be made to bring about the establishment of a park on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande immediately opposite the proposed park on the American side. The favorable report of the Department of the Interior on the pending measure is as follows: Hon. ROBERT F. WAGNER, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, United States Senate. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I have received your letter of March 8 enclosing a copy of S. 2131, entitled "A bill to provide for the establishment of the Big Bend National Park in the State of Texas, and for other purposes", and requesting a report thereon. This proposed legislation would authorize the establishment of the Big Bend National Park in the State of Texas, when the necessary lands shall have been secured by the United States by donation. The Big Bend area is a region of inspiring scenery, and contains many varieties of rare plant and animal life. It is of national importance, and worthy of Federal protection and development as a national park. The scenic grandeur of the Big Bend country extends across the border into Mexico, and it is hoped that, if this proposed legislation is enacted, the Mexican Government will be invited to cooperate with the United States in the establishment of an international park. The Acting Director of the Bureau of the Budget has advised that, insofar as the financial program of the President is concerned, there is no objection to favorable action on this bill. This bill is similar to H. R. 6373, upon which a separate report is being submitted to the Committee on the Public Lands of the House of Representatives. It is recommended that it be amended in the following particulars: Page 1, line 5, eliminate the word "the." Page 2, line 5, change the word "donations" to "donation." I recommend that S. 2131, with amendments as indicated above, be enacted by the Congress. Sincerely yours, THEODORE A. WALTERS, Acting Secretary of the Interior. In reference to the proposal for a Mexican park in this vicinity on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, the following correspondence will be found of interest: UNITED STATES SENATE, MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: The proposal for a national park in the Big Bend section of Texas on the Rio Grande River has aroused general and favorable interest throughout Texas. It is one of the most magnificent and picturesque expressions of nature in the world. Inasmuch as the proposed park on the Texas side extends only to the middle of the Rio Grande River, which is the boundary between Texas and Mexico, it has occurred to me that it would be a splendid thing to take up with Mexico the matter of an international park in that section and to have Mexico establish a park on her side, which would adjoin the proposed park on the Texas side. Please have the matter properly investigated and considered. Yours very sincerely, MORRIS SHEPPARD. On February 19 the above letter was referred by the President to the Secretaries of State and Interior with a request for a report. Hon. HAROLD L. ICKES, Secretary of the Interior. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 26, 1935. MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY: I enclose herewith, for your consideration, a copy of a memorandum, dated February 19, 1935, from the President, addressed to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Interior, and a copy of its enclosure, a letter dated February 16, 1935, from the Honorable Morris Sheppard, United States Senate, with reference to an international park project in the Big Bend section of Texas and the adjoining section of Mexico, and suggesting that the matter be taken up with Mexico. I also enclose a copy of a letter which I am today forwarding to the President with reference to the matter. Sincerely yours, The PRESIDENT, The White House. WILLIAM PHILLIPS, Acting Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 26, 1935. MY DEAR Mr. PRESIDENT: I have received your memorandum of February 19, 1935, addressed to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting a copy of a letter dated February 16, 1935, from the Honorable Morris Sheppard, United States Senate, with reference to an international park project in the Big Bend section of Texas and the adjoining section in Mexico, and suggesting that the matter be taken up with Mexico. Prior to the receipt of your memorandum the Department had received a communication from Senator Sheppard in regard to this project. I informed the Senator under date of February 23, 1935, that the Department will be glad to take up the matter with the Mexican Government, through Ambassador Daniels, at such time as there is definite assurance that the park on the Texas side of the Rio Grande will be created. I am today sending copies of this letter, of your memorandum, and of its enclosure to the Secretary of the Interior for his consideration. Faithfully yours, WILLIAM PHILLIPS, Acting Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, The PRESIDENT, The White House. MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have received from the White House a copy of Senator Morris Sheppard's letter of February 16 to you, regarding the proposal to establish an international park along the Mexican border, and have noted your request for a report on this subject. Under separate cover I am sending you a field report prepared by the National Park Service regarding this matter. The proposal involves lands in the Big Bend area in Texas, and in the adjoining provinces of Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico. I recently approved the recommendation of the National Park Service that the area referred to in Texas be established as the Big Bend National Park. Proposed legislation to provide authority for this action is now being drafted for submission to the Congress. The possibility of an international park in this region meets with my approval and I recommend that, if the legislation is passed by Congress authorizing the establishment of a national park on the United States' side of the international boundary line, the Mexican Government be invited to cooperate with the United States in the establishment of such an international park. Sincerely yours, 74TH CONGRESS 1st Session } SENATE { REPORT No. 548 AMEND THE AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES APRIL 15 (calendar day, APRIL 24), 1935.-Ordered to be printed Mr. SMITH, from the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 1807] The Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1807) to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and for other purposes, having considered the same, recommend that the bill do pass with the following amendments: On page 1, line, 3, after the word "That" insert the following: "the first sentence of". On page 1, line 5, after the word "by" insert the following: "striking out the word 'reduction' wherever it appears and inserting in lieu thereof the word 'adjustment', and by". On page 1, line 7, strike out the following: "in the first sentence thereof ". On page 2, line 1, insert the following: SEC. 2. (a) The first sentence of subsection (a) of section 12 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended, is amended by striking out the word "reduction" wherever it appears in such sentence and inserting in lieu the word "adjustment". On page 2, line 6, at the beginning of said line, strike out "SEC. 2" and insert in lieu thereof the following: "(b)". On page 2, line 13, after word "or" insert the word "surplus". On page 2, line 14, strike out the word "thereof" and insert in lieu thereof the following: "of agricultural commodities". On page 3, line 23, after the word "agreement" insert the following: "(or appendix thereto)". On page 4, line 6, after the word "and" strike out "(b) that it appears from said hearing that the issuance of such license is the only practical means of advancing the interests of the producers of such commodity pursuant to the declared policy" and insert in lieu thereof the following: (b) that the issuance of such license is the only practical means of advancing the interests of the producers of such commodity pursuant to the declared policy, and is approved or favored by at least two-thirds of the producers who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary, have been engaged in the production for market of the commodity specified in such marketing agreement or license, or by producers who, during such representative period, have produced for market at least two-thirds of such commodity produced for market during such period. On page 6, line 3, insert the following: "(including the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia)". On page 7, line 6, strike out the word "supplied" and insert in lieu thereof the word "prescribed". On page 7, line 13, after the comma, insert the following: "as he may find necessary or pertinent". On page 8, line 9, strike out the word "individual" and insert in lieu thereof the word "person". On page 8, line 20, strike out the word "subsection" and insert in lieu thereof the word "subsections". On page 9, line 1, strike out the word "of" and insert in lieu thereof the words "producer within". On page 9, line 2, after the word "of" strike out the word "individual". On page 9, line 11, strike out the words "may at any time" and insert in lieu thereof the following: "shall, whenever he determines that any license, or any provision thereof, obstructs and/or does not tend to effectuate the declared policy of this title,". On page 9, at the end of line 14 and beginning of line 15, strike out the words "any marketing agreement or" and insert in lieu thereof the word "such". On page 9, line 15, after the second "or" strike out the word "any" and insert in lieu thereof the word "such". On page 10, line 3, insert the following: (7) In connection with the making of any marketing agreement or the issuance of any license, if the Secretary finds and proclaims that, as to any commodity specified in such marketing agreement or license, the purchasing power during the base period specified for such commodity in section 2 of this title cannot be satisfactorily determined from available statistics of the Department of Agriculture, the base period, for the purposes of such marketing agreement or license, shall be the post-war period, August 1919-July 1929, or all portion thereof for which the Secretary finds and proclaims that the purchasing power of such commodity can be satisfactorily determined from available statistics of the Department of Agriculture. On page 11, line 7, strike out the word "Any" and insert in lieu thereof the word "Each". On page 1, line 8, strike out the word "may" and insert in lieu thereof the word "shall". On page 11, line 14, after the word "agency" insert the following: ", other than expenses incurred in receiving, handling, holding, or disposing of any quantity of a commodity received, handled, held, or disposed of by such authority or agency for the benefit or account of persons other than such licensees." On page 11, line 22, after the word "States" insert the following: "(including the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia)". On page 12, line 1, insert the following: SEC. 7. Nothing contained in this Act shall invalidate any marketing agreement or license in existence on the date of the enactment hereof, or any provision thereof, nor any Act done pursuant thereto, either before or after the enactment of this Act. The objective set forth in the declaration of policy in the Agricultural Adjustment Act is primarily to secure fair exchange value for farm products. This objective is, in itself, a worthy one from the standpoint of economics and social justice to farmers, and is of real national importance in the recovery program because by restoring and sustaining farm buying power, the Agricultural Adjustment Act can contribute effectively to the general recovery of business. It is to permit the agricultural adjustment program to contribute its full share toward recovery that the proposed amendments to the Agricultural Adjustment Act are needed. The amendments would facilitate operation of the adjustment program in behalf of producers of the widely grown staples by authorizing purchase by the Government of commodities pledged as security for Government loans, and their disposition through the making of benefit payments "in kind” to cooperating producers. These powers will insure the maintenance of adequate reserves of food and fiber, and will tend to iron out price fluctuations. Those sections of the bill which relate to marketing agreements and licenses vitally affect the interests of the 2,000,000 or more farmers who must depend largely or wholly upon marketing agreements or licenses, or both, in order to share in the benefits of the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Among these farmers are the producers of fruits, vegetables, and other crops not named in the act as "basic" commodities, and also producers of some of the "basic" commodities, particularly whole milk. The marketing agreement and license sections of the act have been especially valuable in reinforcing the operations of cooperative marketing associations, by assuring the cooperation of processors, handlers, and distributors in programs designed to increase the farm price of commodities. While these farmers' marketing associations have hitherto been of much benefit to the members in such functions as grading, standardizing, branding, selling, and advertising, they have usually not been able to operate effectively in controlling supply or price. Under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, however, it has been possible to support cooperatives with the power of the Federal Government in this particular field of operation. The Secretary of Agriculture has entered into marketing agreements with associations of producers, distributors, handlers, and processors, and the terms of these agreements have usually been made applicable to minority groups of handlers by means of licenses. The agreement and license programs which have been developed to date contain a variety of features depending upon the economic problem presented by a given commodity in a given area, but their essential objective has always been to raise producer prices either by controlling the movement of supplies to market or by limiting the total supplies marketed, and by insuring that the producers will receive the benefits of the higher prices resulting from such regulation of marketing. |