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Show -156- .„-¦ According to the terms of the compact, the ratifying states "undertook limitation of petroleum production. The provisions of the compact expire September 1, 1937* Any state, however, may withdraw on sixty days' notice. The compact makes provision for the conservation of oil and gas and the pre- vention of avoidable waste within reasonable limitation by the ratifying states. Each state agrees to pass laws which would deny access to commerce of oil pro- duced in excess of state quotas*. The compact further provides that any oil producing state may become a party to the compact by complying with its pro- visions. It provides further that the compact shall be effective as soon as three of the states of Texas, Oklahoma, California, Kansas, and New Mexico havo ratified, and Congress has given its consent. In lieu of a controversial bill introduced by Senator Thomas of Oklahoma which, among other things, would have granted the consent of Congress to the oil compact, a House Joint resolution recommended by the. President was passed by the House and Senate and signed by Mr. Roosevelt on August 27, 1935, giving the required federal consent'. The value of compacts of this type has been subject to some discussion. Secretary Ickes of the Interior Department and also George Soule have questioned in current publications the effectiveness of interstate covenants covering petroleum and its products while Governor Landon of Kansas has expressed abiding faith that the compact method of adjustment will serve as a panecea to the oil industry* Controlling Production of Tobacco Before the invalidation of the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the repeal of the Kerr-Smith Tobacco Act, the Department of Agriculture conducted an adjustment program for tobacco growers in the United States and Puerto Rico* Under this program an agreement as to a fair price to tobacco growers was reached. After these acts were rendered unenforceable by Court decree and legislative enactment danger of the return to lower prices was imminent. Dif-* ferent methods of correcting the situation were examined but no device existed whereby production could be controlled by either state or federal law. In order to cope with this situation the Tobacco State Compact Act was passed April 25, 1936» ^his Act authorizes states in which tobacco is produced to negotiate compacts for the purpose of regulating and controlling the production of commerce in one or more kinds of tobacco in such states. The consent of Congress is granted to any compact agreed upon by the states' referred to in the Tobacco Con- trol Act of Virginia which was approved MarcJi i3> 193&* All state laws author- izing such compacts shall be essentially uniform and in no way conflicting. It also provides that if any compact entered into among three or more of the states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Florida, and Kentucky becomes effective, or if any association is formed the members of which include at least two thirds of the producers of cigar-filler tobacco and cigar "-binder tobacco produced in three or more of these states, commerce in cigar-filler tobacco produced in. Puerto Rico shall be regulated during the p&riod in which any such compact remains in effect or such associations continue to operate in the |
