Therefore, Congress passed this Act which
identified who could be declared enemies of the United States, and, in this
Act, we gave the government total authority over those enemies to do with
them as it saw fit. We also see, however, in Section 2, Subdivision (c) that
this applies to:"other
than citizens of the United States."
The Act specifically excluded citizens of the United
States, because we realized in 1917 that the citizens of the United States
were not enemies. Thus, we were excluded from the war powers over enemies in
this act.
Section 5 (b) of the same Act states:
"That the President may
investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under such rules and regulations as he
may prescribe, by means of licenses or otherwise, any transactions in
foreign exchange, export or earmarkings 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)."
Again, we see here that citizens, and the transactions of
citizens made wholly within the United States, were specifically excluded
from the war powers of this Act. We, the People, were not enemies of our
country; therefore, the government did not have total authority over us as
they were given over our enemies.
It is important to draw attention again to the fact that
citizens of the United States in October, 1917, were not called enemies.
Consequently the government, under the war powers of this Act, did not have
authority over us: we were still protected by the Constitution. Granted,
over enemies of this nation, the government was empowered to do anything it
deemed necessary, but not over us. The distinction made between enemies of
the United States and citizens of the United States will become crucial
later on.
In Section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933,
"Subdivision (b) of Section 5 of
the Act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat. L. 411) as amended, is hereby amended
to read as follows;"
So we see that they are now going to amend Section 5 (b).
Now let's see how it reads after it's amended. The amended version of
Section 5 (b) reads:
"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 export, hoarding, melting, or
earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, by any
person within the United States or anyplace subject to the jurisdiction
thereof."
What just happened? As far as commercial, monetary or
business transactions were concerned, the people of the United States were
no longer differentiated from any other enemy of the United States. We had
lost that crucial distinction. Comparing the two, we can see that the phrase
which excluded transactions executed wholly within the United States has
been removed from the amended version of Section 5 (b) of the Act of March
9, 1933, Section 2, and replaced with "by any person within the United
States or anyplace subject to the jurisdiction thereof". All monetary
transactions, whether domestic or international in scope, were now placed at
the whim of the President of the United States through the authority given
to him by the Trading with the Enemy Act.
To summarize this critical point: On October the 6th of
1917, at the beginning of America's involvement in World War I, Congress
passed a Trading with the Enemy Act empowering the government to take
control over any and all commercial, monetary or business transactions
conducted by enemies or allies of enemies within our continental borders.
That Act also defined the term "enemy" and excluded from that definition
citizens of the United States.
In Section 5 (b) of this Act, we see that the President
was given unlimited authority to control the commercial transactions of
defined enemies, but we see that credits relating solely to transactions
executed wholly within the United States were excluded from that controlling
authority. As transactions wholly domestic in nature were excluded from
authority, the government had no extraordinary control over the daily
business conducted by the citizens of the United States, because we were
certainly not enemies.
Citizens of the United States were not enemies of their
country in 1917, and the transactions conducted by citizens within this
country were not considered to be enemy transactions. But in looking again
at Section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933, we can see that the phrase
excluding wholly domestic transactions has been removed from the amended
version and replaced with "by any person within the United States or
anyplace subject to the jurisdiction thereof".
The people of the United States were now subject to the
power of the Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, as amended. For
the purposes of all commercial, monetary and, in effect, all business
transactions. We, the People became the same as the enemy, and were treated
no differently. There was no longer any distinction.
It is important here to note that, in the Acts of October
6, 1917 and March 9, 1933, it states: "during times of war or during any
other national emergency declared by the President". So we now see that the
war powers not only included a period of war, but also a period of "national
emergency" as defined by the President of the United States. When either of
these two situations occur, 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, transfer of credit between or payments
by banking institutions as defined by the President and export, hoarding,
melting or earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency by any
person within the United States or anyplace subject to the jurisdiction
thereof."
What can the President do now to the We, the People, under
this Section? He can do anything he wants to do. It's purely at his
discretion, and he can use any agency or any license that he desires to
control it. This is called a constitutional dictatorship.
In Senate Document 93-549 Congress declared that a serious
emergency exists, at:
"48 Stat. 1. The exclusion of
domestic transactions, formerly found in the Act, was deleted from Sec. 5
(b) at this time."
Our Congress wrote that in the year 1973.
Now let's find out about the Trading with the Enemy Act of
October 6, 1917. Quoting from a Supreme Court decision, Stoehr vs. Wallace,
1921:
"The Trading With the Enemy Act,
originally and as amended, is strictly a war measure, and finds its sanction
in the provision empowering Congress 'to declare war, grant letters of
marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water'
Const. Art. I, Sect. 8, cl. 11. P. 241".
Remember your Constitution? "Congress shall have the power
to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal and make all rules
concerning the captures on the land and the water of the enemies," all
rules.
If that be the case, let us look at the memorandum of law
that now covers trading with the enemy, the "Memorandum of American Cases
and Recent English Cases on The Law of Trading with the Enemy", remembering
that we are now the same as the enemy. In this memorandum, we read:
"Every species of intercourse
with the enemy is illegal. This prohibition is not limited to mere
commercial intercourse."
This is the case of The Rapid (1814).
Additionally,
"No contract is considered as
valid between enemies, at least so far as to give them a remedy in the
courts of either government, and they have, in the language of the civil
law, no ability to sustain a persona stand in judicio".
In other words, they have no personal rights at law in
court. This is the case of The Julia (1813).
In the next case, the case of The Sally (1814) we read the
words:
"By the general law of prize,
property engaged in an illegal intercourse with the enemy is deemed enemy
property. It is of no consequence whether it belong to an ally or to a
citizen; the illegal traffic stamps it with the hostile character, and
attaches to it all the penal consequences of enemy ownership".
Reading further in the memorandum, again from the case of
The Rapid:
"The law of prize is part of the
law of nations. In it, a hostile character is attached to trade,
independently of the charter of the trader who pursues or directs it.
Condemnation to the use of the captor is equally the fate of the property of
the belligerent and of the property found engaged in anti-neutral trade. But
a citizen or an ally may be engaged in a hostile trade, and thereby involve
his property in the fate of those in whose cause he embarks".
Again from the memorandum:
"The produce of the soil of the
hostile territory, as well as other property engaged in the commerce of the
hostile power, as the source of its wealth and strength, are always regarded
as legitimate prize, without regard to the domicile of the owner".
From the case of The William Bagaley (1866):
"In general, during war,
contracts with, or powers of attorney or agency from, the enemy executed
after outbreak of war are illegal and void; contracts entered into with the
enemy prior to the war are either suspended or are absolutely terminated;
partnerships with an enemy are dissolved; powers of attorney from the enemy,
with certain exceptions, lapse; payments to the enemy (except to agents in
the United States appointed prior to the war and confirmed since war) are
illegal and void; all rights of an enemy to sue in the courts are
suspended."
From Senate Report No. 113, in which we find An Act to
Define, Regulate and Punish Trading with the Enemy, and For Other Purposes,
we read:
"The trade or commerce regulated
or prohibited is defined in Subsections (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e), page 4.
This trade covers almost every imaginable transaction, and is forbidden and
made unlawful except when allowed under the form of licenses issued by the
Secretary of Commerce (p. 4, sec. 3, line 18). This authorization of trading
under licenses constitutes the principal modification of the rule of
international law forbidding trade between the citizens of belligerents, for
the power to grant such licenses, and therefore exemption from the operation
of law, is given by the bill."
It says no trade can be conducted or no intercourse can be
conducted without a license, because, by mere definition of the enemy, and
under the prize law, all intercourse is illegal.
That was the first case we looked at, wasn't it? So once
we were declared enemies, all intercourse became illegal for us. The only
way we could now do business or any type of legal intercourse was to obtain
permission from our government by means of a license. We are certainly
required to have a Social Security Card, which is a license to work, and a
Drivers License, which gives the government the ability to restrict travel,
all business in which we engage ourselves requires us to have a license,
does it not?"
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