Executive Order 1409

by President of the United States

By virtue of the authority vested in me, I hereby establish the following Order for the Canal Zone:

Section 1.—There is hereby established in the post offices of the Canal Zone a postal savings system, to be operated without the payment of interest on the deposits under such rules and regulations as may be now or hereafter adopted.

Sec. 2. There is hereby created a Board of Trustees for the control, supervision and administration of the postal savings depository offices designated and established under the provisions of this Order, and of the funds received as deposits at such postal savings depository offices by virtue thereof. Said Board shall consist of the Collector of Revenues of the Canal Zone, the Auditor of the Canal Zone Government, and the Treasurer of the Canal Zone, severally, acting ex-officio, and shall have power to make all necessary and proper regulations for the receipt, transmittal, custody, deposit, investment and repayment of the funds deposited at postal savings depository offices; the regulations above-mentioned to be subject to the approval of the Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission.

Sec. 3. Said Board of Trustees is hereby authorized and empowered to designate such post offices as it may select to be postal savings depository offices, and each and every post office so designated by order of said Board is hereby declared to be a postal savings depository office within the meaning of this Order and to be authorized and required to receive deposits of funds from the public and to account for and dispose of the same, according to the provisions of this Order and the regulations made in pursuance thereof. Each postal savings depository office shall be kept open for the transaction of business during such hours as the Collector of Revenues shall direct.

Sec. 4. That accounts may be opened and deposits made in any postal savings depository established under this Order by any person of the age of ten years or over, in his or her own name, and by a married woman in her own name and free from any control or interference by her husband; but no person shall at the same time have more than one postal savings account in his or her own right.

Sec. 5. At least one dollar, or a larger amount in multiples thereof, must be deposited before an account is opened with a person depositing the same; and one dollar, or multiples thereof, may be deposited after such account has been opened. Postal savings deposits will be evidenced by postal savings certificates issued in fixed denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, each bearing the name of the depositor, the number of his account, the date of issue, and the name of the depository office.

Sec. 6. Any depositor may withdraw the whole or any part of the funds deposited to his or her credit upon demand, and under such regulations as the Board of Trustees may prescribe.

Sec. 7. Postal savings funds received under the provisions of this Order shall be deposited with the Treasurer of the Canal Zone under such regulations as the Board of Trustees may prescribe.

Sec. 8. Postal savings depository funds shall be kept separate from other funds by postmasters and other officers and employees of the postal service, who shall be held to the same accountability under their bonds for such funds as for public moneys; and no person connected with the Post Office Department shall disclose to any person other than the depositor the amount of any deposits, unless directed so to do by the Collector of Revenues.

Sec. 9. That the final judgment, order or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction adjudicating any right or interest in the credit of any sum deposited by any person with the postal savings depository, if the same shall not have been appealed from and the time for appeal have expired, upon submission to the Collector of Revenues of a copy of the same, duly authenticated in the manner provided by the laws of the United States for the authentication of the records and judicial proceedings of the courts of any state or territory, or of any possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, when the same are proved or admitted within any other court within the United States, shall be accepted by the Board of Trustees as conclusive of the title, right, interest or possession so adjudicated; and any payment of said sum in accordance with such order, judgment or decree shall operate as a full and complete discharge of the United States and the Canal Zone Government from the claim or demand of any person or persons to the same.

Sec. 10. This Order shall take effect and be in force sixty days from and after this date.

Wm. H. Taft.

The White House,

September 8, 1911.