Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 52.djvu/94

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52 STAT.] 75TH CONG., 3 D SESS.-CH. 30 -FEB . 16, 1938 It is in the interest of the general welfare that interstate and foreign commerce in wheat and its products be protected from such burdensome surpluses and distressing shortages, and that a supply of wheat be maintained which is adequate to meet domestic consump- tion and export requirements in years of drought, flood, and other adverse conditions as well as in years of plenty, and that the soil resources of the Nation be not wasted in the production of such burdensome surpluses. Such surpluses result in disastrously low prices of wheat and other grains to wheat producers, destroy the purchasing power of grain producers for industrial products, and reduce the value of the agricultural assets supporting the national credit structure. Such shortages of wheat result in unreasonably high prices of flour and bread to consumers and loss of market outlets by wheat producers. The conditions affecting the production and marketing of wheat are such that, without Federal assistance, farmers, individually or in cooperation, cannot effectively prevent the recurrence of such sur- pluses and shortages and the burdens on interstate and foreign commerce resulting therefrom, maintain normal supplies of wheat, or provide for the orderly marketing thereof in interstate and foreign commerce. The provisions of this Part affording a cooperative plan to wheat producers are necessary in order to minimize recurring surpluses and shortages of wheat in interstate and foreign commerce, to provide for the maintenance of adequate reserve supplies thereof, and to provide for an adequate flow of wheat and its products in interstate and foreign commerce. The provisions hereof for regu- lation of marketings by producers of wheat whenever an abnormally excessive supply of such commodity exists are necessary in order to maintain an orderly flow of wheat in interstate and foreign commerce under such conditions. PROCLAMATIONS OF SUPPLIES AND ALLOTMENTS SEO. 332. Not later than July 15 of each marketing year for wheat, the Secretary shall ascertain and proclaim the total supply and the normal supply of wheat for such marketing year, and the national acreage allotment for the next crop of wheat. NATIONAL ACREAGE ALLOTMENT SEC. 333 . The national acreage allotment for any crop of wheat shall be that acreage which the Secretary determines will, on the basis of the national average yield for wheat, produce an amount thereof adequate, together with the estimated carry-over at the beginning of the marketing year for such crop, to make available a supply for such marketing year equal to a normal year's domestic consumption and exports plus 30 per centum thereof. The national acreage allotment for wheat for 1938 shall be sixty-two million five hundred thousand acres. APPORTIONMENT OF NATIONAL ACREAGE ALLOTMENT SEC. 334. (a) The national acreage allotment for wheat shall be apportioned by the Secretary among the several States on the basis of the acreage seeded for the production of wheat during the ten calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which the national acreage allotment is determined (plus, in applicable years, the acreage diverted under previous agricultural adjustment and conservation programs), with adjustments for abnormal weather conditions and for trends in acreage during such period. Proclamations of supplies and allot- ments. National acreage allotment. Post, p. 775. Apportionment. 53