Whereas, Section 4 of the Act of Congress entitled "An Act To Provide for the opening, maintenance, protection and operation of the Panama Canal, and the sanitation and government of the Canal Zone," approved August 24, 1912, (37 Stat. L. 561) and known as the Panama Canal Act, provides that upon the completion of the Panama Canal the President shall cause it to be officially and formally opened for use and operation; and

Whereas, the Canal is completed, and is open for commerce:

Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority of the Panama Canal Act, do hereby declare and proclaim the official and formal opening of the Panama Canal for use and operation in conformity with the laws of the United States.

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 12th day of July, 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.