There should always be parliamentary rules that require at least a full business day of debate before voting on anything, even if 9/10 of that day is spent sitting around twiddling thumbs, the time for debate needs to be allocated. And then, another rule that says votes can take place during normal business hours, or between sunup and sundown, whichever is easier. Any vote taken in the hours after dusk or before dawn is void. Finally the last chance to vote on any bill expires two full days before the arrival of a major holiday. The Federal Reserve Act was passed in the wee hours the day, in darkness, the day before Christmas after most Congressmen had gone home. The manner of the vote itself was enough to question the legitimacy of the passing of that bill. Yet, we have it. Any bill that can't be passed during daylight hours when all representatives are there, probably shouldn't be passed at all, and should be disabled from becoming law if it happens to have been passed in the dead of night by the vampires who stay late to pass it.
This idea is better described as folklore than a full-blown conspiracy theory because I've never been able to find it in print, only on occasion on Usenet or in e-mail from readers. Gary Kah, author of En Route to Global Occupation, came close when he wrote that the bill's supporters waited until its opponents were out of town and it was passed under "suspicious circumstances" (Kah, p. 13-14).
Nevertheless, the myth has no basis in fact. The House passed the bill 298-60 on the evening of Dec. 22, 1913.3 The Senate began debate the following day at 10am, and passed it 43-25 at 2:30pm.4
What of the missing Senators? Since there were 48 states in 1913, forty eight votes plus the tie-breaking vote of vice-President Thomas Marshall would have been sufficient to approve the bill even if all absent votes had been cast against the bill. However, many of the missing Senators had their positions recorded in the Congressional Record.1 Of the 27 votes not cast, there were 11 'yeas' (in favor of the bill) and 12 'nays.'1 Even if the absentee Senators had been there, the Currency Bill would have passed easily.
President Wilson signed the Currency Bill into law in an "enthusiastic" public ceremony on Dec. 23, 1913.4