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1677 A meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System was held in Washing ton on Monday, December 1, 1941, at 4:45 P.m. PRESENT: Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Eccles, Chairman Ransom, Vice Chairman Szymczak McKee Draper Mr. Morrill, Secretary Chairman Eccles said that he wished to take up the question the procedure to be followed with respect to the preparation of the Boar''s u annual report for the year 1941, and in that connection he expressed the opinion that it would be desirable to have a staff e(tzlittee to give general direction to the preparation of material and the arrange ment of the contents of, the report. Mr. Morrill stated that, in accordance with the procedure pre"g in previous years, the Secretary's Office today had receive d 4 reque et from Mr. Goldenweiser, Director of the Division of Researc h ' 41(1 Statistic_, a for material covering a designated list of subjects tor i ncluaion in the report and that it was assumed that similar rehad been made of other divisions of the Board's staff. Chairman Eccles suggested that the committee which he had proPosed mi ght be composed of Messrs. Goldenweiser, Thurston, and Morrill. By weiser, tuted a for the unanimous vote, Messrs. GoldenThurston, and Morrill were consticommittee to work out the program 1941 report. 1678 A/2/ 1 1/41 -2Chairman Eccles stated that there had been delivered to him by Mr. Goldenweiser a petition addressed to the Board of Governors under date of November 26, 1941, on the subject of personnel policy, vbich was signed by 128 members of the staff. The petition, which Was read by Chairman Eccles and examined by the other members of the 13°ard during the meetin g, was in the following form: "During recent months members of the Board's staff have receiv ed many confusing rumors, circulated by the Press and by word of mouth, concerning the Board's personnel policy . This has had a demoralizing effect which may continue unless the issues are clarified by the Board. We /, ecognize the difficulties of formulating personnel Policy; howeve r, in the interest of efficient work by the ..?ard during and after the national emergency, it is be-P-eved desira ble that policy as it relates to the following points be made clear to the staff: 1) salary questions, including general increases for the lower-paid staff to meet increases in the cost of living; equalization of salaries for similar work; and annual review of all salaries; 2) filling of vacancies when possible by promotion of members of the Board's staff, and lull, sI7ent of salary when 'upgrading' of work lt% O 3) transfers to other agencies, including P?rmission to be graded in civil service examinar i positions higher than those held at the Board the applicants; adjustment of salary and grade when permis sion to transfer is refused; 4) the status of married women, including Confinement leave for those expecting children. poi.; We wonder if indivi dual applications of the general might be more satisf actorily handled if one or more ataf; r8 of the Board were designated to be available to the for authoritative discussion of personnel questions." hairman Eccles reported that Mr. Goldenweiser had explained 1679 -3that he had presented the petition to Chairman Eccles at the request of some of the members of his division who felt that possibly this was the best way to get.the matter before the Board. Chairman Eccles said that he felt the personnel problems of the Board were among the most important questions requiring its attention. He was inclined to the opinion that the Board should set Up a separate office under a personnel director who would not be a member of any division of the Board's staff, and that the functions c)f such an office might well include also the consideration of person1e1 Problems of the Federal Reserve Banks in which the Board might be interested. He felt that such an office should be headed by the ables t Personnel man who could be obtained, and suggested that the Personnel Committee submi t a recommndation to the Board with respect to the establishment of such an office and the person to serve as personnel (tireotor. Chairman Eccles expre ssed the view that the petition received "upers of the staff should be handled by the Board in such a In' anner that the employees could be assured that the questions raised ' 1 4 the Petition had received prompt and courteous consideration. from There was a general discussion of the perso nnel situation among the Board's employees, during which a number of suggestions were made and the whole subject was referred to the Personnel Committee for consideration in the light of the various suggestions. 1680 -4In connection with his comments on the petition, Mr. Ransom called attention to the fact that he had voted against the policy, With respect to the employment of married women and with respect to leave in connection with confinement cases, adopted by the Board before this petition was presented. Mr. Ransom stated that he understood that while he was away a question arose, in connection with the employment of counsel at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, as to the Board's policy with respect to the employment by the Federal Reserve Banks of outside counsel, and that it had been decided informally to defer any decision on the matter until his return so that he might express his views. He referred to the fact that on June 9, 1938, the Board considered this question and took the position that, as a matter of general policy, the legal work Of each Federal Reserve Bank should be conducted under the direction of 4 1'1111 time general counsel who represents only the Federal Reserve Bank, that with respect to Banks which did not have such counsel the adoption of this policy should be regarded as an ultimate objective to be 4ttairled when c ircumstances permitted without disturbing existing arl'a‘tieellients if otherwise satisfactory. Mr. Ransom added that, this decision having been reached by the Board, he saw no reason for reopening the q4esti0n at this time, although he had originally opposed the policy. Thereupon Mr. Ransom moved that Mr. Caldwell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve ; 1311 cr s Kansas City, be advised of the 0 p7 .1trel,s1t 9,3 . orth in the Board's minutes This motion was put by the chair and carried unanimously, and, in response to 1681 12/1/41 —5— a question by Mr. Morrill, it was agreed that all the Federal Reserve Banks should be advised of the policy. Following a suggestion by Chairman Eccles that a decision should be reached as to the dates for a number of meetings and conferences that might be held during December and January, it was agreed that the Board would meet on Thursday, December 4, 1941, at 10:30 a.m. for the purpose of hearing statements by Messrs. Goldenweiser and Hansen of the Board's staff and Adolf A. Berle, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State, relating to an informal suggestion that had been made by Mr. Berle in connection with the possibility of open-market operations in Canadian securities. Attention having been directed to the fact that Mr. Goldenweiser desired to arrange a conference of research and statistical personnel at the Federal Reserve Banks With members of the Board's staff in Washington at some time to be fixed between the 2 and 7 of January 1942, it was agreed that Mr. Goldenweiser should be advised that the calling of the conference in that period was satisfactory to the Board. lAr. Ransom referred to the invitation which had been extended Board to the National Association of State Bank Supervisors to confer with the Board of Governors at some convenient time, and stated thlit it appeared from subsequent correspondence that Mr. White, Chairman of the Executive Cortndttee of the Association, was handling the matter f°t' the Association. bY the It was agreed that Mr. Ransom would advise Mr. White agreeable to the that, if Associa tion, the Board would like to meet 1682 -6with the Association or its representatives on one or two days during the week beginning January 12, 1942. Mr. Ransom referred to the suggestion of Mr. Ruml, Chairman of the Conference of Chairmen, that a joint meeting of the Chairmen of the Federal Reserve Banks and the Board be held during the fourth or fifth week of January, and it was agreed that Mr. Ransom would advise Mr. Ruml that, if agreeable to the Chairmen, the dates of January 26 and 27, 1942, would be satisfactory to the Board, with the understanding that if Lt were possible to conclude the business of the conference in one day, an effort would be made to do so. The action stated with respect to each of the matters hereinafter referred to was then taken by the Board: The minutes of the meeting of the Board of Governors of the Pecieral Reserve System held on November 29, 1941, were approved unaniMousiy. Telegram to Mr. Evans, Vice President of the Federal Reserve 441k of Dallas, reading as follows: jr "Board approves the appointment of Ernest O'Hearn, Baa as an assistant examiner for the Federal Reserve ef: ectIv las. Please advise date appointment becomes Approved unanimously. tank Letter to Mr. Swanson, Vice President of the Federal Reserve of Lunn eapolis, reading as follows: 26 "Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of November enclosing a letter of November 24 from Buen Implement 1683 12/1/41 -7- "Co. asking what they should do with respect to a contract which they wrote with a farmer on November 17 under the misapprehension that the farmer plan was already in effect. . "In view of the time necessarily consumed in the malls, this reply to your letter cannot be received before December 1. At that time, technically, Buen ImplementCo. might be required to insist that the contract be rewritten so as to comply with the provisions of the Regulation which were in effect on the date on which it was first executed, but the company could then immediately revise the contract so as to provide the terms which it now provides. "The Board agrees with your suggestion that no action need be taken, particularly since you state that there is no question but that this case was an honest mistake." Approved unanimously. Letter to Mr. Williams, President of the Federal Reserve Bank Philadelphia, reading as follows: "Your letter of November 13, 1941 regarding the aceoPtance of certain school savings of public schools by Federal Savings and Loan Association in Wilkes-Barre, '4!11118Y1vania has been received and the information contherein is very helpful and is greatly appreciated. The Board received a letter on this subject from 1,!1'',Edmund Thomas, Chairman of the Committee on Fed!; Savings and Loan Associations of the Pennsylvania w,?4ers Association under date of October 16, 1941 in he stated 1ch that this matter has been referred to the 4.111eral Counsel of the American Bankers' Association and 17 ) dt he feels that any further inquiries along the seine tf,,11.8 would be most likely a duplication of effort and ai7Z, therefore, he is expecting nothing further from us 11; ie time in this pond 'Since we have matter. already had rather prolonged corresan,tnoe withlir. Thomas and there does not seem to be rig further we can do in this connection which Useful, we are not disposed to prolong the correswe seeL`Jimence further. In these circumstances, it would unne ry for you to take any further steps in the .L "tcte cesarti g 4 Approved unanimously. 1684 Thereupon the meeting adjourned. Chairman.
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