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, : • 266 BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF' THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM S-512 WASHINGTON ADDRESS DP'f'ICIAL DD---NOENCE TDTHE-· June 18, 1942 Dear Sir: Referring to the Board's letter of September 22, 1941, R-888, there is enclosed foryour information a summary of the May 1942 reports of the activities of Federal Reserve Bank liaison officers in connection with the War Savings Program. ..... Digitized •for FRASER . Since the monthly reports of the liaison officers appear to have served the_purpose for which the,y were original~ intended, the,y need no longer be submitted to ,.the Board as requested in its letter of September 2, 1941, S-296 • ~rs, _-~· ~--~-~-- . 1. P. Bethea, Assistant Secretary. Enclosure TO THE PRESIDENTS OF ALL FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS COPY TO LIAISON OFFICERS • S·512a 267 SUMMARY OF MAY 1942~RTS OF ACTIVITIES OF FEbmt ImSMk tii · r>mcm tl eemtE!cTtoN Wit! fHE Ill\ SlVtld§ mmD PRmm Boston During the mont~ the Liaison Officer continued his campaign for the qualification of largo corporations as issuing agents~ Letters have been written to nearly all of th~ larger corporations and personal visits are being made by the Bank's representatives. Thero are now 133 qualified corporations. Approximately 310 companies are submitting their applications to the Bank for the issuance of bonds under the pay roll allotment plan. During the month those companies submitted applioations·for 57,589 bonds bearing a maturity value of $1.705,250 •· .,._ New York During the month the campaign to have tho large corporations qualif.Y as issUing agents has been continued. At the end of tho month 366 concerns had qualified, ranging from a cemetar,y association to a construction project operated as a joint venture by four corporations. A county, a city, and a county Treasurer's office havo qualified. The eagerness to qualify shown by some corpora• tions has been gratifying. In one case an insurance company having too f6W employees of its own to qualif.Y• lined up tho other tenants in its office building and arranged to issue for tha.m as well. As an aid in determining their progress in relation to quotas, the State Administrators are being furnished with quarter monthly figures showing sales, by counties, ~xcept for Now York City, of Series E, F, and G Bonds by all issuing agents with the exception of post offioes. .. Philadelphia The number of corporation issuing agents continues to increase and at the present time the Bunk has qualified 277 corporations employing approximately 775,000 persons. Of.the 37 corporations in the district, each employing 5,000 or mora persons, 20 have qualified; 10 are obtain• ing bonds from their'local banks or post. offices or o.re operating undor a stamp plan; and of tho remaining 7, it is hoped thut 2 or 3 will quality shortly. The Liaison Officer is kQaping in closo contact with the State Administrators and is giving ovor,y assistanc3 possiblo in furnishing lnto figures that ure used by thom to chart the program toward roaching thoir quotas • • • S-?l2a 268 Cleveland Assistance· was furnished the Ohio State Administrator in addressing envelopes and a supply of report cards to be used in.~obtain• ing the _quarter monthly reports from issuing agents. On M~ 22, the State Chairman for Ohio called a meeting in Cleveland of several county chair-men from the larger counties of the ~tate and other workers for the purpose of discussing the campaign for increasing employee participation in pay roll savings plans and also to increase the workers' individual subscriptions. This campaign and other related sub.. jects were presented by Messrs. Graves, Sparks, and others from the Washington ~ar Savings Staff. The meeting was attended by the President of the Bank, the Vice President in charge of the Fiscal Agency Department, the Manager of that Department, and the Liaison Officer. As of the end of the month 5,924 companies in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, employing approximately 2,300,000 persons, had installed pay roll savings.plans. Of these'firms, 135 have qualified as issuing agents. Richmond ; ~~· As there seems to be considerable resistance on the part of corporations to qualif",ring as issuing agents, much time has been spent in this ef.fort. While only 90 corporations have qualified, numerous co.nversations and much correspondence has been had with others in an ef.fort to obtain thei~ qualification. Letters were written to all qualified issuing agents asking them to make quarterly reports of sales of Series ~ Bonds to the Administrators and this has entailed considerable corresp~1dence as issuing agents do not appear to have understood the .form of report desired and to whom reports are to be.made. Quarter-monthly reports o.f ~eries ~, F, and G Bonds inscribed by the Head Office and Branches have been sent regularly to the several Administrators in the district. --~ Atlanta. The principal activity during the month has been ~ continuation of the endeavor f'urther to enlist corporations ~s issuing agents. Rosul ts have been v~r,y good with respect to textile and industrial corporations but railroad and construction company responst1 has been poor. - As a result of approximately 210 letters mailed to corporations, 100 companies have now qualified, and others have signified their intentions to quality in tho .future • S•')l2a269 -3Atlanta (Cont'd) .... Aid has been given to oount7. chairmen and various groups in conducting their special campaigns for increasing the sale of War Bonds and Stamps. At two meetings during the month the Liaison 9fficer emphasised the importance of purchases of War Bonds by the public • • ACtivities and cooperation wi~h the State ~nistrators may be sUJIIDl8.rized as follows; (l) Working; out satisfactory quota reports to be furnished to each State Administrator; and (2) Contacting corporations for the purpose of qualifying them as issuing agents. ...... In cor~ection with i~em (1), attempts are being made to give each State Administrator the type of report that will fit into his particular plan.for keeping County Chairmen advised of sales. It was found that all Administrators are no~ following the same·plan, and it has been necessary to adjust the Bank's reports accordingly • Manager of !' Considerable time has been spent in assistin~ the Executive ~e Victory Fund Committee in getting his activities under way. St. LOuis ..... The Bank has continued to intensify its campaign for the qualification of corporations as issuing agents by calling on those previously written and by sending individual letters to additional firms. r During May, 178 calls were made on corporations by four trained men. Branch representatives accompanied them when calls were made in Branch territ~ries. The field men w~re received in a ver,y courteous manner by corporation executives, mapy of whom seemed eager to cooperate. During May, s4 corporations qualified, with approximately 57,093 employees. __... A letter was addressed to the Under Secretary of the Treasury, soliciting his aid in persuading three parent corporations to adopt the policy of having their branch officec act as issuing agents. -.. One of the large railroads, with home offices in St. Louis, appealed to the Bank to assist in ~eouring the necessary priorities~ through th~ office_of the Secretary of the Treasury, for additi~nal I.B.M. office equipment to be used in handling its pay roll savings plan, which is in• tended to cover moro than 25,000 employees. 270 • S•512a -4Minneapolis ... During the month liaison has been maintained with all officers of the War Savings Staff in the district, with an intensification of effort directed toward obtaining 10% or more of employee participation through p~ roll deductions • • Kansas City Special emphasis has been placed on securing the· qualification of corporations as iHuing agents, with the result that 52 corporations, employing approximately 105,000 persons, have now qualified. Numerous corp~rations which have credit unions qualif~ed as issuing agents are using such unions as issuing agents • .. During the month qualified corporations issued bonds aggregating $112,875, while the Reserve Bank issued, for 151 corporations, bonds aggregating $812,681.25. Representatives of tho_Bank and its Branches have cooperated and pa~ticipated with locar-committees in plodge campaigns in their respective cities. Dallas Continued efforts were made, botb by correspondence and personal visitation·, to enlist corporations as issuing agents. On »ay 21, seventyo'ne corporr. tiona had qualified as issuing o.gents, representing an increfil,se of sis over the previous report. In addition, six branches of corporations qualified, the home offices of which are located outside the district. An article on War Savings Bonds, entitled "Battle Fronts and Home Fronts", was prepared and published in the Bank's monthly business review. Copies of the article were forwarded to the State Admdnistrators. .. .. On May 28, Mr. ~. w. Sparks, Field Director of War Savings Staff, Washington, held a meeting in Dallas at which w~re present the State Administrator of Texas and approximately fifty chairmen of counties in northeast Texas. The meeting was held primarily for the purpose of explaining the necessity of an aggressive campaign to increase sales to meet the new quotas. The~Liaison Officer requested those present to explain to corporations with which they come in contact the need for them to qualifY as issuing agents, in order to expedite the delivery of bonds • 2n S-512a -5San Francisco The usual liaison has been maintained with various offices of the War Savings Staff in the District and in the Territori~s of Alaska and Hawaii. In furtherance of the Treasury's program for having large corpora• tions become issuing agents, in which considerable success has been achieved, an officer of the Bank, in company with Mr. A. L. Mills and Mr. Jonas Touchstone of the Treasury Department, visited certain large aircraft and shipping corporations on the Pacific Coast which were disinclined to undertake the issuing feature.
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