Troppy v. La Sara Farmers Gin Co.

28 F. Supp. 830, 1939 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2442
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedAugust 23, 1939
DocketNo. 18
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 28 F. Supp. 830 (Troppy v. La Sara Farmers Gin Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Troppy v. La Sara Farmers Gin Co., 28 F. Supp. 830, 1939 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2442 (S.D. Tex. 1939).

Opinion

ALLRED, District Judge.

This suit attacks the constitutionality of the cotton marketing quota provisions (Part IV, subtitle B, title 3) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of February 16, 1938, 52 Stat. 31, as amended, U.S.C., Title 7, § 1281 et seq., 7 U.S.C.A. § 1281 et seq., hereafter referred to as “the Act.”

Plaintiff, a farmer and cotton grower residing in Willacy County, Texas (a part of the Rio Grande Valley), seeks to recover of the defendant gin companies a total of $356.26, being a 2‡ per pound penalty upon 17,813 pounds of cotton sold to the gin companies in excess of his farm marketing quota fixed by the United States Department of Agriculture, such penalty having been collected and withheld from plaintiff by the gin companies under Sec. 348, Part IV, of the Act, 7 U.S.C.A. § 1348.

[831]*831The gin companies tendered the amount of penalties into Court and, under an appropriate order, the money was paid into the registry of this court pending final determination of the case.

Other defendants, constituting the county committee of Willacy County, Texas, charged with the administration of the Act, have been dismissed from the case.

The United States of America has intervened under the provisions of Section 1 of the Act of August 24, 1937, c. 754, § 1, 50 Stat. 751, 28 U.S.C., Supp. III, § 401, 28 U.S.C.A. § 401, for the purpose of defending the validity of the challenged provisions of the Act.

Plaintiff assails the constitutional validity of Part IV — the cotton marketing quota provisions — of the Act upon two grounds:

1. That it is not a regulation of marketing, but rather of the agricultural production of cotton over which Congress has no authority and which is reserved to the several states by the Tenth amendment to the United States Constitution;

2. That it is invalid as to plaintiff for the reason that the sales upon which the penalties were collected were not in interstate or foreign commerce but were purely local in character and did not have the direct or close and substantial effect on interstate and foreign commerce which must exist before Congress can regulate such sales.

As originally filed, this suit also attacked the cotton quota provisions of the Act, as constituting an unlawful delegation of authority by Congress to the Secretary of Agriculture; and as an unlawful delegation of legislative power by Congress to the cotton farmers; and as depriving him of his property without due process of law, in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, U.S.C.A., in that plaintiff had planted his cotton before passage of the Act and same was practically matured before receipt of notice of marketing quotas for his farms.

These latter contentions have been abandoned, however, apparently in view of the decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of Part 1, subtitle B, title 3, of the Act (7 U.S.C.A. § 1311 et seq.) dealing with marketing quotas for tobacco. Mulford v. Smith, 307 U.S. 38, 59 S.Ct. 648, 83 L.Ed. -, decision dated April 17, 1939, affirming D.C., 24 F.Supp. 919.

Taking the position that there are substantial differences between the tobacco marketing quota provisions and the provisions of the Act dealing with cotton, plaintiff contends that Mulford v. Smith, supra, does not control this case; and earnestly presses the stated propositions, that is, that the cotton marketing quota provisions of the Act do not constitute a regulation of marketing but are plainly an effort to regulate production; and that the sales of cotton involved in this case are not interstate but purely local, not subject to regulation by Congress.

The Government, on the other hand, contends that there are no essential differences in the Act as to cotton and tobacco; and that this case is ruled by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Mulford v. Smith, supra. This Court believes the Government is correct.

There is no controlling difference in principle between the provisions of the Act dealing with tobacco and cotton. Both contain legislative findings of fact by the Congress. Each authorizes and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to make certain findings as to supply and make proclamations thereof. Each authorizes and directs the Secretary to determine and fix marketing quotas. Each provides for a referendum of the producers involved.

The only difference, the only distinction between the tobacco and the cotton provisions is in the method and system of marketing.

Sec. 341 of the Act sets out legislative findings by the Congress, as to cotton, as follows:

“Sec. 341 [§ 1341]. American cotton is a basic _ source of clothing and industrial products used by every person in the United States and by substantial numbers of people in foreign countries. American cotton is sold on a world-wide market and moves from the places of production almost entirely in interstate and foreign commerce to processing establishments located throughout the world at places outside the State where the cotton is produced.
“Fluctuations in supplies of cotton and the marketing of excessive supplies of cotton in interstate and foreign commerce disrupt the orderly marketing of cotton in such commerce with consequent injury to and destruction of such commerce. Excessive supplies of cotton directly and materially affect the volume of cotton moving in interstate and foreign commerce and [832]*832cause disparity in prices of cotton and industrial products moving in interstate and foreign commerce with consequent diminution of the volume of such commerce in industrial products.
“The conditions affecting the production and marketing of cotton are such that, without Federal assistance, farmers, individually or in cooperation, cannot effectively prevent the recurrence of excessive supplies of cotton and fluctuations in supplies, cannot prevent indiscriminate dumping of excessive supplies on the Nationwide and foreign markets, cannot maintain normal carry-overs of cotton, and cannot provide for the orderly marketing of cotton in interstate and foreign commerce.
“It is in the interest of the general welfare that interstate and foreign commerce in cotton be protected from the burdens caused by the marketing of excessive supplies of cotton,in such commerce, that a supply of cotton be maintained which is adequate to meet domestic consumption 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 excessive supplies of cotton.
“The provisions of this Part affording a cooperative plan to cotton producers are necessary and appropriate to prevent the burdens on interstate and foreign commerce caused by the marketing in such commerce of excessive supplies, and to promote, foster, and maintain an orderly flow of an adequate supply of cotton in such commerce.”

Sec. 342 directs the Secretary of Agriculture to make certain findings as to the supply of cotton and make proclamations thereof not later than ten days after the date of enactment of the Act. Sec. 343 authorizes and directs the Secretary to make full findings as to the amount of national allotment.

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Related

Troppy v. La Sara Farmers Gin Co.
113 F.2d 350 (Fifth Circuit, 1940)

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Bluebook (online)
28 F. Supp. 830, 1939 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/troppy-v-la-sara-farmers-gin-co-txsd-1939.