"DEPOSIT OF MONEYS

"(f) All money of the Corporation not otherwise employed may be deposited with the Treasurer of the United States or in any bank approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, subject to withdrawal by the Corporation at any time, or may be investigated in obligations of the United States. Subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve banks are hereby authorized and directed to act as depositories, custodians, and fiscal agents for the Corporation in the performance of its powers.

"RECORDS, ANNUAL REPORTS, AND AUDITS

"(g) (1) The Corporation shall at all times maintain complete and accurate books of account and shall file annually with the Secretary a complete report as to its business, a copy of which shall be forwarded by the Secretary to the Congress, "(2) The financial transactions of the Corporation shall be audited by the General Accounting Office in accordance with the principles applicable to commercial corporate transactions and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States: Provided, That the Corporation shall have the authority to make final and conclusive settlement and adjustment of any claims by or against the Corporation or the accounts of its fiscal officers: Provided further, That a report of such audit shall be made to the Congress, together with such recommendations as the Comptroller General may deem advisable, and that each such report shall cover a period of one fiscal year.

"(3) The expenses of such audits by the General Accounting Office as provided in this section may be paid from moneys advanced therefor by the Corporation, or from any appropriation or appropriations for the General Accounting Office, and any appropriations so used shall be reimbursed promptly by the Corporation as billed by the Comptroller General. For the purpose of such audit, the representatives of the General Accounting Office shall have access to all papers, books, files, accounts, financial records, and all other things, property, and places belonging to, under the control of, used by, or employed by the Corporation, and shall be afforded full facilities for verifying transactions with the balances in depositories and with fiscal agents. Provided, That the certified financial reports and schedules of the fiscal agents of the Corporation based on commercial audits in the usual course of business may be accepted by the General Accounting Office as final and not subject to further audit verification.

"(4) Any examination of the corporate records shall be made at the place or places where such records are normally kept in the transaction of the corporate business, and the Corporation shall retain custody of contracts, vouchers, schedules, or other financial or accounting documents, either original or duplicate, relating to its transactions.

"(5) In addition to the audits provided for in this subsection by the General Accounting Office, the president or the board of directors of the Corporation may, when found necessary, employ reputable commercial auditors to make audits of the Corporation or any of its State or local offices. The cost of such audits shall be paid by the Corporation.

"POWERS OF SECRETARY

"SEC. 41. (a) The Secretary shall have power to appoint, without regard to the provisions of the civil-service laws a president, vice president, and secretarytreasurer, and to fix their compensation without regard to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, but the salaries of none of such officers shall exceed $10,000 per annum.

"(b) The Secretary may make such rules and regulations as he deems necessary to carry out his duties under this Act.

"COUNTY COMMITTEES

"SEC. 42. (a) The Corporation is authorized and directed to appoint in each county in which activities are carried on under this Act a county committee composed of three individuals residing in the county, at least two of whom shall be farmers residing on a farm and deriving the principal part of their income from farming. The Corporation shall appoint an alternate for each member of each committee, who shall have the same qualifications as such member. Members of the committees and their alternates shall serve at the pleasure of the Corporation. "(b) Each member of the committee shall be allowed compensation at the rate of not to exceed $5 per day while engaged in the performance of duties under

this Act.

The number of days per month that each member may be paid shall be determined and approved by the Corporation. In addition, they shall be allowed such amounts as the Corporation may prescribe for necessary traveling and subsistence expenses. The compensation and expenses of the committee members and their alternates shall be paid by the Corporation.

"(c) The committee shall meet on the call of the county agricultural extension agent in the county, or on the call of such other person as the Corporation may designate. Two members of the committee shall constitute a quorum. The Corporation shall prescribe rules governing the procedure of the committees, furnish forms and equipment necessary for the performance of their duties, and authorize and provide for the compensation of such clerical assistants as it deems may be required by any committee.

(d) Committees established under this Act shall, in addition to the duties specifically imposed under this Act, perform such other duties under this Act as the Corporation may require of them, or as may be delegated to them by the Corporation.

"RESETTLEMENT PROJECTS

"SEC. 43. (a) The Corporation shall do all things necessary to complete the liquidation as expeditiously as possible of all resettlement projects and rural rehabilitation projects for resettlement purposes including, but not limited to, defense relocation corporations, land-leasing and land-purchasing associations, all properties retransferred from the National Housing Agency by section 2 (a) (4) of the Farmers' Home Corporation Act of 1944, and all other corporations or associations organized for similar purposes and financed, in whole or in part, with funds made available to the Secretary, the War Food Administrator, the Farm Security Administration, the Resettlement Administration, or the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.

"(b) Within six months after the effective date of the Farmers' Home Corporation Act of 1944 the Corporation shall determine which of the lands comprising the projects described in (a) hereof are suitable for use, either with or without subdivision, as farms of sufficient size to constitute efficient farm management units and to enable diligent farm families to carry on successful farming of a type which the Corporation deems can be carried on successfully in the localities in which the lands are situated. The Corporation shall file with the Congress, promptly after making such determination, a complete report of the determination, with full information as to the location of all lands comprising such projects, and of the facts taken into account by the Corporation in making the determination. All lands which the Corporation determines are suitable for farming and all personal property incident to or comprising such projects and usable in farming operations shall, wherever practicable, be sold by the Corporation as expeditiously as possible to individuals eligible to receive the benefits of title I of this Act and in a manner consistent with the provisions of such title. The Corporation may make loans to such purchasers to enable them to improve such lands or repair such property, which loans shall be made only after certification of the county committees and otherwise in a manner consistent with the provisions of title I.

"(c) Public facilities, such as electric light, water and sewage systems, buildings and lands for schools and churches, and land for public roads, streets, and alleys, may be granted or dedicated to public or semipublic institutions or granted to public or private organizations where (1) such facilities or lands cannot be sold at reasonable prices, (2) similar facilities or land are not available or reasonable rates and terms to the inhabitants of the particular area and (3) the recipients of such facilities will agree to operate and maintain them upon a reasonable basis for the benefit of the inhabitants of the area, as distinguished from the inhabitants of any particular project, and the recipients of such buildings and lands will agree that they shall be made available for use of the public at large. In making grants or dedications of such facilities, the Corporation shall give due consideration to all applications for such grants or dedications and shall award the facilities to the organization or institution found by the Corporation to be most capable of maintaining and operating such properties. In all sales, grants, or dedications of such facilities, the Corporation shall take reasonable precautions to provide that they will not be used in competition with companies or organizations in the area furnishing adequate services to the inhabitants upon reasonable rates and terms.

"(d) Real and personal property comprising such projects which is not determined by the Corporation to be suitable for sale as family-size farms as provided in (b) hereof, or which is not granted or dedicated as provided in (c) hereof, shall,

within eighteen months after the effective date of the Farmers' Home Corporation Act of 1944, either be transferred by the Corporation to appropriate agencies of the United States for disposition as surplus property of the United States or be sold by the Corporation at public or private sale to any individual or corporation at the best price obtainable, after public notice, for cash or on secured credit, without regard to the laws governing the disposition of surplus real and personal property of the United States: Provided, however, That in the case of all sales on credit under this subparagraph (d) the Corporation shall obtain an initial cash payment of at least 25 per centum of the sales price and the remainder shall be paid in equal annual installments within a term not in excess of three years: Provided further, That whenever it is found by the Corporation that it is not practicable to dispose of lands reserved for sale pursuant to subparagraph (b) hereof under the provisions of title I of this Act, such lands may be sold by the Corporation under the authority of this subparagraph (d).

"(e) The Corporation shall cause the defense relocation corporations, landleasing and land-purchasing associations, and other similar corporations or associations to sell properties to which they hold title in accordance with the limitations and procedures prescribed in this section.

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"(f) The provisions of this section shall apply to all labor supply centers, labor homes, labor camps, and facilities upon their transfer to the Corporation, as provided in section 2 (c) of this Act.

'MINERAL RESERVATIONS

"SEC. 44. The sale or other disposition to a private corporation of any real property acquired by the Corporation pursuant to the provisions of this Act, or otherwise, or any interest therein, shall be subject to the reservation by the Corporation on behalf of the United States of an undivided one-half of the interest of the Corporation in all coal, oil, gas, and other minerals in or under such property.

"TRANSACTIONS WITH CORPORATIONS

"SEC. 45. Nothing in this Act shall authorize the making of any loan or the sale or other disposition of real property or any interest therein, other than interests in coal, oil, gas, or other minerals, to any private corporation, except in furtherance of liquidation pursuant to section 43.

"SURVEYS AND INVESTIGATIONS

"SEC. 46. The Corporation is authorized to conduct surveys and investigations relating to the conditions and factors affecting, and the methods of accomplishing most effectively, the purposes of this Act, and may, when funds are appropriated therefor by the Congress, publish and disseminate information pertinent to the various aspects of its activities. The Corporation is directed to use, so far as practicable, the services and facilities of other bureaus and agencies of the Department of Agriculture in carrying out such surveys and investigations.

"VARIABLE PAYMENTS

"SEC. 47. The Corporation shall require annual payments in equal installments sufficient to pay any obligations or indebtedness to it under this Act within the term of such obligation or indebtedness. The Corporation shall provide a method whereby a borrower may pay any obligation or indebtedness by a system of variable payments under which a surplus above the required installment for any year may be paid in periods of above-normal income and employed to reduce payments below the required annual payment in subsequent periods of subnormal income. Any advance payments to the Corporation shall not affect the obligation to pay the required annual installment during periods of normal or above-normal income.

"SET-OFF

"SEC. 48. No set-off shall be made against any payment to be made by the Corporation to any person under the provisions of this Act, by reason of any indebtedness of such person to the United States, and no debt due to the Corporation or the Secretary under the provisions of this Act shall be set off against any payments owing by the United States, unless the Secretary shall find that such set-off will not adversely affect the objectives of this Act.

"TAXATION

"SEC. 49. (a) All property which is being utilized to carry out the purposes of title I of this Act (other than property used solely for administrative purposes) shall, notwithstanding that legal title to such property remains in the Corporation, be subject to taxation by the State, Territory, district, dependency, and political subdivision concerned, in the same manner and to the same extent as other similar property is taxed.

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(b) All property to which subsection (a) of this section is inapplicable which is held by the Corporation pursuant to this Act shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States or any State, Territory, district dependency, or political subdivision, but the Corporation shall make payments in respect of any such property in lieu of taxes.

"BID AT FORECLOSURE

"SEC. 50. The Corporation is authorized and empowered to bid for and purchase at any foreclosure or other sale, or otherwise to acquire property pledged or mortgaged or conveyed to secure any loan or other indebtedness owing to or acquired by the Corporation under this Act: to accept title to any property so purchased or acquired; to operate or lease such property for such period as may be deemed necessary to protect the investment therein; and to sell or otherwise dispose of such property in a manner consistent with the provisions of section 43 of this Act, but subject to the reservation of the rights provided for in section 44.

"PENALTIES

"SEC. 51. (a) Whoever makes any material representation, knowing it to be false, for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of the Corporation upon any application, discount, purchase or repurchase agreement, contract of sale, lease or loan, or any change or extension of any of the same by renewal, compromise, adjustment, deferment of action or otherwise, or the acceptance, release or substitution of security therefor, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $2,000 or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.

"(b) Whoever, being connected in any capacity with the Corporation, (1) embezzles, abstracts, purloins or willfully misapplies any moneys, funds, securities or other things of value, whether belonging to the Corporation or pledged or otherwise entrusted to it; or (2) with intent to defraud the Corporation, or any body politic or other corporation, or any individual, or to deceive any officer, auditor or examiner of the Corporation, makes any false entry in any book, report or statement of, or to, the Corporation, or draws any order, or issues, puts forth or assigns any note or other obligation or draft, mortgage, judgment or decree thereof; or (3) with intent to defraud the Corporation, participates or shares in or receives directly or indirectly any money, profit, property or benefits through any transaction, loan, commission, contract or any other act of the Corporation, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.

"(c) Whoever willfully shall conceal, remove, dispose of, or convert to his own use or that of another, any property mortgaged or pledged to, or held by, the Corporation, as security for any obligation, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $2,000 or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.

"(d) Whoever conspires with another to accomplish any of the acts made unlawful by the preceding provisions of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to the same fine or imprisonment, or both, as is applicable in the case of conviction for doing such unlawful act.

"FEES AND COMMISSIONS PROHIBITED

"SEC. 52. No officer, attorney, or other employee of the corporation shall, directly or indirectly, be the beneficiary of or receive any fee, commission, gift, or other consideration for or in connection with any transaction or business under this Act other than such salary, fee, or other compensation as he may receive as such officer, attorney, or employee. No member of a county committee established under section 42 shall knowingly make or join in making any certification prohibited by section 2 (c). Any person violating any provision of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $2,000 or imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.

"EXTENSION OF TERRITORIES

"SEC. 53. The provisions of this Act shall extend to the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii and to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In the case of Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, the term 'county' as used in this Act shall be deemed synonymous with Territory, or any subdivision thereof as may be designated by the Secretary, and payments under section 33 of this Act shall be made to the Governor of the Territory or to the fiscal agent of such subdivision.

"SEPARABILITY

"SEC. 54. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby."

AMENDMENT TO TITLE I OF THE BANKHEAD-JONES FARM TENANT ACT SEC. 4. Title I of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"TITLE I-TENANT PURCHASE LOANS AND MORTGAGE

INSURANCE

"POWER OF CORPORATION

"SECTION 1. (a) The Farmers' Home Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the 'Corporation'), created by section 40, is authorized to make loans and to insure mortgages in the United States and in the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii and in Puerto Rico to persons eligible to receive the benefits of this title to enable such persons to acquire family-size farms.

"(b) (1) Except with respect to veterans qualified under subsection (b) (2) of this section, only farm tenants, farm laborers, sharecroppers, and other individuals who obtain, or who recently obtained, the major portion of their income from farming operations, shall be eligible to receive the benefits of this title. In making available the benefits of this title, the Corporation shall give preference to persons who are married, or who have dependent families, or, wherever practicable, to persons who are able to make an initial down payment, or who are owners of livestock and farm implements necessary successfully to carry on farming operations. No person shall be eligible who is not a citizen of the United States.

"(2) Honorably discharged persons who served in the land or naval forces of the United States during any war between the United States and any other nation, who intend to engage in farming as a principal occupation, and who meet the requirement of rules and regulations prescribed by the Corporation as to industry, experience, character, and other assurances of success as farmers, shall be eligible for the benefits of this title and their applications shall be entitled to preference over those of nonveterans.

"(c) No loan shall be made, or mortgage insured, for the acquisition of any farm unless it is of such size as the Corporation determines to be sufficient to constitute an efficient farm-management unit and to enable a diligent farm family to carry on successful farming of a type which the Corporation deems can be carried on successfully in the locality in which the farm is situated.

"FUNCTIONS OF COUNTY COMMITTEES

"SEC. 2. (a) The county committees established under section 42 shall—

"(1) examine applications (filed with the county agricultural extension agent in the county, or with such other person as the Corporation may designate) of persons desiring to obtain the assistance of the Corporation in financing the acquisition of farms or farming operations in the county as provided in this Act; and

"(2) examine and appraise farms in the county with respect to which applications are made.

"(b) If the committee finds that an applicant is eligible to receive the benefits of this Act, that, in the opinion of the committee, by reason of his character, ability, industry, and experience, he will successfully carry out undertakings required of him under a loan which may be made or insured under this Act, that credit sufficient in amount to finance the needs of the applicant, specified in the