Full text of Banking Holiday of 1933 : President's Proclamation

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
OF
ST. LOUIS
March 6, 1933.

P R E S I D E N T ' S PROCLAMATION
To All Banks in District No. 8:
Whereas there have been heavy and unwarranted
withdrawals of gold and currency from our banking institutions for the purpose of hoarding; and,
Whereas continuous and increasingly extensive speculative activity abroad in foreign exchange has resulted
in severe drains on the nation's stocks of gold; and,
Whereas these conditions have created a national
emergency; and,
Whereas it is in the best interests of all bank depositors that a period of respite be provided with a view to
preventing further hoarding of coin, bullion or currency
or speculation in foreign exchange and permitting the
application of appropriate measures to protect the interests of our people; and,
Whereas it is provided in section 5 (b) of the act of
October 6, 1917 (40 stat. 1. 411) as amended, "that the
President may investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under
such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, by means
of license or otherwise, any transactions in foreign exchange and the export, hoarding, melting or earmarking
of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, * * *" and,
Whereas it is provided in section 16 of the said act
"that whoever shall willfully violate any of the provisions of this act or of any license, rule, or regulation issued thereunder, and whoever shall willfully violate, neglect, or refuse to comply with any order of the President issued in compliance with the provisions of this act,
shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $10,000,
or, if a natural person, imprisoned for not more than
ten years, or both, * * *".
Now, therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President
of the United States of America, in view of such national
emergency and by virtue of the authority vested in me by
said act and in order to prevent the export, hoarding, or
earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency,
do hereby proclaim, order, direct and declare that from
Monday, the sixth day of March, to Thursday, the ninth
day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-three, both

dates inclusive, there shall be maintained and observed
by all banking institutions and all branches thereof
located in the United States of America, including the
territories and insular possessions, a bank holiday, and
that during said period all banking transactions shall be
suspended. During such holiday, excepting as hereinafter
provided, no such banking institution or branch shall pay
out, export, earmark or permit the withdrawal or transfer
in any manner or by any device whatsoever, of any gold
or silver coin or bullion or currency or take any other
action which might facilitate the hoarding thereof; nor
shall any such banking institution or branch pay out
deposits, make loans or discounts, deal in foreign exchange, transfer credits from the United States to any
place abroad, or transact any other banking business
whatsoever,
During such holiday, the Secretary of the Treasury,
with the approval of the President and under such regulations as he may prescribe, is authorized and empowered (A) to permit any or all of such banking institutions
to perform any or all of the usual banking functions, (B)
to direct, require or permit the issuance of clearing house
certificates or other evidences of claims against assets of
banking institutions, and (C) to authorize and direct the
creation in such banking institutions of special trust
accounts for the receipt of new deposits which shall be
subject to withdrawal on demand without any restriction
or limitation and shall be kept separately in cash or on
deposit in Federal reserve banks or invested in obligations of the United States.
As used in this order the term "banking institutions"
shall include all Federal reserve banks, national banking
associations, banks, trust companies, savings banks, building and loan associations, credit unions, or other corporations, partnerships, associations or persons engaged in
the business of receiving deposits, making loans, discounting business paper, or transacting any other form
of banking business.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed.
Done in the City of Washington the sixth day of March, 1 A. M. in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three.
(Seal)
By the President:
Cordell Hull,
Secretary of State.



FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.