Proclamation No. 1392, September 7, 1917, Restricting Exports of Coin, Bullion, and Currency
By the President of the United States of America
A PROCLAMATION
Whereas Congress has enacted, and the President has on the fifteenth day of June, 1917, approved a law which contains the following provisions:
“Whenever during the present war the President shall find that the public safety shall so require, and shall make proclamation thereof, it shall be unlawful to export from or ship from or take out of the United States to any country named in such proclamation any article or articles mentioned in such proclamation, except at such time or times, and under such regulations and orders, and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President shall prescribe, until otherwise ordered by the President or by Congress: Provided, however, that no preference shall be given to the ports of one State over those of another.
“Any person who shall export, ship, or take out, or deliver or attempt to deliver for export, shipment, or taking out, any article in violation of this title, or of any regulation or order made hereunder, shall be fined not more than $10,000, or, if a natural person, imprisoned for not more than two years, or both; and any article so delivered or exported, shipped, or taken out, or so attempted to be delivered or exported, shipped, or taken out, shall be seized [Page 944] and forfeited to the United States; and any officer, director, or agent of a corporation who participates in any such violation shall be liable to like fine or imprisonment, or both.
“Whenever there is reasonable cause to believe that any vessel, domestic or foreign, is about to carry out of the United States any article or articles in violation of the provisions of this title, the collector of customs for the district in which such vessel is located is hereby authorized and empowered, subject to review by the Secretary of Commerce, to refuse clearance to any such vessel, domestic or foreign, for which clearance is required by law, and by formal notice served upon the owners, master, or person or persons in command or charge of any domestic vessel for which clearance is not required by law, to forbid the departure of such vessel from the port, and it shall thereupon be unlawful for such vessel to depart. Whoever, in violation of any of the provisions of this section shall take, or attempt to take, or authorize the taking of any such vessel out of port or from the jurisdiction of the United States, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both; and, in addition, such vessel, her tackle, apparel, furniture, equipment, and her forbidden cargo shall be forfeited to the United States.”
And whereas the President has heretofore by proclamation, under date of the twenty-seventh day of August in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventeen, declared certain exports in time of war unlawful,1 and the President finds that the public safety requires that such proclamation be amended and supplemented in respect to the articles hereinafter mentioned;
Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim to all whom it may concern that the public safety requires that, except at such time or times, and under such regulations and orders, and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President shall prescribe, until otherwise ordered by the President or by Congress, the following articles, namely: coin, bullion and currency: shall not, on and after the 10th day of September in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventeen, be exported from or shipped from or taken out of the United States or its territorial possessions to Albania, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, her colonies, possessions or protectorates, Germany, her colonies, possessions or protectorates, Greece, Leichtenstein, Luxembourg, The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, her colonies, possessions or protectorates, Sweden, Switzerland or Turkey, Abyssinia, Afghanistan, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, her colonies, possessions or protectorates, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, her colonies, possessions or protectorates, Great Britain, her colonies, possessions or [Page 945] protectorates, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, the colonies, possessions or protectorates of The Netherlands, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Persia, Peru, Portugal, her colonies, possessions or protectorates, Roumania, Russia, Salvador, San Marino, Serbia, Siam, Uruguay, or Venezuela.
The regulations, orders, limitations and exceptions prescribed will be administered by and under the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, from whom licenses in conformity with said regulations, orders, limitations and exceptions will issue.
Except as hereby amended and supplemented, the above mentioned proclamation under date of August 27, 1917, shall continue in full force and effect.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.
[seal] Done in the District of Columbia, this 7th day of September in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventeen and of the Independence of the United States of America the One Hundred and Forty-second.
By the President,
Robert Lansing
,
Secretary of State.