FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

OF ST. LOUIS
April 5, 1933.
EXECUTI VE 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 emer-
gency 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 indi-
viduals, partnerships, associations and corporations and hereby prescribe the following regulations for
carrying out the purposes of this order:
"Sect i on 1. For t he purposes of this regul at i on, t he
t er m ' hoardi ng' means t he wi t hdrawal and wi t hhol di ng
of gold coin, gold bullion or gold certificates from t he
recogni zed and cust omary channels of t rade. The t er m
' person* means any individual, part nershi p, association
or corporat i on.
"Sect i on 2. All persons are hereby requi red to deliv-
er on or before May 1, 1933, to a Federal reserve bank
or a branch or agency t hereof or to any member bank
of t he Federal reserve syst em all gold coin, gold bullion
and gold certificates now owned by t hem or comi ng into
t hei r ownershi p on or before April 28, 1933, except t he
fol l owi ng:
(a) such amount of gold as may be requi red
for l egi t i mat e and cust omary use in i ndust ry,
profession or art wi t hi n a reasonabl e t i me, in-
cluding gold prior to refining and stocks of gold
in reasonabl e amount s for t he usual t rade re-
qui rement s of owners mi ni ng and refining such
gold.
(b) gold coin and gold certificates in an
amount not exceedi ng in t he aggr egat e $100 be-
l ongi ng t o any one per son; and gold coins hav-
i ng a recogni zed special value to collectors of
r ar e and unusual coins.
(c) gold coin and bullion ear mar ked or held
in t r ust for a recogni zed foreign gover nment or
foreign cent ral bank or t he Bank for I nt er na-
tional Set t l ement s.
(d) gold coin and bullion licensed for ot her
proper t ransact i ons (not involving hoardi ng)
including gold coin and bullion i mport ed for re-
export or held pendi ng action on applications
for export licenses.
"Sect i on 3. Unt i l ot herwi se ordered any person be-
comi ng t he owner of any gold coin, gold bullion or gold
certificates after April 28, 1933, shall, within t hree days
after receipt thereof, deliver t he same in t he manner
prescri bed in section 2; unless such gold coin, gold bul-
lion or gold certificates are held for any of t he purposes
specified in par agr aphs ( a) , (b) or (c) of section 2; or
unless such gold coin or gold bullion is held for purposes
specified in par agr aph (d) of section 2 and t he person
hol di ng it is, wi t h respect to such gold coin or bullion,
a licensee or applicant for license pendi ng action t hereon.
"Sect i on 4. Upon recei pt of gold coin, gold bullipn
or gold certificates delivered to it in accordance wi t h
sections 2 or 3, t he Feder al reserve bank or member
bank will pay t herefor an equivalent amount of any ot her
form of coin or currency coined or issued under t he laws
of t he Uni t ed St at es.
"Section 5. Member banks shall deliver all gold coin,
gol d bullion and gold certificates owned or received by
t hem (ot her t han as exempt ed under t he provisions of
section 2) to t he Feder al reserve banks of their respec-
tive districts and receive credit or payment t herefor.
"Sect i on 6. The Secr et ar y of t he Tr easur y out of
the sum made available to t he Pr esi dent by section 501
of t he act of Mar ch 9, 1933, will in all proper cases pay
t he reasonabl e costs of t ransport at i on of gold coin, gold
bullion or gold certificates delivered to a member bank
or Feder al reserve bank in accordance wi t h sections 2,
3 or 5 hereof, i ncl udi ng t he cost of i nsurance, prot ect i on
and such ot her incidental costs as may be necessary,
upon product i on of satisfactory evidence of such costs.
Voucher forms for this purpose may be procured from
Federal reserve banks.
"Sect i on 7. I n cases wher e the del i very of gold coin,
gold bullion or gold certificates by t he owners t hereof
wi t hi n t he time set forth above will involve ext raordi nary
hardshi p or difficulty, t he Secret ary of t he Tr easur y may,
in his discretion, ext end t he t i me wi t hi n whi ch such
delivery must be made. Applications for such ext ensi ons
must be made in wri t i ng under oath, addressed t o t he
Secret ary of t he Tr easur y and filed wi t h a Feder al r e-
serve bank. Each application must st at e t he dat e t o
which t he ext ensi on is desired, the amount and location
of t he gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates in
respect of which such application is made and t he facts
showi ng ext ensi on to be necessary to avoid ext raordi nary
hardshi p or difficulty.
"Sect i on 8. The Secret ary of t he Tr easur y is hereby
aut hori zed and empowered to issue such furt her regul a-
tions as he may deem necessary t o carry out t he pur-
poses of this order and t o issue licenses t hereunder,
t hr ough such officers or agenci es as he may desi gnat e,
including licenses per mi t t i ng t he Feder al reserve banks
and member banks of t he Feder al reserve syst em, in
r et ur n for an equivalent amount of ot her coin, currency
or credit, to deliver, ear mar k or hold in t r ust gold coin
and bullion to or for persons showi ng t he need for t he
same for any of t he purposes specified in par agr aphs ( a) ,
(c) and (d) of section 2 of t hese regul at i ons.
"Sect i on 9. Whoever willfully violates any provision
of this executive order or of t hese regul at i ons or of any
rule, regul at i on or license isued t her eunder may be fined
not mor e t han $10,000 or, if a nat ural person, may be
i mpri soned for not mor e t han t en years, or bot h; and any
officer, director, or agent of any corporat i on who know-
ingly part i ci pat es in any such violation may be punished
by a like fine, i mpri sonment or bot h.
"This order and these regulations may be modified or revoked at any time/
The Whi t e House.
April 5,1933.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Respectfully,
WM. McC. MARTIN,
Governor.