Proclamation 4306—United States Customs 185th Anniversary Year

July 31, 1974, marked the one hundred eighty-fifth anniversary of the signing by President George Washington of legislation establishing a United States Customs Service.

The first customs officers began to collect the revenue and enforce the Tariff Act of July 4, 1789, on August 1, 1789. Since then, the customhouse and the customs officer have stood as symbols of national pride and sovereignty at ports of entry along the land and sea borders of our country.

Customs and related duties collected by the Department of the Treasury provided the principal revenues for the young Republic and assured its financial stability, from 1789 until the 20th century.

As the 200th birthday of our Nation approaches, it is especially appropriate that we recognize and salute the historic contributions made to the growth of our Republic by the United States Customs Service.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the year 1974 as United States Customs 185th Anniversary Year; and I call upon the United States Customs Service, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, to plan and participate in appropriate observances recognizing the revenue collection and law enforcement contributions of the Customs Service to the general welfare and economic stability of the Nation.

I also call upon appropriate community organizations to cooperate with the Customs Service in recognizing 185 years of mutually beneficial relationships.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-ninth.

RICHARD NIXON