Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

W ednesday, June 8, 1949

FEDERAL REGISTER

P art 127I nternational P ostal S ervice :
P ostage R ates, S ervice A vailable and I nstructions for M ailing PHILIPPINES

In 127.329 Philippines Republic of the 13 P. R. 9201 make the following changes:

3083

1, Amend subparagraph <2 of para R. S. 161, 396, 398, secs. 304, 309, 42 Stat.
graph a to read as follows:
24, 25, 48 Stat. 943; 5 U. S. C. 22, 369, 372
2 Registration. Pee, 25 cents. See seal
J. M . D onaldson , S 127.15 and 127.101.
Postmaster General.
2. Delete subdivision ii of subpara graph 7, paragraph a and the list of P. R. Doc. 49-4580; Piled, June 7, 1949;
offices appearing therein.
8:47 a. m.

PROPOSED RULE MAKING
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Production and Marketing Administration I 7 CFR, Part 989 3
Docket No. AO-198
H andling op R a isin s P roduced P rom R a isin V ariety G rapes G row n - i n C alifornia NOTICE OP RECOMMENDED DECISION AND OP
PORTUNITY TO FILE WRITTEN EXCEPTIONS
WITH RESPECT TO PROPOSED MARKETING
AGREEMENT AND ORDER

Pursuant to the rules of practice and procedure, as amended, governing pro ceedings to formulate marketing agree ments and marketing orders 7 CFR, Supps., 900.1 et seq.; 13 P. R. 8585, no tice is hereby given of the filing with the Hearing Clerk of this recommended de cision of the Assistant Administrator, Production and Marketing Administra tion, United States Department of Agri culture, with respect to a proposed mar keting agreement and order regulating the handling of raisins produced from raisin variety grapes grown in Califor nia. Such marketing agreement and order would be effective pursuant to the provisions of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended 7
U. S. C. 601 et seq.. Interested parties may file exceptions to this recommended decision with the Hearing Clerk, United States Department of Agriculture, Room 1846, South Building, Washington 25, D. c . Any exception should be filed in quadruplicate, and must be received prior to the close of business on the fourteenth day after publication of this recom mended decision in the F ederal R egister.
Preliminary statement. A p u b l i c hearing, on the /record of which the presently proposed marketing agreement and order hereinafter called the or der were formulated, was held at Fresno, California, December 13 to 16, 1948, inclusive. Such hearing was held pursuant to a notice thereof which was published in the F ederal R egister 13
P. R. 6884 on November 23,1948, as cor rected in the F ederal R egister 13 F . R.
7308 which was published on November 30, 1948. Said notice contained a draft of a proposed order which had been pre sented to the Secretary of Agriculture hereinafter called the Secretary by the Raisin Working Committee, a com mittee of California raisin producers and handlers, with a petition for a hearing thereon. The objective of such proposal is to bring to the raisin industry of Cali
fornia the benefits of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended.
The material issues presented on the record of the hearing are as follows:
1 The existence of the right to exer cise Federal jurisdiction In this instance.
2 The need for the proposed regula tory program to accomplish the declared objectives of the act.
3 The provisions which should be Incorporated in the proposed order, such as :
. a Defining such terms as Secre tary, act, person, area, raisin variety grapes, raisins, bleached raisins, Golden Bleached raisins, natural condition raisins, packed raisins, varietal type, producer, de hydrator, processor, pack, packer, handler, acquire, board, commit tee, ton, crop year, district, and file;
b Establishing and maintaining an advisory board to serve in that capacity to the administrative committee to con duct the program operations, assigning duties to such board, and providing for its manner of conducting business;
c Establishing and maintaining an administrative committee to conduct the program operations, granting powers and duties to such committee, and pro viding fpr its manner of conducting business;
d Providing for the formulation and adoption by the administrative commit tee of a marketing policy for each crop year, and the recommending by it to the Secretary of the regulation of raisins for such crop year by the prescribing of percentages for free tonnage, reserve tonnage, and surplus tonnage, respec tively, the prescribing of such percent ages by the Secretary, and providing in some detail for the manner in which the quantities represented by the several percentages shall be handled in each crop year;
e Providing for the records which handlers shall keep, the reports which handlers shall file, and for the verifica tion of such reports;
f Providing for the incurring of ex penses each crop year, and the assess ments to be imposed in that connec tion; and g Providing for certain additional provisions, as set forth in 989.7 to 989.14 as published in the F ederal R egister 13 P . R . 6884, 6889 on Novem ber 23, 1948, which are common to mar keting agreements and marketing orders, and of certain other provisions, as set forth in 989.15 to 989.17 which are common to marketing agreements only.

Findings and conclusions. The find ings and conclusions on the aforemen tioned material issues, all of which are based on the evidence adduced at the hearing and the record thereof, are as follows:
1 The proposed program should reg ulate all raisins acquired by handlers, whether the raisins ultimately move in intrastate, interstate, or foreign com merce. The raisin supply is to be di vided into free tonnage, reserve tonnage, and surplus tonnage, at the time such fruit is acquired by handlers. If the program should apply only to raisins moving to interstate and foreign destina tions and not to raisins consumed in. in trastate markets, the division of the raisin supply into the three aforesaid categories would be impracticable at the time handlers acquire the fruit, because they then generally do not know its final destination. Further, if the program should not apply to intrastate commerce in raisins, part of the supply permitted to move uncontrolled in intrastate com merce very likely thereafter would move out of California, but would not be reg ulated under the program.
The production of raisins in California constitutes the commercial raisin pro duction of the United States. Average annual production of raisins in Cali fornia for the 1946 and 1947 crop years was about 234,000 tons, packed weight, of which 35 percent was exported and not more than 10 percent moved in intrastate commerce. The remainder moved in interstate commerce. The great pre ponderance of the California raisin pro duction is, therefore, shipped to inter state and foreign markets.
2 The California raisin Industry was confronted with surpluses and experi enced economic distress for more than a decade prior to World War n , although commercial exports of raisins during that period were substantial. For the five-yeaj period, 1934-1938, such exports averaged 61,000 tons, or about 28 percent of the domestic raisin production. Not withstanding assistance rendered by the United States Government, and the rea sonably large export movement, prices received by producers for raisins did not equal parity at any time during the pre war decade, but ranged from 53 percent of parity in 1938 to 88 percent of parity in 1941.
The situation changed radically dur ing the war. Since raisins have a high food value in proportion to their weight, they were in great demand for overseas shipment. Use of raisin variety grapes for wine and brandy was restricted, and packers were required to set aside speci-