8Peric

1.00

A meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve

SY-stem was held in lhashington on Wednesday, January 19, 1944, at 3:00

P.m.

Mr.

PRESE:01T: Mr. Eccles, ChairmanMr. Ransom, Vice ChairmanMr. SzymczakMr. McKeeMr. Draper

Mr. Morrill, SecretaryMr. Bethea, Assistant SecretaryMr. Carpenter, Assistant SecretaryMr. Clayton, Assistant to the ChairmanMr. Thurston, Special Assistant to the

ChairmanMr. Smead, Chief of the Division of Bank

OperationsMr. Paulger, Chief of the Division of

ExaminationsMr. Dreibelbis, General AttorneyMr. Vest, Assistant General AttorneyMr. V.yatt, General CounselMr. Horbett, Assistant Chief of the

Division of Bank OperationsUr. Pollard, Assistant Chief of the

Division of ExaminationsMr. Sloan, Federal Reserve Examiner

Ransom stated that under date of January 17, 1944, he re—ceiv.A

a letter from the clerk of the Banking and Currency Committee

c)f the House of Representatives in which it was stated that the Com—

Mitteewould continue hearings on Regulation Q on January 24, at which

time consideration would be given to bill H. R. 3956 which would amend

011 19 of the Federal Reserve Act to provide that the absorptionOr

exchange and collection charges should not be deemed to be a payment

or interest on demand deposits. The letter also stated that Congressman

e, Chairman of the Committee, would be happy if the Board would

Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

.101

1/19/44 —2—

have a report on the bill prepared and sent to him. A request for a

report on a similar bill (S. 16L2) introduced in the Senate by Senator

Maybank had also been received by the Board under date of January 13,

1944, from the Chairman of the Senate Banking and Currency Committee.

In line with these requests, Mr. Ransom said, Mr. Dreibelbis

prepared a draft of report which he would read.had

Following the reading of the draftof report and a discussion of some of thematters referred to therein, Mr. Ransommoved that the substance of the report beapproved informally; that he and Mr. McKeebe authorized to make such perfecting changestherein as might be thought by them to bedesirable; and that it be understood (1)that the report would be delivered to theoffices of the Chairmen of the Banking andCurrency Committees of the Senate and Houseon Monday, January 24, and (2) that such dis—tribution of copies of the revised reportwould be made as was agreed upon by Messrs.Ransom and McKee.

This motion was put by the chair andcarried unanimously.

This action was followed by a reference to four banks whichhad ,

-°mPlained that the Board's September ruling with respect to the

aborPti°n of exchange and collection charges would deprive them of

lleeded revenue, and there was a discussion, on the basis of information

loanand investments and amounts due from banks and the extent to

able to the Board with respect to two of the banks, of their

the d.• Ireet investment in Government securities of funds held on deposit

ht--eY could replace earnings derived from exchange charges by

Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

.102

1/19/44 -3-

with correspondent banks.

Chairman Eccles stated that it had come to the attention of

the Board that the Presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks were plan-

ning to hold their next conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of

Cleveland just prior to the meeting of the Federal Open Market Com-

mittee, Which it was expected would be held in Washington on February

29 and March 1, 1944. In this connection, he referred to the opinions

exy,ressed at the meetings of the Board on December 15, 1943, and

januarY 13, 1944, as to the desirability of the meetings of the Pres-

idents' Conference being held in Washington and stated that it was

his feeling that a letter should be sent to Mr. Day as Chairman of

the Conference suggesting that the meetings of the Conference be held

in Washington in the future.

Mr. Szymczak thought that a better procedure would be for the

Chairman to discuss the matter with Mr. Day and also with Mr. Sproul,

Vice ^ .Chairman of the Presidents' Conference.

These suggestions were discussed but no decision was reached.

At this point Messrs. Thurston, Smead, Paulger, Dreibelbis,

Vest, INYatt, Horbett, Pollard, and Sloan withdrew from the meeting,

and the action stated with respect to each of the matters hereinafter

l'eferred to was then taken by the Board:

The minutes of the meeting of the Board of Governors of the

l'ederal Reserve System held on January 18, 1944, were approved unani-

11101181y

Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

entrie

. 103

1/19/44 -4 -

Bonds each in the amount of M01000, executed under date of

januarY 15, 1944, by William T. Nardin, Frank S. Parker, and Edward

A. Zehner as Federal Reserve Agent, Assistant Federal Reserve Agent,

and Alternate Assistant Federal Reserve Agent, respectively, at the

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and by John A. Links as Federal

Reserve Agent's Representative at the Little Rock Branch of the Fed-

eral Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Approved unanimously.

Letters to the "Citizens State Bank", Lyndonville, New York,

and the "State Bank of Newfane", Newfane, New York, reading as follows:

"The Board is glad to learn that you have com-Pleted all arrangements for the admission of your bank-,c) the Federal Reserve System and takes pleasure intransmitting herewith a formal certificate of your mem-bership.

"It will be appreciated if you will acknowledgereceipt of this certificate."

Approved unanimously.

Memorandum dated December 16, 1943, from Mr. Carpenter, sub-

tting for approval by the Board a draft of letter to the representa-tive

members of the Federal Open Market Committee with which it was

Pl".°13°eed to enclose drafts of entries for the policy record coveringa.ctio

ns taken by the Federal Open Market Committee during the year1943. The memorandum stated that after any comments and suggestions

therepresentative members of the Committee had been received the

s would be placed in final form and submitted to the Board for

, 4PProvai.

Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

The draft of letter was approvedunanimously.

Thereupon the meeting adjourned.

Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis