instructions inconsistent with the Act, the regulations or the instructions.

(c) Crop year, variety, and origin statements. No official inspection personnel shall certify or otherwise state in writing (1) the year of production of any grain for which standards have been established, c.g., by use of "new crop" or "old crop", (2) the place or geographical area where the grain was grown, or (3) except as may be provided in the instructions, the name of the variety of the grain.

(d) Issuing superseded certificates. No official inspection personnel shall issue, or permit to be issued over his signature or name, any official certificate, or copy thereof, which has been superseded by another certificate, without the consent of the Administrator.

(e) Application of tolerances. No official inspection personnel shall apply any administrative, statistical, or other tolerances to his official determinations other than as prescribed in the instructions.

(f) Right of inspection. No official inspection personnel shall, directly or indirectly, deter or prevent, or attempt to deter or prevent, any interested person from exercising his right to request any inspection service: Provided, That the dismissal of a request for inspection or a discussion of the grounds for dismissal or conditional withholding of an official inspection, with an interested person, shall not be deemed to be in violation of this section..

$26.89 Corrective actions for violations by official inspection per

sonnel.

(a) Criminal prosecution. Official inspection personnel who commit any offense prohibited by section 13 of the Act are subject to criminal prosecution in accordance with section 14 of the Act.

(b) Administrative action. In addition to the action described in paragraph (a) of this section, official inspection personnel are subject to administrative actions, in accordance with this paragraph, for any of the causes shown in section 9 of the Act: (1) Less serious cases may be disposed of by written cautionary notices or letters of warning; (2) in the more serious cases, administrative actions may be instituted for temporary suspension of a license pending final determination, suspension of a license for a prescribed period of time, or revocation of a license, as provided in the rules of practice in Subpart C of this part. Administrative actions for authorized Department employees may include, but are not limited to, changes in assigned duties or disciplinary action in accordance with law.

$26.90 Contracts for the performance of specified functions.

(a) When contract is required. Each person who desires to perform official inspection functions, and is not an official inspection agency, or an employee of an official inspection agency or an employee of the Department of Agriculture, is required to enter into a contract with the Department of Agriculture for the performance of the functions.

(b) Who may enter into a contract. Any person who meets the requirements of section 8 of the Act and § 26.76 may enter into a contract with the Department of Agriculture for performance of official sampling services or official testing services: Provided, That an employee of a grain elevator or warehouse may enter into a contract for

5 Such rules will be issued later.

official sampling only if (1) the operator of the elevator or warehouse also enters into the contract, and (2) the employee has available for his use an approved mechanical sampler, or approved sampling equipment that gives equivalent results.

(c) Applications for contracts. Applications for contracts may be made to the field office in the circuit in which the applicant is located. (For location of field offices, see § 26.9 (d).) The contracts will be on a form prescribed for the purpose and furnished by the Administrator. Each contract shall be signed by the applicant in his own handwriting.

(d) Issuance of contracts. Contracts will be entered into by the Department of Agriculture only (1) upon a showing of good cause, and (2) a finding that the applicant has a currently effective license issued in accordance with § 26.79.

(e) Termination of contracts. Contracts entered into under this section shall terminate and be renewable annually, and may be canceled by either party upon 30 days notice in writing prior to the cancellation, unless otherwise provided in the contract.

D. Persons performing official grading are prohibited from employment by grain elevators, merchandisers, or grain merchants. Samplers, except at export locations, may be employees of grain elevators or warehouses. However, many of the private agencies are boards of trade whose membership may be largely grain merchants. It is the usual practice for elevators to furnish space free of charge for the inspection facility. Also, some private agencies service a single elevator and close friendships may develop.

[ATTACHMENT I(A)]

WEIGHING ACTIVITIES UNDER U.S. WAREHOUSE ACT*

1A. In response to question No. 1A, we offer the following general information and comments with respect to weighing of grain from the time it is first delivered to a country elevator until it is exported. Also covered here is a description of inspections of grain made under the U.S. Warehouse Act for purposes of that act.

Country elevators

When grain is received at a country elevator, it is usually over a scale that has a visible dial, or more rarely, a beam scale, with weights punched in a ticket. These scales generally are examined periodically by a State agency to make certain the scales are accurate. Quite often, the elevator manager will request additional tests by private scale testers to assure himself that his scales are accurate. This is because the possibility is 50-50 that if the scale is weighing inaccurately, it could be to the disadvantage of the elevator.

At country elevators, the truck scale has a dial or a beam scale that is visible from the scale. The scale is equipped to punch the weight on the ticket when in balance. The driver of the truck is able to verify that the scale was in balance when punched. While the truck is still on the scale, most elevators have an employee probe the load to obtain a sample of the grain being delivered.

*See p. 211.

There have been very few complaints about short weighing at country elevators. Competition tends to keep the weights honest. Also farmers usually truck their grain to a country elevator and have a fairly accurate estimate of the quantity of grain they are delivering. In a sense, the weights at country elevators are self-policing.

Under the U.S. Warehouse Act all grain received at federally licensed warehouses is required to be inspected and graded by persons licensed under the U.S. Warehouse Act for the purposes of that act. Inland terminal markets

All inland terminal markets are served by railroads and it is to the interest of railroads to see that accurate weights are established, both inbound and outbound. The Association of American Railroads has established 5 classifications of grain markets that issue official grain weight certificates. The most predominant classification of inland markets is class II. The classes are as follows:

Class 1.-Weight certificates issued by State weighing departments or chambers of commerce, boards of trade, grain exchanges, or other like trade boards where weighing is performed by authorized elevator employees under the supervision of employees of any of the above organizations who witness the handling and weighing of all cars and/

or contents.

Class 2.-Weight certificates issued by or on authority of State weighing departments or chambers of commerce, boards of trade, grain exchanges, or other like trade boards where weighing is performed by authorized elevator employees under the supervision of employees of any of the above organizations who daily witness the handling and weighing of a representative number of cars and/or contents during each shift at each and every elevator.

Class 3.-Weight certificates issued by or on authority of State weighing departments or chambers of commerce, boards of trade, grain exchanges, or other like trade boards which exercise little or no supervision over the handling or weighing of cars and/or contents by elevator employees.

Class 4-Weight certificates issued by individual mills and/or elevators under the heading of State certificates or weights and measures, public weighmaster's certificate of weight and measure under a State department of agriculture or board of commissioners as an agency of a State, who assume the responsibility of testing scales but perform little or no supervision over the actual weighing of the grain by elevator employees.

Class 5-Weight certificates issued by individual mills and/or elevators which do not have any supervision by a recognized weighing organization. but notwithstanding such lack of supervision, issue a weight certificate headed "Official Weighmasters Certificate" or "Weighmasters Certificate."

The Association of American Railroads has compiled a description of duties of supervisory weighmasters at class 2 points. Those duties are as follows:

HOPPER SCALES

See that industry personnel check all cars set for loading or unloading, noting any exceptions which would render empty cars unfit for loading or if loaded cars are found to be leaking grain, extent of leak

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and location. Records should also show any cars found with car doors open as well as cars that are not properly sealed.

See that all of the grain from car is delivered to the sink or pit and if for any reason grain is left in the car, state the reason. Cars should be completely unloaded.

See that all of the grain from any one car is kept separate in sink or pit and is delivered to the boot for elevating to scale for weighing, See that boot is grain tight.

Check legs for leaks at boot as well as at the head of the leg where grain is discharged into the receiving hopper.

Check garner and scale slide to see that they are grain tight and are being properly operated.

Check scale balance as well as sensitivity reading (S.R.) regularly. Check loadout spout and loading operations to see that all of the grain weighed for a certain car is delivered to that car.

See that car has sufficient cooperage in order to avoid grain spilling over cooperage.

See that grain in cars loaded is properly trimmed.

Check cars for leaks after loading and report to carrier any leaks not readily repairable.

See that doors are closed and sealed after loading.

TRACK SCALES

See that industry personnel check all cars set for loading or unloading, noting any exceptions which would render empty cars unfit for loading or if loaded cars are found to be leaking grain, extent of leak and location. Records should also show any cars found with car doors open as well as cars that are not properly sealed.

See that all the grain from car is removed or if, for any reason, grain is left in the car, state the reason.

Track scales should also be balanced before a car is placed on scale. Check scale S.R. as well as end rail clearances at all times.

If there is a material difference between the actual tare weight and the marked tare weight of a car, examine car as well as scale platform for binds or other interference which might account for the difference. In freezing weather, see that the dust guards are free.

On cars unloaded, see that all grain door barricades are returned to the car before tare weight is taken and similarly on cars for loading, see that grain door barricades are inside of the car before tare weight is taken.

Familiarize yourself with all operations in and around elevator which might affect the accuracy of the weight to be covered by an official weight certificate.

River terminals--barge loading

Much of the grain shipped by barge from river terminals is grain owned by the shipper going to a port elevator owned by the same company. In such cases the accuracy of the weights is of no concern to a second party. Where other parties are concerned, the establishing of accurate weight is a major feature of the marketing system. Some of this grain is weighed over belt scales. Some of the inaccuracies in such weighing might be attributed to the fact that the older model scales

tend to render inaccurate weights when the belt is not carrying a full load. This often happens when a bin is almost empty. The barges, unlike rail cars, often are not sealed and even when sealed they can be unloaded without breaking the seals. No liability is assumed by the barge line for loss of weight in transit.

Receiving barges and loading ships at port elevators

Weighing at port elevators is under the direction of a weighmaster employed by an independent supervisory agency. There is no foolproof way to check weights once grain is aboard a ship. Draught (or dead weight) of the ship or barge is one possible way of checking but this could be influenced by the amount of fuel oil in the fuel tank or the water in the bilges.

There are a number of factors or events that could influence the inbound and outbound weights at port elevators.

1. Some grain can be removed from the barge enroute and never reach the scale.

2. A quantity of grain in a barge can be left in the barge until the last draught has been weighed.

3. Since the grain will travel over belts in the elevator basement to the upleg, grain can be diverted off the belt to a cross belt.

4. A belt could be stopped just as the last of the grain goes into the dump. This will leave a belt full of grain to be run up later.

5. A weigher might close the garner above the scale on the last draught before the garner has cleaned out.

6. The weigher can close the shipping bins below the scale on the last draught before the bin has cleaned out.

U.S. Warehouse Act

Approximately 40 percent of the grain elevators in the country are licensed under the U.S. Warehouse Act. The act is not mandatory and applies only to warehousemen who voluntarily apply and who qualify, Among other things, the act requires that inbound and outbound grain be weighed and inspected by inspectors and weighers licensed under the act. The weighers and inspectors usually are employees of the warehousemen, but they can be employees of independent supervisory agencies. Licenses are now in effect for 7,570 inspectors and weighers. These service licenses are valid only for duties performed at the facilities of licensed warehouses. No direct supervision is made of their daily operations by USDA personnel. The certificates they issue are valid only for the purposes of the U.S. Warehouse Act. However, many of such inspectors are also licensed under the U.S. Grain Standards Act and their certificates are acceptable for trading purposes.

Applicants for service licenses are required to furnish five character references, a 10-year work résumé and must demonstrate their ability to properly inspect and/or weigh.

Inspection of grain under the U.S. Warehouse Act is significant mostly at country elevators since terminals have official inspections under the U.S. Grain Standards Act.

The licensing of inspectors and weighers is only one of the functions of the U.S. Warehouse Act. As these functions should be understood in relation to other aspects, there is attached a copy of a background statement describing the pertinent features of that act and a copy of the regulations for grain warehouses licensed under the act.