Indian Arts and Crafts Act
of 1935
[Public-No. 355-74th Congress]
[S. 2203]
AN ACT
To promote the development of Indian arts and crafts and to
create a board to assist therein, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a
board is hereby created in the Department of the Interior
to be known as "Indian Arts and Crafts Board", and
hereinafter referred to as the Board. The Board shall be composed
of five commissioners, who shall be appointed by the Secretary
of the Interior as soon as possible after passage of this
Act and shall continue in office, two for a term of two years,
one for a term of three years, and two for a term of four
years from the date of their appointment; the term of each
to be designated by the Secretary of the Interior, but their
successors shall be appointed for a term of four years except
that any person chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed
for the unexpired term of the commissioner he succeeds. Both
public officers and private citizens shall be eligible for
membership on the Board. The Board shall elect one of the
commissioners as chairman. One or two vacancies on the Board
shall not impair the right of the remaining commissioners
to exercise all the powers of the Board.
The commissioners shall serve without compensation: Provided,
That each Commissioner shall be reimbursed for all actual
expenses, including travel expenses, subsistence, and office
overhead, which the Board shall certify to have been incurred
as properly incidental to the performance of his duties as
a member of the Board.
SEC. 2. It shall be the function and the duty of
the Board to promote the economic welfare of Indian tribes
and the Indian wards of the Government through the development
of Indian arts and crafts and the expansion of the market
for the products of Indian art and craftsmanship. In the execution
of this function the Board shall have the following powers:
(a) To undertake market research to determine the best opportunity
for the sale of various products; (b) to engage in technical
research and give technical advice and assistance; (c) to
engage in experimentation directly or through selected agencies;
(d) to correlate and encourage the activities of the various
governmental and private agencies in the field; (e) to offer
assistance in the management of operating groups for the furtherance
of specific projects; (f) to make recommendations to appropriate
agencies for loans in furtherance of the production and sale
of Indian products; (g) to create Government trade marks of
genuineness and quality for Indian products and the products
of particular Indian tribes or groups; to establish standards
and regulations for the use of such trade marks; to license
corporations, associations, or individuals to use them; and
to charge a fee for their use; to register them in the United
States Patent Office without charge; (h) to employ executive
officers, including a general manager, and such other permanent
and temporary personnel as may be found necessary, and prescribe
the authorities, duties, responsibilities, and tenure and
fix the compensation of such officers and other employees:
Provided, That the Classification Act of 1923, as amended,
shall be applicable to all permanent employees except executive
officers, and that all employees other than executive officers
shall be appointed in accordance with the civil-service laws
from lists of eligibles to be supplied by the Civil Service
Commission; (i) as a Government agency to negotiate and execute
in its own name contracts with operating groups to supply
management, personnel, and supervision at cost, and to negotiate
and execute in its own name such other contracts and to carry
on such other business as may be necessary for the accomplishment
of the duties of the Board: Provided, That nothing in the
foregoing enumeration of powers shall be construed to authorize
the Board to borrow or lend money or to deal in Indian goods.
SEC. 3. The Board shall prescribe from time to time
rules and regulations governing the conduct of its business
and containing such provisions as it may deem appropriate
for the effective execution and administration of the powers
conferred upon it by this Act: Provided, That before prescribing
any procedure for the disbursement of money the Board shall
advise and consult with the General Accounting Office: Provided
further, That all rules and regulations proposed by the Board
shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Interior and shall
become effective upon his approval.
SEC. 4. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated
out of any sums in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated
such sums as may be necessary to defray the expenses of the
Board and carry out the purposes and provisions of this Act.
All income derived by the Board from any sources shall be
covered into the Treasury of the United States and shall constitute
a special fund which is hereby appropriated and made available
until expended for carrying out the purposes and provisions
of this Act. Out of the funds available to it at any time
the Board may authorize such expenditures , consistent with
the provisions of this Act, as it may determine to be necessary
for the accomplishment of the purposes and objectives of this
Act.
SEC. 5. Any person who shall counterfeit or colorably
imitate any Government trade mark used or devised by the Board
as provided in section 2 of this Act, or shall, except as
authorized by the Board, affix any such Government trade mark,
or shall knowingly, willfully, and corruptly affix any reproduction,
counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation thereof upon any
products, Indian or otherwise, or to any labels, signs, prints,
packages, wrappers, or receptacles intended to be used upon
or in connection with the sale of such products, or any person
who shall knowingly make any false statements for the purpose
of obtaining the use of any such Government trade mark, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall
be enjoined from further carrying on the act or acts complained
of and shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $2,000, or
imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both such fine and
imprisonment.
SEC. 6. Any person who shall willfully offer for
sale any goods, with or without any Government trade mark,
as Indian products or Indian products of a particular Indian
tribe or group, resident within the United States or the Territory
of Alaska, when such person knows such goods are not Indian
products or are not Indian products of the particular Indian
tribe or group, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be subject
to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or imprisonment not exceeding
six months, or both such fine and imprisonment.
It shall be the duty of each district attorney, to whom the
Board shall report in writing any violation of the provisions
of this section which has occurred within his jurisdiction,
to cause appropriate proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted
in the proper courts of the United States for the enforcement
of the penalties herein provided.
Approved, August 27, 1935.
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