4. House Minority Report (Excerpt)

To Protect the Currency Systems of the United States and To Provide for the Better Use of the Monetary Gold Stock, House Report No. 292, Part 2, 73d Congress, 2d Session, Minority Report To Accompany 6976, January 19, 1934

We recommend that section 13 be stricken from the bill. This section simply provides that all actions, regulations, rules, orders, and proelamations heretofore taken, promulgated, made, or issued by the President of the United States or the Secretary of the Treasury, under the act of March 9, 1933, or under section 43 or section 45 of title III of the act of May 12, 1933, are hereby approved, ratified, and confirmed.

We have been wholly unable to find anyone who can give us any reason why the enactment of this section is necessary. Such orders as the President or the Secretary of the Treasury have made under these acts, if in keeping with the acts, require no confirmation to assure their validity. If such orders are not in keeping with the acts, it is our opinion that this confirmation by the Congress in this bill would give them no added validity. Further, we have been unable to find out what is the contents of all the actions, regulations, rules, orders, and proclamations heretofore taken, promulgated, made, or issued by the President or the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Therefore, we do not know what is being ratified in this section. None of the members of the committee knows what is being ratified. We make more bold the assertion, no Member of Congress actually knows what is being ratified if this section is left in the bill.

F. Joint Resolution of May 7, 1940

1. Text of Act

54 Stat. 179, 12 U.S.C. 95a, 50 U.S.C. App. 5
Approved May 7, 1940

JOINT RESOLUTION To amend section 5(b) of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended, and for other purposes

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first sentence of subdivision (b) of section 5 of the Act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat. 411), as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"During time of war or during any other period of national emergency declared by the President, the President may, through any agency that he may designate, or otherwise, investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or otherwise, any transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of credit between or payments by or to banking institutions as defined by the President, and export, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, and any transfer, withdrawal or exportation of, or dealing in, any evidences of indebtedness or evidences of ownership of property in which any foreign state or a national or political subdivision thereof, as defined by the President, has any interest, by any person within the United States or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof; and the President may require any person to furnish under oath, complete information relative to any transaction referred to in this subdivision or to any property in which any such foreign state, national or political subdivision has any interest, including the production of any books of account, contracts, letters, or other papers, in connection therewith in the custody or control of such person, either before or after such transaction is completed.". SEC. 2. Executive Order Numbered 8389 of April 10, 1940, and the regulations and general rulings issued thereunder by the Secretary of the Treasury are hereby approved and confirmed.

SEC. 3. Nothing in this Joint Resolution shall be deemed to repeal or to modify in any manner any of the provisions of the Act of April 13, 1934, 48 Stat. 574 (the Johnson Act) or of the Neutrality Act of 1939 (Public Resolution Numbered 54, Seventy-sixth Congress). Approved, May 7, 1940.

(259)

2. House Debate

86 Cong. Rec. 5335–5336, May 1, 1940

*

AMENDMENT OF SECTION 5 (B) OF THE ACT OF OCTOBER 6, 1917

Mr. WILLIAMS of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the joint resolution (S. J. Res. 252) to amend section 5(b) of the act of October 6, 1917, as amended, and for other purposes, and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration and passage.

The Clerk read the title of the Senate joint resolution.

There being no objection, the Clerk read the Senate joint resolution, as follows:

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 252

Resolved, etc., That the first sentence of subdivision (b) of section 5 of the act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat. 411), as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"During time of war or during any other period of national emergency declared by the President, the President may, through any agency that he may designate, or otherwise, investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or otherwise, any transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of credit between or payments by or to banking institutions as defined by the President, and export, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, and any transfer, withdrawal, or exportation of, or dealing in, any evidences of indebtedness or evidences of ownership of property in which any foreign state or a national or political subdivision thereof, as defined by the President, has any interest, by any person within the United States or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof; and the President may require any person to furnish under oath, complete information relative to any transaction referred to in this subdivision or to any property in which any such foreign state, national, or political subdivision has any interest, including the production of any books of account, contracts, leters, or other papers, in connection therewith in the custody or control of such person, either before or after such transaction is completed."

SEC. 2. Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, and the regulations and general rulings issued thereunder by the Secretary of the Treasury are hereby approved and confirmed.

SEC. 3. Nothing in this joint resolution shall be deemed to repeal or to modify in any manner any of the provisions of the act of April 13, 1934 (48 Stat. 574) (The Johnson Act), or of the Neutrality Act of 1939 (Public Resolution No. 54, Seventy-sixth Congress).

The joint resolution was ordered to be read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

A similar House joint resolution was laid on the table.

3. Senate Debate (Excerpts)

86 Cong. Rec. 5006-5009, 5103, 5168–5184, April 25, 26, and 29, 1940

PROTECTION OF CERTAIN FOREIGN PROPERTY WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

Mr. WAGNER. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. MCKELLAR. I yield to the Senator from New York.

Mr. WAGNER. I ask unanimous consent that the unfinished business be temporarily laid aside so that I may bring up a joint resolution of an emergenncy character, to which I feel very confident there will be no objection, and which will occasion no protracted debate.

Mr. MCKELLAR. I have no objection if the measure will take only a short time.

Mr. WAGNER. I feel very sure that is the case.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the request of the Senator from New York?

Mr. CONNALLY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, what is the joint resolution?

Mr. McNARY. What is the joint resolution?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will state the title of the joint resolution for the information of the Senate.

The Chief Clerk. Joint resolution (S.J. Res. 252) to amend section 5 (b) of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended, and for other purposes. Mr. McNARY. Mr. President, a statement of the nature of the joint resolution should be made. I am not conversant with it.

Mr. MCKELLAR. I yield to the Senator from New York for that purpose.

Mr. WAGNER. Mr. President, I will briefly explain the joint resolution, if that is what the Senator wants.

Mr. McNARY. Yes; that is what I am requesting.

Mr. WAGNER. The Senate will remember that on April 10, 1940, the President issued an Executive order and the Secretary of the Treasury issued regulations, under authority of section 5 (b) of the Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917, as amended by the act of March 9, 1933. The Executive order imposed certain restrictions upon any transactions in foreign exchange; and upon the transfer of credits from one bank to another within the United States or from a bank of the United States to a foreign bank, and any transactions in evidences of indebtedness, or evidences of the ownership of property, in which a national of the Governments of Norway or Denmark, or the Governments of Norway or Denmark themselves, had any interest, by any person within the United States, or subject to the jurisdiction thereof.

The purpose of the joint resolution, of course, is very clear. We want to protect property within the jurisdiction of the United States which is owned by these governments or their nationals.

Shortly after the Executive order was issued, one of the large banking firms in New York raised the question whether, under the amendments of 1933 to the Trading With the Enemy Act, the President had power to issue an Executive order regulating transactions in evidences of indebtedness or evidences of the ownership of property; in other words, whether or not these regulations could be imposed upon transfers of stocks and bonds and other evidences of ownership.

The contention was that the power was limited to transactions in foreign exchange or the transfer of credit. There was no question that under the act of 1917 the broader power existed, from the wording of the act itself. Of course, that act operated only in wartime, not during peacetime emergency situations.

In 1933 Congress amended the act so as to make it applicable during peacetime emergencies, and to authorize the President to deal also with the hoarding of gold and the exportation of gold. In redrafting the act, the words "evidences of indebtedness" were omitted. It was clearly an inadvertence, because it was asserted here on the Senate floor, as well as in the House, that the amendment was not intended to weaken in any way the power of the President to deal with these matters, but rather to extend those powers to include the hoarding of gold and the exportation of gold.

Mr. MCKELLAR. Was the report of the committee unanimous or substantially so?

Mr. WAGNER. The report of the committee was absolutely unanimous, and I am sure that the vote of the Senate will be unanimous. Mr. BARKLEY. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. WAGNER. I yield.

Mr. BARKLEY. It should also be stated-and I am sure the Senator omitted it by oversight-that the joint resolution is intended not only to protect the nationals of Norway and Denmark who have interests in stocks, securities, and other property in the United States, but it also intended to protect American citizens in the event they have claims of any sort growing out of these transactions, and therefore we preserve the property not only for its owners but for the benefit of Americans who may have claims.

Mr. WAGNER. Yes; we are also protecting the banks which may be called upon to make transfers of securities.

Mr. CONNALLY. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. WAGNER. I yield.

Mr. CONNALLY. I have not read the joint resolution, but it is not restricted to Denmark and Norway, is it?

Mr. WAGNER. I said that the Executive order was restricted to Norway and Denmark. The President may deal with any similar situation arising in any country.

Mr. CONNALLY. The measure is generally in its character. If war should break out in South Africa, it would apply, would it not?

Mr. WAGNER. It would apply anywhere, in Sweden, or Holland, or any of the countries which may be invaded. Wherever the President would feel that the emergency justified this protection, he would be authorized to afford it.

I was referring to the Executive order issued by the President, which dealt only with Norway and Denmark, because they are the countries which have been invaded just recently.