Executive Order 3320—Liquidation of United States Grain Corporation

I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, pursuant to the Act of Congress entitled "An Act to provide further for the National Security and Defence [sic] by encouraging the production, conserving the supply and controlling the distribution of food products and fuel", approved August 10, 1917, and an Act of Congress entitled "An Act to enable the President to carry out the price guarantees made to producers of wheat of the crops of 1918 and 1919, and to protect the United States against undue enhancement of its liabilities thereunder", approved March 4, 1919, and by virtue of authority vested in me by-said Acts of Congress and each of them, as well as by virtue of any and all other Acts of Congress conferring authority upon me in the premises, do hereby authorize, order and direct: The United States Grain Corporation (a Government agency organized and conducted pursuant to Executive Orders and Proclamations of the President under said acts of Congress) shall pay and cover, or cause to be paid and covered, into the Treasury of the United States, as miscellaneous receipts, all amounts refunded by certain licensees of the United States Food Administration (a Government agency organized and conducted pursuant to Executive Orders and Proclamations of the President, under said Act of Congress approved August 10, 1917) in voluntary divestment of profits taken by said licensees during the ten months which ended June 30, 1918, in excess of the maximum allowable profits fixed and determined under and pursuant to said Act of Congress, approved August 10,1917, and the Proclamations, Executive Orders, and Regulations thereunder, and transferred to or received by said United States Grain Corporation, and now held by it as custodian thereof, less such amounts as have been advanced by the United States Grain Corporation to the United States Food Administration on account of expenses connected with such refunds. The resignation of Julius H. Barnes, as Chief of the Cereal Division of the United States Food Administration, is hereby accepted; and all Acts done or authorized by said Julius H. Barnes, Chief of the Cereal Division of the United States Food Administration and by the personnel and organization continued by him, pursuant to the Presidential Proclamation dated November 21, 1919, and all Acts done or authorized by said United States Food Administration or any division or branch or agency thereof under and pursuant to said Act approved August 10, 1917, and the Proclamations, Executive Orders and Regulations thereunder, are hereby approved, ratified and confirmed. The work of the said United States Food Administration having been completed to the public benefit and to my satisfaction, said United States Food Administration, and all remaining divisions and branches thereof, are hereby terminated and abolished. All records and accounts of the Cereal Enforcement Division of said United States Food Administration, and all mail directed to it, in so far as said records, accounts and mail pertain to profits divested and refunded as aforesaid, and paid and covered into the Treasury of the United States in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Executive Order, shall be transferred and delivered x to, and shall be preserved in the custody of, the Treasury Department of the United States; and all other records and property of said United States Food Administration, and all other mail directed to it, shall be transferred and delivered to, and shall be preserved by, said United States Grain Corporation, as custodian thereof, until further order of the President; provided, however, that this Executive Order shall in no way affect licenses heretofore required for the importation, manufacture, storage or distribution of sugar, or general or special regulations governing sugar licensees, and that this Executive Order shall in no way affect the rights, powers and authority transferred to the Attorney General of the United States by Presidential Proclamation dated November 21, 1919. The United States Wheat Director (designated and appointed by Executive Order, dated May 14, 1919) having fully complied with and performed all duties and obligations imposed by said Acts of Congress, and the Proclamations and Executive Orders .of the President thereunder, the resignations of said Julius H. Barnes, as said United States Wheat Director, and as president and director, of said United States Grain Corporation, are hereby accepted, and the executive administration and office created by said Executive Order of May 14, 1919, is hereby terminated and abolished; and all Acts done or authorized by said Julius H. Barnes, as United States Wheat Director, as proxy of the United States of America in voting its stock at stockholders meetings of said United States Grain Corporation, and as President and as a director of said United States Grain Corporation, and all Acts done or authorized by said executive administration, and by said United States Grain Corporation, under and pursuant to said Acts of Congress, and the Proclamations, Executive Orders and Regulations thereunder, are hereby approved, ratified and confirmed. All records and property of said United States Wheat Director, and all correspondence directed to him, shall be transferred and delivered to, and shall be preserved by, the said United States Grain Corporation, as custodian thereof, until further order of the President. Said United States Grain Corporation, continuing to act as a governmental agency for this purpose only, and acting through its officers and agents, and in accordance with law, shall proceed as rapidly as may be reasonably possible to discharge all its remaining obligations and to wind up and liquidate all its remaining business, property and affairs, and dissolve in accordance with the laws of Delaware, under which it was incorporated pursuant to the Executive Order of August 14, 1917. To that end, proper action shall be taken to reduce the Board of Directors of said United States Grain Corporation from seven to three; and I further authorize and direct that Edwin P. Shattuck, the first vice president and general counsel of said United States Grain Corporation, shall hereafter act as a director and as president of said United States Grain Corporation; that the other directors and executive officers of said Corporation shall be selected by said Edwin P. Shattuck with the approval of the President; and that the capital stock of said United States Grain Corporation shall be held and voted or cause to be voted by said Edwin P. Shattuck, as president thereof, in the name, and for the use and benefit, of the United States, as herein or as may be hereinafter from time to time directed by the President. Upon final winding up, liquidation and dissolution as aforesaid, all of said capital stock shall be surrendered for retirement and cancellation, upon receiving, for account of the United States, and in full payment and liquidation of said stock when surrendered for cancellation, all assets and property of said United States Grain Corporation (other than its records and containers therefor, to be disposed of as hereafter provided) remaining after winding up, liquidation and dissolution as aforesaid. All such assets and property, when received, shall be paid and covered into the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts; and said United States Grain Corporation, and its officers, directors and agents, and said Edwin P. Shattuck as holder and voter of said stock as aforesaid, are hereby further authorized and directed to reduce said capital stock as they deem best from time to time and to do and perform any and all other acts and things necessary or appropriate in the premises. I further direct that all departments and established agencies of the Government co-operate with the United States Grain Corporation, its officers and agents, in the performance of its and their duties, as hereinafter set forth, and to give the United States Grain Corporation and its officers and agents such support and assistance as may be requisite or expedient to enable it and them to perform said duties and avoid duplication of effort and. expenditure of funds. In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done in the District of Columbia, this 21st day of August in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the One Hundred and Forty-fifth. WOODROW WILSON. By the President: Bainbridge Colby, Secretary of State.