MALACAÑANG PALACE
Manila

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

Proclamation No. 480

DESIGNATING THURSDAY, THE 23RD DAY OF NOVEMBER, 1939, AS A DAY OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING

For the information of the people of the Philippines, I hereby publish the following proclamation of the President of the United States setting aside, in accordance with custom, Thursday, November twenty-third, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, as a day of general thanksgiving:

"BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

"A PROCLAMATION

"I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, hereby designate Thursday, the 23rd of November, 1939, as a day of general thanksgiving.

"More than three centuries ago at the season of the gathering in of the harvest, the Pilgrims humbly paused in their work and gave thanks to God for the preservation of "their community and for the abundant yield of the soil. A century and a half later after the new nation had been formed and the charter of government, the Constitution of the Republic, had received the assent of the States, President Washington and his successors invited the people of the nation to lay down their tasks one day in the year and give thanks for the blessings that had been granted them by Divine Providence. It is fitting that we should continue this hallowed custom and select a day in 1939 to be dedicated to reverent thoughts of thanksgiving.

"Our nation has gone steadily forward in the application of democratic processes to economic and social problems. We have faced the specters of business depression, of unemployment and of widespread agricultural distress and our positive efforts to alleviate these conditions have met with heartening results. We have also been permitted to see the fruition of measures which we have undertaken in the realms of health, social welfare, and the conservation of resources.

As a nation we are deeply grateful that in a world of turmoil we are at peace with all countries and we specially rejoice in the strengthened bonds of our friendship with the other peoples of the western hemisphere.

"Let us on the day set aside for this purpose give thanks to the ruler of the universe for the strength which He has vouchsafed us to carry on our daily labors and for the hope that lives within us of the coming of a day when peace and the productive activities of peace shall reign on every continent.

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

"Done at the City of Washington this thirty-first day of October, in the year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-fourth.

"FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

"By the President:

"CORDELL HULL
"Secretary of State"

I deem it proper that the day be also observed in the Philippines as in the United States and accordingly enjoin the inhabitants of the Philippines to offer thanks to Almighty God on that day for the bountiful blessings which He has bestowed upon our country and our people—the successful completion of another year of the Commonwealth, the abundance of crops, the absence of any disaster or calamity of great magnitude, the reign of peace and order and contentment throughout the land.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto-set my hand and caused the seal of the Commonwealth of the Philippines to be affixed.

Done at the City of Manila, this sixth day of November, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the fourth.

MANUEL L. QUEZON
President of the Philippines

By the President:

JORGE B. VARGAS
Secretary to the President


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