HAUGEN SLACK-FILLED PACKAGE BILL.

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C., Wednesday, January 23, 1924.

The committee met, pursuant to adjournment of yesterday, at 10 o'clock a. m.. Hon. Gilbert N. Haugen (chairman) presiding.

Present: Representatives Haugen (chairman), Purnell, Voigt, McLaughlin, Tincher, Williams, Sinclair. Thompson, Clague, Clarke, Ketcham, Kincheloe, Jones, Swank, Fulmer, Rubey, Johnson, Doyle, and McSweeney.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

The committee has met this morning for the purpose of considering bills which have previously been considered by this committee, which were passed by the House, last Congress, and also bills suggested by the Secretary. A number of bills have been submitted by him.

I have here a letter from the Secretary which I will read:

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Washington, January 22, 1924. DEAR MR. HAUGEN: I have your letter of January 19 and appreciate the prompt consideration given the matters referred to. I am very sorry I will not be able to get over to the hearing Wednesday but it just happens that I have got to keep an engagement of long standing to meet with some farmers in Pennsylvania on that date. I have, however, arranged for Mr. W. G. Campbell, our director of regulatory work, and other representatives of the Department, to appear before the committee in connection with the three bills you have mentioned and I am sure they will be able to supply the information desired. I shall of course be very glad to meet with the committee on any later date you may desire to discuss these or other measures with which the Department may be concerned.

With best regards, I remain sincerely yours,

Hon. GILBERT N. HAUGEN,

House of Representatives.

HENRY C. WALLACE.

The CHAIRMAN. Shall the committee first take up the bills passed by the House last Congress and which have been reintroduced?

Mr. KINCHELOE. I think we would get further if we took up those that have already been passed. I suppose the bills that have passed the House have the unanimous vote of this committee?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; I believe so. H. R. 762, the slack-filled package bill was originally introduced in the Sixty-sixth Congress containing the proviso:

That reasonable variations and tolerance may be established by rules and regulations made in accordance with the provisions of section 3 of this act. The proviso was amended when the bill passed the House by inserting "shall" in lieu of "may," and changing the wording slightly.

The bill was reintroduced in the Sixty-seventh Congress, last Congress, in the same form as passed by the House in the previous Congress; that is, containing the proviso:

That reasonable variations shall be permitted and tolerance shall be established by rules and regulations made in accordance with the provisions of section 3 of this act.

The committee, last Congress, the Sixty-seventh Congress, in ordering the bill reported to the House, struck out this proviso entirely.

The House in passing the bill last Congress added:

But due allowance shall be made for unavoidable shrinkage after filling. H. R. 762 is introduced without the proviso and as exactly reported by the committee to the House last Congress.

Mr. KINCHELOE. What action was taken on the bill when it passed the House in the Sixty-sixth Congress, so far as the Senate is concerned?

The CHAIRMAN. I am not sure whether it has been favorably reported by the Senate committee or not.

The CLERK. It passed the House and was favorably reported to the Senate, with amendments, in the Sixty-sixth Congress. In the Sixty-seventh Congress it passed the House, but it was not reported from the Senate committee.

Mr. KINCHELOE. It was not reported from the Agricultural Committee of the Senate?

The CLERK. No, sir.

Mr. RUBEY. When we take up this bill for consideration it might be well to have the Senate amendments, so that we might have their ideas as to what changes ought to be made.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, then, we will take up further consideration of H. R. 762, which is as follows:

[H. R. 762, Sixty-eighth Congress, first session.]

A BILL To amend an act entitled "An act for preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes, approved June 30, 1906, as amended,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That section 8 of the act entitled "An act for preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes," approved June 30, 1906, as amended, is amended:

(a) By striking out the period at the end of paragraph "Second," in the case of food, and inserting in lieu thereof a semicolon, and adding thereafter the following clause: "or if it be in a container made, formed, or shaped so as to deceive or mislead the purchaser as to the quantity, quality, size, kind, or origin of the food contained therein "; and

(b) By adding at the end thereof a new paragraph to read as follows:

Fifth. If in the package form, and irrespective of whether or not the quantity of the contents be plainly and conspicuously marked on the outside of the package in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count, as provided in paragraph Third,' the package be not filled with the food it purports to contain." SEC. 2. Such act of June 30, 1906, as amended, is amended by adding to the end thereof a new section to read as follows:

"SEC. 14. That this act may be cited as the Food and Drugs Act.'" SEC. 3. (a) No fine, imprisonment, confiscation, refusal of admission or delivery, or other penalty shall be enforced for any violation of this amendatory act occuring within six months after its passage.