Full text of Banking Holiday of 1933 : Executive Order

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FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
OF ST. LOUIS
April 5, 1933.

EXECUTIVE ORDER
To All Banks in District No. 8:
The President of the United States today issued an executive order reading as follows:
"Executive order forbidding the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates.
"By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 5(b) of the act of October 6, 1917, as amended
by section 2 of the act of March 9, 1933 entitled 'An act to provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking, and for other purposes/ in which amendatory act Congress declared that a serious
emergency exists, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do declare
that said national emergency still continues to exist and pursuant to said section do hereby prohibit the
hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates within the Continental United States by individuals, partnerships, associations and corporations and hereby prescribe the following regulations for
carrying out the purposes of this order:
"Section 1. F o r the purposes of this regulation, the
t e r m 'hoarding' means the withdrawal and withholding
of gold coin, gold bullion or gold certificates from the
recognized and customary channels of trade. T h e t e r m
'person* m e a n s any individual, partnership, association
or corporation.
"Section 2. All persons are hereby required to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, to a Federal reserve bank
or a branch or agency thereof or to any member bank
of the Federal reserve system all gold coin, gold bullion
and gold certificates now owned by t h e m or coming into
their ownership on or before April 28, 1933, except the
following:
(a) such amount of gold as may be required
for legitimate and customary use in industry,
profession or art within a reasonable time, including gold prior to refining and stocks of gold
in reasonable amounts for the usual trade requirements of owners mining and refining such
gold.
(b) gold coin and gold certificates in an
amount not exceeding in the aggregate $100 belonging to any one person; and gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of
rare and unusual coins.
(c) gold coin and bullion earmarked or held
in trust for a recognized foreign g o v e r n m e n t or
foreign central bank or the Bank for I n t e r n a tional Settlements.
(d) gold coin and bullion licensed for other
proper transactions (not involving hoarding)
including gold coin and bullion imported for reexport or held pending action on applications
for export licenses.
"Section 3. Until otherwise ordered any person becoming the owner of any gold coin, gold bullion or gold
certificates after April 28, 1933, shall, within three days
after receipt thereof, deliver the same in the manner
prescribed in section 2; unless such gold coin, gold bullion or gold certificates are held for any of the purposes
specified in paragraphs ( a ) , (b) or (c) of section 2; or
unless such gold coin or gold bullion is held for purposes
specified in paragraph (d) of section 2 and the person
holding it is, with respect to such gold coin or bullion,
a licensee or applicant for license pending action thereon.
"Section 4. U p o n receipt of gold coin, gold bullipn
or gold certificates delivered to it in accordance with
sections 2 or 3, the F e d e r a l reserve bank or m e m b e r
bank will pay therefor an equivalent amount of any other
form of coin or currency coined or issued under the laws
of the United States.

"Section 5. Member banks shall deliver all gold coin,
gold bullion and gold certificates owned or received by
them (other than as exempted under the provisions of
section 2) to the Federal reserve banks of their respective districts and receive credit or p a y m e n t therefor.
"Section 6. T h e Secretary of the T r e a s u r y out of
the sum made available to the President by section 501
of the act of March 9, 1933, will in all proper cases pay
the reasonable costs of transportation of gold coin, gold
bullion or gold certificates delivered to a m e m b e r bank
or F e d e r a l reserve bank in accordance with sections 2,
3 or 5 hereof, including the cost of insurance, protection
and such other incidental costs as m a y be necessary,
upon production of satisfactory evidence of such costs.
Voucher forms for this purpose may be procured from
Federal reserve banks.
"Section 7. I n cases where the delivery of gold coin,
gold bullion or gold certificates by the owners thereof
within the time set forth above will involve extraordinary
hardship or difficulty, the Secretary of the T r e a s u r y may,
in his discretion, extend the time within which such
delivery m u s t be made. Applications for such extensions
m u s t be made in writing under oath, addressed to the
Secretary of the T r e a s u r y and filed with a F e d e r a l r e serve bank. Each application m u s t state the date to
which the extension is desired, the a m o u n t and location
of the gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates in
respect of which such application is made and the facts
showing extension to be necessary to avoid extraordinary
hardship or difficulty.
"Section 8. T h e Secretary of the T r e a s u r y is hereby
authorized and empowered to issue such further regulations as he m a y deem necessary to carry out the purposes of this order and to issue licenses thereunder,
t h r o u g h such officers or agencies as he m a y designate,
including licenses permitting the F e d e r a l reserve banks
and member banks of the Federal reserve system, in
r e t u r n for an equivalent amount of other coin, currency
or credit, to deliver, earmark or hold in trust gold coin
and bullion to or for persons showing the need for the
same for any of the purposes specified in paragraphs ( a ) ,
(c) and (d) of section 2 of these regulations.
"Section 9. W h o e v e r willfully violates any provision
of this executive order or of these regulations or of any
rule, regulation or license isued t h e r e u n d e r m a y be fined
not more than $10,000 or, if a natural person, may be
imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both; and any
officer, director, or agent of any corporation w h o knowingly participates in any such violation m a y be punished
by a like fine, imprisonment or both.

"This order and these regulations may be modified or revoked at any time/
The White House.
April 5,1933.




FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Respectfully,
WM. McC. MARTIN,
Governor.