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Show 370 With respect to the purpose of Congress under this legisla- tion, it may be noted that subsequent appropriation statutes have contained relevant statements. For example, a recent statute appropriating $53,900,000 to carry out activities under the Act on nonfederal lands refers to the Act as one providing for "a national program of erosion control and soil and water conservation."102 Agricultural Conservation Program.-As we have seen, the 1935 soil-conservation legislation forms the basis upon which has been built a program of technical assistance to own- ers of land located within soil-conservation districts or other similar areas. The 1936 legislation, the latter part of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, has been employed to furnish direct but conditional cash payments to cooperat- ing land owners-the Agricultural Conservation Program.103 Within the Department of Agriculture, responsibility is now vested in the Production and Marketing Administration.104 With this addition to the 1935 statute, Congress added these purposes, among others: 105 (1) preservation and improvement of soil fertility; (2) promotion of the economic use and conservation of land; (3) diminution of exploitation and wasteful and unscientific use of national soil resources; (4) the pro- tection of rivers and harbors against the results of soil erosion in aid of maintaining the navigability of waters and water courses and in aid of flood control * * *. Still another purpose is the reestablishment of farmers' pur- chasing power.106 102 Act of September 6,1950, 64 Stat. 595, -. 108 Act of February 29, 1936, 49 Stat. 1148, as amended, 16 U. S. O. 590g- 590q. This statute added §§ 7-17, to the Act of April 27, 1935, 49 Stat. 163, 16 U. S. G. 590a-590f. See also 7 C. F. R. 701.0 et seq., including specifica- tion of required conservation practices. 104 Secretary of Agriculture Memorandum No. 1118, August 18, 1945; see also Act of February 29, 1936, § 13, 49 Stat. 1148, 1151, 16 U. S. O. 590m and note following. 105 § 7(a), 49 Stat. 1148, as amended, 16 U. S. C. 59Og(a). 109 Id. |