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August 24, 1944* CONFIDENTIAL: Chairman E c c l e s : I t a l k e d t o Mr* W i l l k i e along the l i n e s o f our c o n v e r s a t i o n . I t o l d him t h a t the matter o f an i n c r e a s e of c a p i t a l by the Bank of America was o f course a matter f o r the Comptroller and t h a t I thought a l l the agencies would f a v o r an i n c r e a s e under the u s u a l and o r d i n a r y terms. I t o l d him, however, t h a t , w h i l e I was speaking from hearsay, my i n f o r m a t i o n was and I thought he would f i n d t h a t the proposed i n crease i n v o l v e d a quid pro quo and i n c l u d e d an attempt t o s e t t l e some o f the i s s u e s about which he and I had been t a l k i n g ; v i z , the f u t u r e expansion o f Transamerica* He i n t e r r u p t e d to say t h a t a l l he wanted to know was whether o r not t o l e t the u n d e r w r i t e r s go ahead w i t h the i s s u e and I t o l d him t h a t that was not f o r me to decide but t h a t I thought he should know t h a t the contemplated i n c r e a s e d i d i n v o l v e a quid pro quo on i s s u e s about which we had been t a l k i n g and t h a t i t would n o t , i n my o p i n i o n , s e t t l e these i s s u e s , and t h a t f o r the underwriters to t a l k t o you would, i n the circumstances, be a waste o f time. He then s a i d t h a t what he was t r y i n g t o do was to see i f the matter could be s e t t l e d b e f o r e the Peoples Bank o f Lakewood V i l l a g e case was t o be argued (September 1 8 ) . I t o l d him that i n accordance w i t h the convers a t i o n he and I had had I had been e x p l o r i n g the h i g h p o i n t s o f what I might d i s c u s s w i t h him as a b a s i s f o r a recommendation w h i c h I might make t o t h e Board* He s a i d he was very anxious to do t h a t and asked i f I could come up Saturday as he wished to go t o R u s h v i l l e f o r a few days. I t o l d him i t would be b e t t e r i f he made the t r i p as planned and I could see him the l a t t e r p a r t o f next week* I t o l d him a l s o t h a t I f e l t compelled t o say that I d i d not b e l i e v e t h e r e was much chance o f us g e t t i n g together, t o which he r e p l i e d t h a t he understood and t h a t i f we could n o t , we could then go our own way. We ended by s e t t i n g next Thursday (August 31) as a date to d i s c u s s the problem and he s a i d t o me t h a t he was g o i n g to t e l l the investment bankers not t o do anything f u r t h e r about the c a p i t a l i n c r e a s e u n t i l a f t e r our discussion* J. F/Dreibelbis
@FedFRASER