.

SEC. 7. That the information furnished under the provisions of this Act shall be used only for the statistical purposes for which it is supplied. No publication shall be made by the Secretary of Agriculture whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment can be identified, nor shall the Secretary of Agriculture permit anyone other than the sworn employees of the Department of Agriculture to examine the individual reports.

SEC. 8. The Act approved April 30, 1912, providing for the collection of tobacco statistics by the Bureau of the Census is hereby repealed.

SEC. 9. If any provision of this Act is declared unconstitutional or the applicability thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and the applicability of such provisions to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

Approved, January 14, 1929.

83294-36- -7

[H. R. 9590]

AN ACT

To amend the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the collection and publication of statistics of tobacco by the Department of Agriculture," approved January 14, 1929.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the collection and publication of statistics of tobacco by the Department of Agriculture," approved January 14, 1929, is amended to read as follows:

That the Secretary of Agriculture be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to collect and publish statistics of the quantity of leaf tobacco in all forms in the United States owned by or in the possession of dealers, manufacturers, quasi-manufacturers, growers' cooperative associations, warehousemen, brokers, holders, or owners, other than the original growers of tobacco. The statistics shall show the quantity of tobacco in such detail as to types and groups of grades as the Secretary of Agriculture shall deem to be practical and necessary for the purpose of this Act, and said statistics shall show the stocks of tobacco of the last four crop years, including therein the production of the year of the report, which shall be known as new crops, separately from the stocks of previous years, which shall be known as old crops, and shall be summarized as of January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 of each year: Provided, That the Secretary of Agriculture shall not be required to collect statistics of leaf tobacco from any manufacturer of tobacco who, in the first three-quarters of the preceding calendar year, according to the returns of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, manufactured less than thirty-five thousand pounds of tobacco, or from any manufacturer of cigars who during the first three-quarters of the preceding calendar year manufactured less than one hundred and eighty-five thousand cigars, or from any manufacturer of cigarettes who, during the first three-quarters of the preceding calendar year, manufactured less than seven hundred and fifty thousand cigarettes." SEC. 2. Section 3 of such Act of January 14, 1929, is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of every dealer, manufacturer, quasimanufacturer, growers' cooperative association, warehouseman, broker, holder, or owner, other than the original grower, except such persons as are excluded by the proviso to section 1 of this Act, to furnish within fifteen days after January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 of each year, completely and correctly, to the best of his knowledge, a report of the quantity of leaf tobacco on hand, segregated in accordance with the blanks furnished by the Secretary of Agriculture. Any person, firm, association, or corporation required by this Act to furnish a report, and any officer, agent, or employee thereof who shall refuse or willfully neglect to furnish any of the information required by this Act, or shall willfully give answers that are false or misleading, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $300 or more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."

Approved, July 14, 1932.

[H.R. 9690]

AN ACT

To place the tobacco-growing industry on a sound financial and economic basis, to prevent unfair competition and practices in the production and marketing of tobacco entering into the channels of interstate and foreign commerce, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

DEFINITIONS

SECTION 1. As used in this Act—

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(a) The term person " includes an individual, a partnership, association, joint-stock company, corporation, or a firm, and imports the plural as well as the singular, as the case demands.

(b) The term "Commissioner " means the Commissioner of

Internal Revenue.

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(c) The term "collector means the collector of internal revenue. The term tobacco means any type or types of tobacco specified in any agreement between the Secretary of Agriculture and a contracting producer.

(e) The term "sale means the first bona fide sale of each pound of tobacco harvested subsequent to the enactment of this Act.

(f) The term "tax " means the tax imposed by this Act upon the sale of tobacco.

(g) The term "contracting producer" means any person who (pursuant to the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act) agrees in writing with the Secretary of Agriculture to plant not more than the number of acres of tobacco, and/or to market not more than the number of pounds of tobacco, permitted in such agreement.

(h) The term " crop year means the period May 1 to April 30. (i) The term "Maryland tobacco " means the kind of air-cured tobacco classified as type 32 in the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Service and Regulatory Announcements Numbered 118.

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(j) The term cigar leaf tobacco means all leaf tobacco classified in classes 4, 5, and 6 in the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Service and Regulatory Announcements Numbered 118.

(k) The term "Virginia sun-cured tobacco" means all sun-cured tobacco classified as type 37 in the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Service and Regulatory Announcements Numbered 118.

DECLARED POLICY

SEC. 2. It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress to promote the orderly marketing of tobacco in interstate and foreign

commerce, to enable producers of tobacco to stabilize their markets against undue and excessive fluctuations, to prevent unfair competition and practices in putting tobacco into the channels of interstate and foreign commerce, and to more effectively balance production and consumption of tobacco, and to relieve the present emergency with respect to tobacco.

IMPOSITION

SEC. 3. (a) There is hereby levied and assessed on the sale of tobacco with respect to which the tax is applicable a tax at the rate of 33% per centum of the price for which such tobacco is sold: Provided, however, That if the Secretary of Agriculture determines and proclaims that the declared policy of this Act is best effectuated thereby, the rate of tax shall, for such period as the Secretary of Agriculture designates, be at such lower rate (not less than 25 per centum of the price for which such tobacco is sold) as he may prescribe.

(b) The tax provided for by subsection (a) of this section shall be applicable to all tobacco harvested in the crop year 1934–1935, except Maryland tobacco, Virginia sun-cured tobacco, and cigar leaf tobacco. Thereafter whenever the Secretary of Agriculture determines that the persons who own, rent, share crop, or control three fourths of the land customarily engaged in the production of any particular type of tobacco favor the levy of the tax thereon and that the imposition of the tax thereon is necessary for the orderly marketing of such tobacco in interstate and foreign commerce and to effectuate the declared policy of this Act, he shall proclaim such determination at least sixty days prior to the next succeeding crop year, and the tax shall thereafter apply to tobacco of such type harvested during the crop year next following the date of such proclamation. The tax provided for by subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to any tobacco harvested after April 30, 1936.

(c) The provisions of this Act shall be applicable to the United States and its possessions, except the Philippine Islands, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Canal Zone, and the island of Guam.

EXEMPTIONS

SEC. 4. (a) No tax shall be imposed under this Act

(1) Upon the tobacco harvested by any publicly owned experimental station or agricultural laboratory; or

(2) Upon tobacco harvested prior to the crop year 1934-1935. (b) Under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, may prescribe, every person who, at the time the tax becomes applicable with respect to any type of tobacco, holds for sale (or use in the manufacture or production of an article intended for sale) any tobacco of such type harvested prior to the crop year 1934-1935 shall cause such tobacco to be tagged, stamped, or otherwise identified as tax-exempt tobacco. SEC. 5. (a) In addition to rental or benefit payments which under any provision of existing law the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make in connection with agreements with producers providing for reduction in the acreage or reduction in the production for