Time: Wed Apr 16 12:09:04 1997
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Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 09:47:01 -0700
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: L&J: Criminal Gold, Federal Gold [Part 2] (fwd)
<snip>
>
>RETROACTIVE RUBBERSTAMPING: THE EMERGENCY BANKING ACT
>
>The House of Representatives convened at noon on March 9, 1933. After
>the customary opening prayer and the disposing of certain routine
>"housekeeping" matters, a message was received from the President which
>requested passage of H.R. 1491.
>
>The bill's preamble dramatizes the haste with which the President's
>minions sought to railroad the bill through both Houses of Congress:
>"An Act to provide relief in the existing national emergency in
>banking, and for other purposes. Be it enacted ... that the Congress
>hereby declares that a serious emergency exists and that it is
>imperatively necessary speedily to put into effect remedies of uniform
>national application."
>
>In the house, Majority Leader Joseph W. Byrns, Democrat of Tennessee,
>asked for immediate consideration of the bill and that debate be
>limited to forty minutes, twenty minutes for each party. Mr. Byrns
>expressed the hope that
>
> under the peculiar circumstances and under the serious
> circumstances which confront the country, we agree to
> take this bill up now, pass it, send it to the Senate
> so it may become a law this evening, and thus enable
> the President of the United States to open the banks
> tomorrow.
>
>Next rose House Minority Leader Bertrand H. Snell, Republican of New
>York. After noting that "it is entirely out of the ordinary to pass
>legislation in this House that, as far as I know, is not even in print
>at the time it is offered," Mr. Snell, in a burst of bipartisanship,
>observed:
>
> The house is burning down, and the President of the
> United States says this is the way to put out the fire.
> [Applause.]
>
><<Fire, fire, fire. Its *always* fire!>>
>
> And to me at this time there is only one answer to this
> question, and that is to give the President what he
> demands and says is necessary to meet the situation. I
> do not know that I am in favor of all the details
> carried in this bill, but whether I am or not, I am
> going to give the President of the United States today
> his way. He is the man responsible, and we must at
> this time follow his lead. I hope no one on this side
> of the aisle will object to the consideration of the
> request. [Applause.]
>
>Someone then produced a copy of the bill, and it was read by the Clerk
>of the House. The bill was passed. After a short discussion, the
>spectacle of what had just transpired in the House in that hour-and-a-
>half session was best expressed by Congressman Lundeen:
>
> Mr. LUNDEEN. Mr. Speaker, today the Chief Executive
> sent to this House of Representatives a banking bill for
> immediate enactment. The author of this bill seems to
> be unknown. No one has told us who drafted the bill.
> There appears to be a printed copy at the speakers desk,
> but no printed copies are available for the House
> Members. The bill has been driven through the House
> with cyclonic speed after 40 minutes debate, 20 minutes
> for the minority and 20 minutes for the majority.
>
> I have demanded a roll call, but have been unable to get
> the attention of the Chair. Others have done the same,
> notably Congressman Sinclair of North Dakota, and
> Congressman Bill Lemke, of North Dakota, as well as some
> of our other Farmer-Labor Members. Fifteen men were
> standing, demanding a roll call, but that number is not
> sufficient; we therefore have the spectacle of the great
> House of Representatives of the United States of America
> passing, after a 40-minute debate, a bill its Members
> never read and never saw, a bill whose author is unknown.
> The great majority of the Members have been unable to
> get a minute's time to discuss this bill; we have been
> refused a roll call; and we have been refused recognition
> by the Chair. I do not mean to say that the Speaker of
> the House of Representatives intended to ignore us, but
> everything was in such a turmoil and there was so much
> excitement that we simply were not recognized.
>
> I WANT TO PUT MYSELF ON RECORD AGAINST PROCEDURE OF THIS
> KIND AND AGAINST THE USE OF SUCH METHODS IN PASSING
> LEGISLATION AFFECTING MILLIONS OF LIVES AND BILLIONS OF
> DOLLARS. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT UNDER THIS BILL THOUSANDS
> OF SMALL BANKS WILL BE CRUSHED AND WIPED OUT OF
> EXISTENCE, AND THAT MONEY AND CREDIT CONTROL WILL BE
> STILL FURTHER CONCENTRATED IN THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO
> NOW HOLD THE POWER.
>
> IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT IN NORMAL TIMES, AFTER CAREFUL
> STUDY OF A PRINTED COPY AND AFTER CAREFUL DEBATE AND
> CONSIDERATION, THIS BILL WOULD NEVER HAVE PASSED THIS
> HOUSE OR ANY OTHER HOUSE. ITS PASSAGE COULD BE
> ACCOMPLISHED ONLY BY RAPID PROCEDURE, HURRIED AND HECTIC
> DEBATE, AND A GENERAL RUSH FOR VOTING WITHOUT ROLL CALL.
>
> I believe in the House of Representatives. I believe in
> the power that was given us by the people. I believe
> that Congress is the greatest and most powerful body in
> America, and I believe that the people have vested in
> Congress their ultimate and final power in every great,
> vital question, and the Constitution bears me out in
> that.
>
> I am suspicious of this railroading of bills through our
> House of Representatives, and I refuse to vote for a
> measure unseen and unknown.
>
> I want the record to show that I was, and am, against
> this bill and this method of procedure; and I believe no
> good will come out of it for America. We must not
> abdicate our power to exercise judgment. We must not
> allow ourselves to be swept off our feet by hysteria,
> and we must not let the power of the Executive paralyze
> our legislative action. If we do, it would be better
> for us to resign and go home -- and save the people the
> salary they are paying us.
>
> I look forward to that day when we shall read the bill
> we are considering, and see the author of the bill
> stand before the House and explain it; and then, after
> calm deliberation and sober judgment -- after full and
> free debate -- I hope to see sane and sensible
> legislation passed which will lift America out of this
> panic and disaster into which we were plunged by the
> World War.
>
>Neither "calm deliberation and sober judgment," nor "full and free
>debate" characterized what took place next in the Senate, where H.R.
>1491 -- which affected "millions of lives and billions of dollars" --
>spent the afternoon with at least eighty United States Senators.
>Seventy-three of them voted "yea" and the bill, which had originated in
>the House at noon, passed the Senate by 7:30 P.M. Later that same
>night, Roosevelt approved it and H.R. 1491 became the Emergency Banking
>Act.
>
>Fundamentally, the Act accomplished three things. First, it
>retroactively approved the President's illegal action of March 6,
>1933. (If Roosevelt had thought himself to be on solid legal ground
>when he closed the banks, one could ask why he thought it necessary to
>go to Congress in the first place. This legislative "rubber stamp"
>approach to past and future executive action would be used more than
>once in the months ahead.)
>
>Second, it amended section 5(b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act, to
>provide that:
>
> During time of war OR DURING ANY OTHER PERIOD OF
> NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED BY THE PRESIDENT, the
> President may, through any agency that he may designate,
> or otherwise, INVESTIGATE, REGULATE, or PROHIBIT, under
> such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, by
> means of licenses or otherwise, any transactions in
> foreign exchange, transfers of credit between or
> payments by banking institutions as defined by the
> President, and exporting, hoarding, melting, or
> earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or
> currency, by any person within the United States or any
> place subject to the jurisdiction thereof; and the
> President may require any person engaged in any
> transaction referred to in this subdivision 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.
> Whoever willfully violates any of the provisions of this
> subdivision or of any license, order, rule of regulation
> issued thereunder, shall, upon conviction, be fined not
> more than $10,000, or, if a natural person, may be
> imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both; and any
> officer, director, or agent of any corporation who
> knowingly participates in such violation may be punished
> by a like fine, imprisonment, or both. As used in this
> subdivision the term "person" means an individual,
> partnership, association, or corporation.
>
>Finally, it added a new subsection (n) to the Federal Reserve Act,
>giving the Secretary of the Treasury virtually unfettered discretion to
>compel holders of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates to
>surrender them to the Treasurer of the United States, and to accept
>paper money instead.
>
>Ironically, while the Act ostensibly reflected Congress' alleged
>concern with gold withdrawals, Congress ITSELF took no action at all.
>Instead, consonant with the remarks on the floor of each House,
>Congress gave the PRESIDENT sole authority to regulate all banks and
>financial transactions in general, and everything concerning gold in
>particular (with the Secretary of the Treasury acting as his
>"Requisitioner-in-Waiting"). And more: Roosevelt's new powers far
>surpassed those granted President Wilson by the World War I Trading
>with the Enemy Act; Roosevelt's authority extended beyond "time of war"
>to "any other period of national emergency declared by the President."
>Needless to say, just as the Act contained no elaboration as to what
>the current "emergency" was, neither did it establish any criteria by
>which the President was to ascertain the existence of any emergency --
>an omission which was to prove crucially important to future presidents
>-- and to future owners of gold.
>
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