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BOARD DF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM WASHINGTON LAWRENCE CLAYTON MEMBER OF THE BOARD June 2 3 , 1948. Mr* Mariner 5. Eccles, Hotel Ben Lomond, Ogden, Utah* Dear Marriners First thing this morning I called Carpenter and found that the record v/ith respect to the New York salary matter was about as follows: Ihe Chaiiman was to advise Bob Stevens that the Board i s not willing to consider any adjustment in the f i r s t two officers of the Bank and that the Committee would be glad to receive additional infoimation respecting the others. No l e t t e r was contemplatedj however* I asked Carpenter when the Chaiiman would be in, also whether any communication had been had with New York as yet. He said that the Chaiiman was coming in today in order to attend the NAC meeting following which he would go to his fam on the eastern shore of Maryland. I then asked Carpenter to t e l l him that I felt the matter should be discussed again a t a Board meeting before being taken up with New York for the reason that the particular form of the action at the l a s t meeting would lead various officers at the New York Bank with salaries in excess of $20 thousand to expect some adjustment and that this would be a mistake since I f e l t certain a majority of the Board would not be willing to make any adjustments, with the possible exception of Rouse. During the forenoon, Tbm came to my office and we chatted about the matter in a very friendly fashion. He then suggested that when he called Bob Stevens he say not only that the Board would not consider any adjustments in the f i r s t two salaries, but also was loathe to make any increases of senior officers (below Mr. Marrlner S* Eccles -2- the f i r s t two) whose salaries were in the range of other Federal Reserve Bank Presidents or First Vice Presidents* Biat, of course, would meet entirely the objection to the form of the action taken l a s t Friday* I also told Ibm that I thought we had a great deal of information here about a l l the officers above $10 thousand per annum and that I thought i t was not so much a case of knowing more about their duties as i t was our judgment as to the reasonableness and propriety of adjustments proposed by the New York Bank and the relationship of any proposed adjustment to others* Ibm did not seem to think that we should rely entirely upon our own information although he agreed that i t would be well for the Personnel Committee to have a session a day or so before anyone comes down from New York and brief themselves with information to be supplied by Smead, Nelson, or Leonard* Ibm also told me that Snyder had called him this morning about Southard, stating that he would not stand in the way of our obtaining Southard's services but wanted to ask a favor in connection with i t . He said that the Treasury is under t e r r i f i c diffi~ culty at the present time in obtaining men from private business or from universities to serve a t the Treasury for the reason that they a l l naturally feel that next November might witness a change which would mean that they would, in a l l liklihood, be replaced after the f i r s t of the year* He therefore asked whether or not we would be willing in the event Southard came to the Board to allow him to divide his time between the Board and the Treasury, with the understanding, of course, that he would be a permanent employee of the Board and carried on our regular payroll* Tom had already spoken to Spike who i s heartily in favor of such an arrangement, and I told him that I would also favor i t although there i s plenty of wor*c for such a man to represent a single agency. He was going to speak to Matt and the others and then report back to Snyder, Ihe weather continues hot here* A brief thunder shower cooled i t off a l i t t l e at the Burning Tree area l a s t evening* 94° i s predicted for today and continued warm for tomorrow* Please give my best to the whole gang. Will keep you advised as to whether I go out to Denver on July 17. Yours sincerely,
@FedFRASER