SEC. 7. All commodities made available under the authority of this Act or the containers of such commodities shall, to the extent practicable, be marked, stamped, branded, or labeled in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly, and permanently as the nature of such commodities or containers will permit, in such manner as to indicate to the people of the country of destination that such commodities have been. furnished or made available by the United States of America.

SEC. 8. Wherever reference is made, in this Act, to commodities made available under the authority of this Act, such reference shall be deemed to include commodities procured with credits made available to a recipient country under the authority of this Act.

SEC. 9. The President shall take appropriate steps to encourage other countries to make available to recipient countries such aid as they may be able to furnish.

SEC. 10. The President may, from time to time, promulgate such rules and regulations as he may find necessary and proper to carry out any of the provisions of this Act: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be deemed to authorize the issuance of any proclamations, orders, rules, or regulations in any way controlling production or prices or allocating deliveries of any commodity within the United States. He may delegate to the Secretary of State any of the powers or authority conferred on him under this Act. In accordance with the direction of the President, the responsibility for administering in the recipient countries the program of assistance provided for in this Act shall be vested in the field administrator of the United States foreign relief program appointed pursuant to section 4 of the joint resolution of May 31, 1947 (Public Law 84, Eightieth Congress). The provisions of subsections (i) and (j) of section 5 of this Act shall not apply to distribution of commodities in Austria: Provided, That the President shall have determined, upon recommendation of the United States High Commissioner for Austria, that commodities furnished to Austria hereunder will be distributed under control systems embodied in agreements between the High Commissioner and the other occupying authorities or the Austrian Government which assure compliance with the objectives of the occupation and with the purposes of this Act. No citizen or resident of the United States shall serve under this Act as a United States representative, observer, or adviser until such person has been investigated as to loyalty and security by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The field administrator may, when he finds it essential to the purposes of this Act, utilize for observation the services of a limited number of other persons, who shall be investigated and approved by the field administrator.

SEC. 11. (a) There is hereby authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $597,000,000, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry out the provisions and accomplish the purposes of this Act. This Act, however, shall not imply any present or future obligation to give aid to any foreign country, nor shall it imply or guarantee the availability of any specific commodities.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, none of the funds authorized or made available under this Act shall be used or made available for use for the acquisition of wheat, wheat flour, or

cereal grain in the United States or the shipment thereof from the United States unless the President shall first

(1) survey the requirements of other countries which are dependent upon the United States for a portion of their supplies of such commodities;

(2) estimate the quantities of such commodities which will probably be made available to such countries from the United States; and

(3) estimate the total amount of such commodities available for export from the United States to the recipient countries, after giving due consideration to the quantity thereof required in this country for food, feed, seed, and industrial uses, and for the needs of other countries dependent upon the United States for supplies of such commodities. In estimating the amount of such commodities available for export from the United States the President shall allow for a carry-over of wheat in the United States as of July 1, 1948, of not less than one hundred and fifty million bushels to protect the economy of the United States from inflationary prices and to insure against a scarcity of bread for domestic consumption during the twelvemonth period beginning July 1, 1948.

The funds authorized herein shall not be made available or used to acquire a quantity of wheat, wheat flour and cereal grain in the United States which, after taking into consideration the amount estimated for export to other countries, and the amount needed for domestic consumption in the United States, will leave a carry-over of less than one hundred and fifty million bushels of wheat on July 1, 1948, unless the estimates of the President after March 1, 1948, justify an increase in the amount available for export to recipient countries with full protection for domestic needs.

(c) Funds authorized under this Act, when allocated to any department, agency, or independent establishment of the Government, shall be available for obligation and expenditure in accordance with the laws governing obligations and expenditures of such department, agency, or independent establishment or organizational unit thereof concerned, and without regard to sections 3709 and 3648 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (41 U. S. C. 5; 31 U. S. C. 529).

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, is authorized and directed, until such time as an appropriation shall be made pursuant to this section, to make advances, not to exceed in the aggregate $150,000,000, to carry out the provisions of this Act, in such manner and in such amounts as the President shall determine. From appropriations authorized under this section, there shall be repaid without interest to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation the advances made by it under the authority contained herein. No interest shall be charged on advances made by the Treasury to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in implementation of this subsection.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any commodity heretofore or hereafter acquired by any agency of the Government under any price-support program shall, to the extent that such commodity is determined by the President to be appropriate for such pur

pose and in excess of domestic requirements, be utilized in providing aid under this Act or any other Act providing for assistance and relief to foreign countries, and shall be disposed of by such agency for such purpose at such price as may be determined by such agency, which price may be the equivalent of the domestic market price of a quantity of wheat having a caloric value equal to that of the quantity of the commodity so disposed of. Any such agency shall report to the Congress on March 31, 1948, or as soon as practicable thereafter, the amount of losses incurred by it as the result of the disposition of commodities hereunder and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to cancel notes of such agency held by him in an amount equal to the amount of such losses.

SEC. 12. Personnel employed to carry out the purposes of this Act shall not be included in computing limitations on personnel established pursuant to the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1945 (59 Stat. 298), as amended by section 14 of the Federal Employees Pay Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 219).

SEC. 13. The President, from time to time, but not less frequently than once every calendar quarter, and until the end of the quarterly period after all operations under the authority of this Act have been completed, shall transmit to the Congress a report of operations under this Act. All information received pursuant to undertakings provided for by section 5 (d) of this Act shall, as soon as may be practicable after the receipt thereof, be reported to the Congress. Reports provided for under this section shall be transmitted to the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives, if the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, is not in session. SEC. 14. The functions, applicable records, and funds provided for the purposes of carrying out this Act shall be transferred to the administration of any organization for general foreign aid which Congress may provide. To the extent that any funds may be made available under provisions of any other Act heretofore or hereafter passed relating to China, any funds reserved under this Act for China may be used for aid to the other countries named in section 2 of this Act. SEC. 15. After March 31, 1948, no funds may be obligated for the procurement of commodities provided for under this Act.

SEC. 16. (a) Clause (1) in the proviso in the first paragraph of the first section of the joint resolution of May 31, 1947 (Public Law 84, Eightieth Congress), is amended to read as follows: "(1) to constitute more than 57 per centum of the aggregate amount contributed to said fund by all governments, including the United States;".

(b) The amendment made by subsection (a) of this section shall take effect as of May 31, 1947.

SEC. 17. If any provision of this Act or the application of such provision to any circumstance shall be held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and the applicability of such provision to other circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

SEC. 18. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to make inapplicable, in the case of commodities procured under the authority of this Act, the authority to prohibit or curtail exports granted by section 6 of the Act of July 2, 1940 (Public Law 703, Seventy-sixth Congress), as now in force or as hereafter amended.

Approved December 17, 1947.

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303. PROGRAM FOR U. S. AID TO EUROPEAN RECOVERY Message of the President to the Congress, December 19, 1947 1 To the Congress of the United States:

A principal concern of the people of the United States is the creation of conditions of enduring peace throughout the world. In company with other peace-loving nations, the United States is striving to insure that there will never be a World War III. In the words of the Charter of the United Nations, we are "determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war."

We seek lasting peace in a world where freedom and justice are secure and where there is equal opportunity for the economic wellbeing of all peoples.

To this end, the United States played a leading role in the founding of the United Nations. We have supported that organization at all times to the best of our ability and we have advanced a number of proposals for increasing its effectiveness in maintaining peace and security and in establishing the economic, social and moral foundations of peace.

We are working in the United Nations toward the limitation and control of armaments and, in a step without precedent or parallel, have offered to place our most powerful weapon under international control provided that other nations agree to effective and enforceable safeguards against its use for destructive purposes.

The United States, in the conviction that a prerequisite to peace in the future is the just settlement of past differences, has labored to obtain fair and workable treaties of peace for former enemy states so that they may resume their places in the family of nations.

The United States has taken the lead in world-wide efforts to promote industrial and agricultural reconstruction and a revival of world commerce, for we know that enduring peace must be based upon increased production and an expanding flow of goods and materials among nations for the benefit of all.

Since the surrender of the Axis powers, we have provided more than $15 billion, in the form of grants and loans, for aid to victims of the war, to prevent starvation, disease, and suffering; to aid in the restoration of transportation and communications; and to assist in rebuilding war-devastated economies. This assistance has averted stark tragedy and has aided progress toward recovery in many areas of the world.

In these and many other ways, the people of the United States have abundantly demonstrated their desire for world peace and the freedom and well-being of all nations.

We must now make a grave and significant decision relating to our further efforts to create the conditions of peace. We must decide whether or not we will complete the job of helping the free nations of Europe to recover from the devastation of the war. Our decision will determine in large part the future of the people of that continent. It will also determine in large part whether the free nations of the world can look forward with hope to a peaceful and prosperous future as independent states, or whether they must live in poverty and in fear of selfish totalitarian aggression.

1 Department of State Bulletin of December 28, 1947, pp. 1233-1243.

INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES IN EUROPEAN RECOVERY

It is of vital importance to the United States that European recovery be continued to ultimate success. The American tradition of extending a helping hand to people in distress, our concern for the building of a healthy world economy which can make possible ever-increasing standards of living for our people, and our overwhelming concern for the maintenance of a civilization of free men and free institutions, all combine to give us this great interest in European recovery.

The people of the United States have shown, by generous contributions since the end of hostilities, their great sympathy and concern for the many millions in Europe who underwent the trials of war and enemy occupation. Our sympathy is undiminished, but we know that we cannot give relief indefinitely, and so we seek practical measures which will eliminate Europe's need for further relief.

Considered in terms of our own economy, European recovery is essential. The last two decades have taught us the bitter lesson that no economy, not even one so strong as our own, can remain healthy and prosperous in a world of poverty and want.

In the past, the flow of raw materials and manufactured products between Western Europe, Latin America, Canada and the United States has integrated these areas in a great trading system. In the same manner, Far Eastern exports to the United States have helped pay for the goods shipped from Europe to the Far East. Europe is thus an essential part of a world trading network. The failure to revive fully this vast trading system, which has begun to function again since the end of the war, would result in economic deterioration throughout the world. The United States, in common with other nations, would suffer.

Our deepest concern with European recovery, however, is that it is essential to the maintenance of the civilization in which the American way of life is rooted. It is the only assurance of the continued independence and integrity of a group of nations who constitute a bulwark for the principles of freedom, justice and the dignity of the individual. The economic plight in which Europe now finds itself has intensified a political struggle between those who wish to remain free men living under the rule of law and those who would use economic distress as a pretext for the establishment of a totalitarian state.

The next few years can determine whether the free countries of Europe will be able to preserve their heritage of freedom. If Europe fails to recover, the peoples of these countries might be driven to the philosophy of despair-the philosophy which contends that their basic wants can be met only by the surrender of their basic rights to totalitarian control.

Such a turn of events would constitute a shattering blow to peace and stability in the world. It might well compel us to modify our own economic system and to forego, for the sake of our own security, the enjoyment of many of our freedoms and privileges.

It is for these reasons that the United States has so vital an interest in strengthening the belief of the people of Europe that freedom from fear and want will be achieved under free and democratic governments.