Executive Order 2729A—Vesting Power and Authority in Designated Officers and Making Rules and Regulations Under Trading with the Enemy Act and Title VII of the Act Approved June 15, 1917

By virtue of the authority vested in me by "An act to define regulate, and punish trading with the enemy and for other purposes," approved October 6, 1917, and by Title VII of the act approved June 15, 1917, entitled "An act to punish acts of interference with the foreign relations, the neutrality and the foreign commerce of the United States, to punish espionage and better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States and for other purposes" (hereinafter designated as the espionage act), I hereby make the following orders and rules and regulations:

WAR TRADE BOARD

I hereby establish a War Trade Board to be composed of representatives, respectively, of the Secretary of State, of the Secretary of the Treasury, of the Secretary of Agriculture, of the Secretary of Commerce, of the Food Administrator, and of the United States Shipping Board.

I hereby vest in said board the power and authority to issue licenses under such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law, or to withhold or refuse licenses, for the exportation of all articles, except coin, bullion or currency, the exportation or taking of which out of the United States may be restricted by proclamations heretofore or hereafter issued by me under said Title VII of the espionage act.

I further hereby vest in said War Trade Board the power and authority to issue, upon such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law, or to withhold or refuse, licenses for the importation of all articles the importation of which may be restricted by any proclamation hereafter issued by me under section 11 of the trading with the enemy act.

I further hereby vest in said War Trade Board the power and authority not vested in other officers by subsequent provisions of this order, to issue, under such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law, or to withhold or refuse, licenses to trade either directly or indirectly with, to, or from, or for or on account of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, any other person, with knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that such other person is an enemy or ally of enemy, or is conducting or taking part in such trade directly or indirectly for or on account of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, an enemy or ally of enemy.

I further hereby vest in said War Trade Board the power and authority, under such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law, to issue to every enemy or ally of enemy, other than enemy or ally of enemy insurance or reinsurance companies, doing business within the United States through an agency or branch office, or otherwise, applying therefor within thirty days of October 6, 1917, licenses temporary or otherwise to continue to do business, or said board may withhold or refuse the same.

And I further hereby vest in said War Trade Board the executive administration of the provisions of section 4 (b) of the trading with the enemy act relative to granting licenses to enemies and enemy allies to assume or use other names than those by which they were known at the beginning of the war. And I hereby authorize said board to issue licenses not inconsistent with the provisions of law or to withhold or refuse licenses to any enemy or ally of enemy or partnership of which an enemy or ally of enemy is a member or was a member at the beginning of the war, to assume or use any name other than that by which such enemy or ally of enemy or partnership was ordinarily known at the beginning of the war.

I hereby revoke the Executive order of August 21, 1917, creating the Exports Administrative Board. All proclamations, rules, regulations, and instructions made or given by me under Title VII of the espionage act and now being administered by the Exports Administrative Board are hereby continued, confirmed, and made applicable to the War Trade Board, and all employees of the Exports Administrative Board are hereby transferred to and constituted employees of the War Trade Board in the same capacities, and said War Trade Board is hereby authorized to exercise without interruption, the powers heretofore exercised by said Exports Administrative Board.

The said War Trade Board is hereby authorized and empowered to take all such measures as may be necessary or expedient to administer the powers hereby conferred. And I hereby vest in the War Trade Board the power conferred upon the President by section 5 (a) to make such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with law, as may be necessary and proper for the exercise of the powers conferred upon said board.

WAR TRADE COUNCIL

I hereby establish a War Trade Council to be composed of the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, the Food Administrator, and the chairman of the Shipping Board, and I hereby authorize and direct the said War Trade Council thus constituted to act in an advisory capacity in such matters under said acts as may be referred to them by the President or the War Trade Board.

SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

I hereby vest in the Secretary of the Treasury the executive administration of any investigation, regulation, or prohibition of any transaction in foreign exchange, export or earmarking of gold or silver coin, or bullion or currency, transfers of credit in any form (other than credits relating solely to transactions to be executed wholly within the United States), and transfers of evidences of indebtedness or of the ownership of property between the United States, and any foreign country, or between residents of one or more foreign countries, by any person within the United States; and I hereby vest in the Secretary of the Treasury the authority and power to require any person engaged, in any such transaction to furnish under oath complete information relative thereto, 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.

I further hereby vest in the Secretary of the Treasury the executive administration of the provisions of subsection (c) of section 3 of the trading with the enemy act relative to sending, or taking out of, or bringing into, or attempting to send, take out of, or bring into, the United States, any letter, writing, or tangible form of communication, except in the regular course of the mail; and of the sending, taking, or transmitting or attempting to send, take, or transmit, out of the United States, any letter or other writing, book, map, plan, or other paper, picture, or any telegram, cablegram, or wireless message, or other form of communication intended for or to be delivered, directly or indirectly, to an enemy or ally of enemy. And said Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and empowered to issue licenses to send, take, or transmit out of the United States anything otherwise forbidden by said subsection (c) and give such consent or grant such exemption in respect thereto, as is not inconsistent with law, or to withhold or refuse the same.

I further authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to grant a license under such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law or to withhold or refuse the same to any "enemy" or "ally of enemy" insurance or reinsurance company doing business within the United States through an agency or branch office or otherwise, which shall make application within thirty days of October 6,1917.

I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of the Treasury, for the purpose of such executive administration, to take such measures, adopt such administrative procedure, and use such agency or agencies as he may from time to time deem necessary and proper for that purpose. The proclamation of the President, dated September 7, 1917, made under authority vested in him by Title VII of said act of Congress, approved June 15, 1917, shall remain in full force and effect. The Executive order, dated September 7, 1917, made under the authority of said title shall remain in full force and effect until new regulations shall have been established by the President, or by the Secretary of the Treasury, with the approval of the President, and thereupon shall be superseded.

CENSORSHIP BOARD

I hereby establish a Censorship Board to be composed of representatives, respectively, of the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster General, the War Trade Board, and the chairman of the Committee on Public Information.

And I hereby vest in said Censorship Board the executive administration of the rules, regulations, and proclamations from time to time established by the President under subsection (d) of section 3, of the trading with the enemy act, for the censorship of communications by mail, cable, radio, or other means of transmission passing between the United States and any foreign country from time to time specified by the President, or carried by any vessel, or other means of transportation touching at any port, place, or territory of the United States and bound to or from any foreign country.

The said Censorship Board is hereby authorized to take ad such measures as may be necessary or expedient to administer the powers hereby conferred.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

I further hereby vest in the Federal Trade Commission the power and authority to issue licenses under such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law or to withhold or refuse the same, to any citizen of the United States or any corporation organized within the United States to file and prosecute applications in the country of an enemy or ally of enemy for letters patent or for registration of trade-mark, print, label, or copyright, and to pay the fees required by law and the customary agents' fees, the maximum amount of which in each case shall be subject to the control of such commission; or to pay to any enemy or ally of enemy any tax, annuity, or fee which may be required by the laws of such enemy or ally of enemy nation in relation to patents, trade-marks, prints, labels and copyrights.

I hereby vest in the Federal Trade Commission the power and authority to issue, pursuant to the provisions of section 10 (c) of the trading with the enemy act, upon such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law, or to withhold or refuse, a license to any citizen of the United States, or any corporation organized within the United States, to manufacture or cause to be manufactured a machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or design, or to carry on or cause to be carried on a process under any patent, or to use any trade-mark, print, label, or copyrighted matter owned or controlled by an enemy or ally of enemy, at any time during the present war; and also to fix the prices of articles and products manufactured under such licenses necessary to the health of the military and the naval forces of the United States, or the successful prosecution of the war; and to prescribe the fee which may be charged for such license, not enceeding $100 and not exceeding 1 per centum of the fund deposited by the licensee with the Alien Property Custodian as provided by law.

I hereby further vest in the said Federal Trade Commission the executive administration of the provisions of section 10 (d) of the trading with the enemy act, the power and authority to prescribe the form of, and time and manner of filing statements of the extent of the use and enjoyment of the license and of the prices received and the times at which the licensee shall make payments to the Alien Property Custodian, and the amounts of said payments, in accordaiice with the trading with the enemy act.

I further hereby vest in the Federal Trade Commission the power and authority, whenever in its opinion the publication of an invention or the granting of a patent may be detrimental to the public safety or defense, or may assist the enemy, or endanger the seccessful prosecution of the war, to order that the invention be kept secret and the grant of letters patent withheld until the end of the war.

The said Federal Trade Commission is hereby authorized to take all such measures as may be necessary or expedient to administer the powers hereby conferred.

THE POSTMASTER GENERAL

I hereby vest in the Postmaster General the executive administration of all the provisions (except the penal provisions) of section 19, of the trading with the enemy act, relating to the printing, publishing, or circulation in any foreign language of any news item, editorial, or other printed matter respecting the Government of the United States or of any nation engaged in the present war, its policies, international relations, the state or conduct of the war or any matter relating thereto, and the filing with the postmaster at the place of publication, in the form of an affidavit of a true and complete translation of the entire article containing such matter proposed to be published in such print, newspaper, or publication, and the issuance of permits for the printing, publication, and distribution thereof free from said restriction. And the Postmaster General is authorized and empowered to issue such permits upon such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law and to refuse, withhold, or revoke the same.

The sum of $35,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary is hereby allotted out of the funds appropriated by the trading with the enemy act, to be expended by the Postmaster General in the administration of said section 19 thereof.

The Postmaster General is hereby authorized to take all such measures as may be necessary or expedient to administer the powers hereby conferred.

SECRETARY OF STATE

I hereby vest in the Secretary of State the executive administration of the provisions of subsection (b) of section 3 of the trading with the enemy act relative to any person transporting or attempting to transport any subject or citizen of an enemy or ally of enemy nation, and relative to transporting or attempting to transport by any owner, master, or other person in charge of a vessel of American registry, from any place to any other place, such subject or citizen of an enemy or enemy ally.

And I hereby authorize and empower the Secretary of State to issue licenses for such transportation of enemies and enemy allies or to withhold or refuse the same.

And said Secretary of State is hereby authorized and empowered to take all such measures as may be necessary or expedient to administer the powers hereby conferred and to grant, refuse, withhold, or revoke licenses thereunder.

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

I hereby vest in the Secretary of Commerce the power to review the refusal of any collector of customs under the provisions of section 13 and 14 of the trading with the enemy act, to clear any vessel, domestic or foreign, for which clearance is required by law.

ALIEN PROPERTY CUSTODIAN

I hereby vest in an Alien Property Custodian, to be hereafter appointed, the executive administration of all the provisions of section 7 (a), section 7 (c), and section 7 (d) of the trading with the enemy act, including all power and authority to require lists and reports, and to extend the time for filing the same, conferred upon the President by the provisions of said section 7 (a), and including the power and authority conferred upon the President by the provisions of said section 7 (c), to require the conveyance, transfer, assignment, delivery, or payment to himself, at such time and in such maimer as he shall prescribe, of any money or other properties owing to or belonging to or held for, by or on account of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of any enemy or ally of an enemy, not holding a license granted under the provisions of the trading with the enemy act, which, after investigation, said Alien Property Custodian shall determine is so owing, or so belongs, or is so held.

Any person who desires to make conveyance, transfer payment, assignment or delivery, under the provisions of section 7 (d) of the trading with the enemy act, to the Alien Property Custodian of any money or other property owing to or held for, by or on account of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of an enemy or ally of enemy, not holding a license granted as provided in the trading with the enemy act, or to whom any obligation or form of liability to such enemy or ally of enemy is presented for payment, shall file application with the Alien Property Custodian for consent and permit to so convey, transfer, assign, deliver, or pay such money or other property to him and said Alien Property Custodian is hereby authorized to exercise the power and authority conferred upon the President by the provisions of said section 7 (d) to consent and to issue permit upon such terms and conditions as are not inconsistent with law, or to withhold or refuse the same.

I further vest in the Alien Property Custodian the executive administration of all the provisions of section 8 (a), section 8 (b), and section 9 of the trading with the enemy act, so far as said sections relate to the powers and duties of said Alien Property Custodian.

I vest in the Attorney General all power and authority conferred upon the President by the provisions of section 9 of the trading with the enemy act.

The Alien Property Custodian to be hereafter appointed is hereby authorized to take all such measures as may be necessary or expedient, and not inconsistent with law, to administer the powers hereby conferred; and he shall further have the power and authority to make such rules and regulations not inconsistent with law as may be necessary and proper to carry out the provisions of said section 7 (a), section 7 (c), section 7 (d), section 8 (a), and section 8 (b), conferred upon the President by the provisions thereof and by the provisions of section 5 (a), said rules and regulations to be duly approved by the Attorney General.

The Alien Property Custodian to be hereafter appointed shall, "under the supervision and direction of the President, and under such rules and regulations as the President shall prescribe," have administration of all moneys (including checks and drafts payable on demand) and of all property, other than money which shall come into his possession in pursuance of the provisions of the trading with the enemy act, in accordance with the provisions of section 6, section 10, and section 12 thereof.

WOODROW WILSON

THE WHITE HOUSE,

October 12, 1917.