An Act to provide punishment for certain confidence game swindles.
PL 84-661 (S.997), enacted 07/09/1956

70 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 661-JULY 9, 1956 
507 
"OTHER AUTHORITY NOT AFFECTED 
"SEC. 12. This Act shall not be construed as (1) superseding or 
limiting the functions, under any other law, of the Surgeon General 
or of the Public Health Service, or of any other officer or agency of the 
United States, relating to water pollution, or (2) affecting or impair-
ing the provisions of the Oil Pollution Act, 1924, or sections 13 through 
^| ^^' ^^^' 
17 of the Act entitled 'An Act making appropriations for the construc-
tion, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and 
harbors and for other purposes'j approved March 3,1899, as amended, 
33us^*40i^403 
or (3) affecting or impairing the provisions of any treaty of the United 404, 406-409,' 411-
c}i. 1 
416,418, 549,686, 
States. 
687l 
"SEPARABILITY 
"SEC. 13. If any provision of this Act, or the application of any 
provision of this Act to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the 
application of such provision to other persons or circumstances, and 
the remainder of this Act, shall not be affected thereby. 
(( 
SHORT TITLE 
"SEC. 14. This Act may be cited as the 'Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act'." 
SEC. 2, The title of such Act is amended to read "An Act to provide 
for water pollution control activities in the Public Health Service of 
the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and for other 
purposes." 
SEC. 3. Terms of office as members of the Water Pollution Control te^s^oVo^ffic''e? "' 
Advisory Board (established pursuant to section 6 (b) of the Water 
Pollution Control Act, as in effect prior to the enactment of this Act) 
subsisting on the date of enactment of this Act shall expire at the 
close of business on such date. 
SEC. 4. As soon as possible after the date of enactment of this Act the 
Surgeon General shall promulgate Federal shares in the manner pro-
vided in subsection (h) of section 5 of the Water Pollution Control 
Act, as amended by this Act (and without regard to the date specified 
therein for such promulgation), such Federal shares to be conclusive 
for the purposes of section 5 of such Act for the period beginning 
July 1, 1956, and ending June 30, 1959. 
SEC. 5. In the case of any discharge or discharges causing or contrib-
uting to water pollution with respect to which the actions by the 
Surgeon General prescribed under paragraph (2) of section 2 (d) of 
the Water Pollution Control Act, as in effect prior to the enactment of 
this Act, have already been completed prior to such enactment, the 
provisions of such section shall continue to be applicable; except that 
nothing in this section shall prevent action with respect to any such 
pollution under and in accordance with the provisions of the Water 
Pollution Control Act, as amended by this Act. 
SEC. 6. This Act may be cited as the "Water Pollution Control Act 
Amendments of 1956". 
Approved July 9, 1956. 
Public Law 661 
CHAPTER 519 
AN ACT 
j ^ y 9, 1956 
To provide punishment for certain confldence game swindles. 
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Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
in 
the United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 
508 
PUBLIC LAW 662-JULY 9, 1956 
[70 STAT. 
62 Stat. 806. 
2314 of title 18, United States Code, be, and it is hereby, amended 
by inserting therein immediately after the first paragraph there-
of, a new paragraph to read as follows: 
"Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or 
artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of 
false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, trans-
ports or causes to be transported, or induces any person to travel 
in, or to be transported in interstate commerce in the execution or 
concealment of a scheme or artifice to defraud that person of money or 
property having a value of $5,000 or more; or". 
Approved July 9, 1956. 
Public Law 662 
CHAPTER 520 
July 9, 1956 
-^ ACT 
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To amend the Federal Seed Act. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That section 406 
53 Stat. 1286. 
of the Federal Seed Act (7 U. S. C. 1596) is amended to read as 
follows: 
Penalties. 
'"''{^) Ally person who knowingly, or as a result either of gross 
negligence or of a failure to make a reasonable effort to inform him-
self of the pertinent facts, violates any provision of this Act or the 
rules and regulations made and promulgated thereunder shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall 
pay a fine of not more than $1,000, for the first offense, and upon 
conviction for each subsequent offense not more than $2,000." 
"(b) Any person who violates any provision of this Act or the 
rules and regulations made and promulgated thereunder shall forfeit 
to the United States a sum, not less than $25 or more than $500, for 
each such violation, which forfeiture shall be recoverable in a civil 
suit brought in the name of the United States." 
53 Stat. 1282. 
§^0. 2. Sectiou 204 of the Federal Seed Act (7 U. S. C. 1574) is 
amended to read as f 
ollow^s: 
noSw^amiM.*"** 
"SEC. 204. The use of a disclaimer or nonwarranty clause in any 
invoice, advertising, labeling, or written, printed, or graphic matter, 
pertaining to any seed shall not constitute a defense, or be used as a 
defense in any way, in any prosecution or other proceeding brought 
under the provisions of this Act, or the rules and regulations made 
and promulgated thereunder." 
53 Stat. 1288. 
§^0. 3. Sectiou 412 of the Federal Seed Act (7 U. S. C. 1602) is 
amended to read as follows: 
proce'e^ngs""^ *
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"SEC. 412. The institution of any one of the proceedings provided 
for in sections 405, 406, 409, 410, and 411 shall not bar institution of 
any of the others, except that action shall not be instituted under both 
subsections 406 (a) and (b) for the same cause of action. 
Nothing 
in this Act shall be construed as requiring the Secretary of Agriculture 
to recommend prosecution, or institution of civil penalty proceedings, 
libel proceedings, cease-and-desist proceedings, or proceedings for uie 
enforcement of a cease-and-desist order, for minor violations of this 
Act or the rules and regulations made and promulgated thereunder 
whenever he believes that the public interest will be adequately served 
by suitable written notice or warning." 
SEC. 4. The amendments made by this Act shall be applicable only 
with respect to violations occurring after the enactment of this Act. 
Approved July 9, 1956.