ALBERT C. RITCHIE, GOVERNOR. 1455

agent or representative, is satisfied "of the inability to proper-
ly conduct the business of commission merchant, " with no
right to have the merits and facts of any such decision ade-
quately reviewed by any tribunal.

A good many other objections are made to the bill, some of
them apparently important and others not, but the real and
serious objection from my point of view is the almost un-
limited powers which the bill confers upon the State Board
of Agriculture.

The business of commission merchant is a long established
and honorable one, and certainly the great majority at least of
commission merchants are honorable and responsible men. I
do not see any reason for subjecting them to a drastic meas-
ure of control which, whether it renders it difficult to trans-
act their business or not, certainly extends the State's regula-
tory powers considerably beyond the necessities of the present
situation.

For these reasons, I feel that I must disapprove the bill, but
in doing so I want the farmers to know that I will cooperate
in the preparation of a measure for submission to the next
Legislature which will provide for the commission merchant
business some suitable form of regulation which will meet the
situation. This ought to be a form of regulation which will
not unduly interfere with the transaction of the commission
merchant business, and at the same time will give the farmers
such information as to sales and transactions as will assure
them that their accountings are correct, and establish a feeling
of confidence between the farmers and the commission mer-
chants with whom they deal.

Senate Bill No. 302 was not introduced until March 7, 1929,
slightly more than three weeks before the close of the 1929
session. This hardly gave sufficient time for the adjustment
of natural differences in a measure of this importance.

I am convinced, however, that representatives of the com-
mission merchants; and of the farmers and of their respective
organizations will be able, through conference and discussion,
to draft a suitable and satisfactory measure which will remedy
the existing conditions, and at the proper time I will appoint
a representative committee to study all phases of the situation
and report an appropriate bill to the next Legislature.