.9 .U5A5 191/a INSPECTION AND GRADING OF GRAIN, ETC. COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, The committee met this day at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Irving P. Wanger in the chair; later Hon. James R. Mann, chairman, presiding. Mr. WANGER. The special matter this morning is a hearing on the bill (H. R. 12432) introduced by Mr. Gronna to provide for the inspection and grading of grain entering into interstate commerce, and to secure uniformity in standards and classification of grain, and for other purposes, and the bill (H. R. 16897), introduced by Mr. Pearre, to provide for fixing a uniform standard of classification and grading of wheat, flax, corn, oats, barley, rye, and other grains, and for other purposes. Who appear in behalf of these bills? Mr. BARTLETT. Are those all the bills pending on the subject of grain inspection? Mr. STEVENS. I think they are the same as the old bills. Mr. ADAMSON. Mr. Gronna and others were heard at great length on these bills at the last session of Congress, were they not? Mr. STEVENS. Yes. Mr. JACKSON. Mr. Chairman, you are asking who appear for the bill. I know of no one for the bill, but the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce is represented here in opposition to the bill. Mr. KING. The Philadelphia Commercial Exchange is represented here in opposition also. We have prepared briefs, which we intend to leave with you, and I think that is all we care to say in reference to it. Mr. JACKSON. Baltimore has never had an opportunity to be heard, on account of its close proximity to Washington. Witnesses from other places who wanted to hurry away have been heard, but they always have given Baltimore representatives the tail end of the hearing, and therefore they have never had a good chance. Mr. ADAMSON. I am in sympathy with you if you are against this. Mr. WANGER. Suppose you proceed, gentlemen. STATEMENT OF JOHN B. DAISH, ESQ., OF WASHINGTON, D. C., COUNSEL FOR THE BALTIMORE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Mr. DAISH. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I appear as counsel for the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce, and what I shall say will be very brief, because a legal argument is better read than stated, because it is easier to understand and one can see the citations in reading. 3 The Gronna bill, I believe, is the more comprehensive of the two, and the briefs in respect to the constitutionality of the proposed measure is predicated upon what the provisions of that bill are. Briefly stated, I conceive that any scheme for the federal inspection of grain must, as to its constitutionality, be very doubtful. The object of the proposed measure is to make a particular grade or classification or kind of grain a standard. That means, first, uniformity. The time of inspection is naturally material. Inspection laws under the Constitution are reserved to the States. If the Federal Government shall undertake to inspect and grade grain while it is still the property, within the part and parcel of the property, of the State, the Federal Government would thereby infringe upon the powers reserved to the State. The question of the time of transportation with relation to the time of inspection is an important legal question to my mind. The Supreme Court recently, in the Crain Oil Company case, has decided both as to the time of the inspection and the authority of the State to provide inspection. Mr. BARTLETT. What is that case? Mr. DAISH. The General Oil Company v. Crain, in 209 U. S., at page 211. From the cases cited in the brief and from excerpts from the various cases, I conceive that either of the propositions as shown in the bill, or practically any system of federal grain inspection, is unconstitutional. As the brief is in print and as you prefer doubtless to hear from the business men who will tell you how it would affect the grain business and their markets and affect the marketing of grain both at home and abroad, I will yield to Mr. Jackson, the president of the Baltimore Chamber of Commerce. This brief will be filed. (Following is the brief referred to:) [Before the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, U. S. House of Representatives.] MEMORANDUM ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS INVOLVED IN THE PROPOSED FEDERAL INSPECTION OF GRAIN. [61st Cong., 2d sess. H. R. 12432; 16897.Ja DIGEST OF THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION. The more comprehensive of the two bills under consideration is H. R. 12432 by Mr. Gronna; its provisions are as follows: SECTION 1. Secretary of Agriculture to organize in Bureau of Plant Industry a section of grain inspection and grading; appoint experts and other employees necessary. SEC. 2. Secretary to appoint one chief grain inspector and necessary assistants at sixteen named places and "other important centers" as he may consider necessary and proper. SEC. 3. Secretary of Agriculture to fix compensation. SEC. 4. "That the Secretary of Agriculture shall make all needful rules and regulations governing inspection and grading herein provided for." SEC. 5. Secretary of Agriculture "to determine and fix, according to such standard as he may provide, such classifications and grading of wheat, flax, corn, rye, oats, barley, and other grains as in his judgment the usages of trade may warrant and permit." May adopt the standards now recognized by commercial usages, and may modify and change classifications or grades from time to time. SEC. 6. Public notice to be given of standards fixed; standards fixed to be permanent record and known as "United States standard." SEC. 7. Classification and grades fixed to be standard in all interstate commerce in grain, after thirty days' notice. a Copy of H. R. 12432 by Mr. Gronna appears in the Appendix hereof. |