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:
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.