Full text of Minutes of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System : Meeting Minutes, February 23, 1950, Volume 37, Part 1

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

232
Minutes of actions taken by the Board of Governors of the
Feder.
al Reserve System on Thursday, February 23, 1950.
PRESENT:

Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.

McCabe, Chairman
Eccles
Szymczak
Draper
Mr. Carpenter, Secretary
Mr. Sherman, Assistant Secretary
Mr. Kenyon, Assistant Secretary

Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Governors of the

Pederal

Reserve System with the Federal Advisory Council held on

l'ebrIletrY 21, 1950,
were approved unanimously.
Minutes of actions taken by the Board of Governors of the
Reserve System on February 21, 1950, were approved unanimously.
Memorandum
dated February 20, 1950, from Mr. Young, Director
°11 the Di .
-vision of Research and Statistics, recommending an increase
1'4 the b
481c
salary of Mrs. Nancy W. Ware, a clerk-typist in that
from $2,530 to $2,610 per annum, effective March 5, 1950.
Approved unanimously.
Telegram

BkrAit
c'r

to Mr. Latham, Vice President of the Federal Reserve

Boston, reading as follows:

"Retel February 21. Board approves designation of
the
w f
allt exalowing employees of your bank as special assistminers:
Daniel Aquilino
Paul J. Hanify
John F. Burke
Edward McCarthy
E. Lloyd Evans, Jr.
Donald A. Pelletier
Approved unanimously.
°r

Letter to Mr. McCreedy, Secretary of the Federal Reserve Bank
-"la, reading as follows:




233
2/23/50

-2-

"The Board of Governors approves the appointments of
Messrs. B. F. Mechling, Harry L. Miller, Keith Powlison,
ai ltes M. Skinner, and Daniel H. Schultz as members of
the Industrial
Advisory Committee for the Third Federal
Reserve District to serve for terms of one year each, bePIlaing March 1, 1920, in accordance with the action
Irkenby
— the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve
,
ellk of Philadelphia, as reported in your letter of
'ebruary 16, 1950."
Approved unanimously.
Letter to Mr. Gilbert, President of the Federal Reserve Bank
Of

Dal
14s, reading as follows:
"The Board of Governors approves the reappointments
.°0f Messrs. Charles R. Moore, E. P. Simmons, Lawrence S.
.j..1 ?11°ck, Ira T. Moore, and Jake L. Hamon as members of
Industrial Advisory Committee for the Eleventh Federal
_8erVe District to serve for terms of one year each, belirling March 1, 1950, in accordance with the action taken
pJl the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of
8"4-las, as reported in your letter of February 20, 1950."

L7

Approved unanimously.
Letters prepared for Chairman McCabe's signature to Honorable
R.
t
ates

MaYbank, Chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency, United
and Honorable Brent Spence, Chairman, Committee on

43akirig and
Iioard
lkdget
the

Currency, House of Representatives, reading as follows:

approved the letters for transmission to the Bureau of the

lander date of
January 23, 1920, with a request for advice as to

relationship of the proposal contained therein to the program of the
l'resident
, and
the Budget Bureau replied under date of February 2, 1950,
that
there
would be no objection to the presentation of the proposal

t° the
Colagress:




234
2123/50

-3-

The Board of Governors wishes to recommend for the
.?nslderation of your
Committee legislation to modify the
'J-rgitations now contained in the Federal Reserve Act upon
;T;;I:c
sost of buildings at branches
of the Federal Reserve
•
'in 1947, the Board brought to the attention of Congress
ti:le need for
more adecuete building facilities at the branches
the Federal Reserve Banks, pointing out that this need
:
cT}d not be met because of a provision of the law placing
ci -Llmit of c.5O,OQO upon the
cost of any such building (exof the cost of vaults, permanent ecuipment, furnishand fixtures, and also exclusive of the cost of land).
p,
time, in order to take care of the most uri!;ent needs
'Cis additional building construction, Congress provided in
a s:1 Act Of July 30,
1947, that this lieit should not rTply
fs
cl 'Ong as the aggregate of such costs thereafter incurred
o r,`11 branch bank buildino with the approval of the Board
"overnors was not in excess of -13,000,000.
:
VI
, Under the provisions of the 1947 amendment to the law
in- -'10;- rd has aoeroved: (1) purchase of the
existing build°ccuPied by the Cincinnati branch of the Federal lieserve
tr4 °f
(2) construction of buildings to house
Ba%P°rtland and Seattle branches of the Federal Reserve
(3) °f San Francisco, 1,hich now occupy rented quarters; and
be+ construction of e
major addition to the quarters of the
'rolt branch
of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Of (3 -Ln edultion, the Board has approved the prei3aration
'Ioll etalled plans and specifications for a new building to
Of ;: the
Jacksonville branch of the Federal Reserve Bank
and funds have been earmarked to permit this
"f'itIction within the .10,000,000 limitation.
p1,11 The Board has also authorized preparation of detailed
oe
e'lla specifications for a major addition to the quarters
Sa,
Los Angeles branch :)fs the Federal Reserve Bank of
e isco. Preliminary plans have been submitted for
major additions to the quarters occupied by the
Pitt
0
- ,,i j:th113'gh branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
City:LemOiraha branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas
edec.0 Ihese additions are all badly needed to provide
ba..fs te sPace and satisfactory working conditions. On
the
°- Present estimatee it 'yould not be possible to come
itctioall three of these 1)ro„reTs within
the existing Unit Nr
eraa F'°81', of the buildings occuoied by branches of the FedLeserve Bans were accuired or constructed more than

;r




235
2/23/50

-4years ago and in view of the expanded activities since
.Tat time, additional space is needed at many branches other
'Han those mentioned above. In particular, new buildings,
substantial remodeling or improvements, are contemplated
,
c3r the Buffalo, Louisville and San Antonio branches. Also,
lir°gMms for additions of varying size to the present struc—
Ires are
contemplated for the buildings occupied by the
11;?llow1ng branches: Baltimore, Charlotte, Birmingham, Nash—
Denver, Oklahoma City, El Paso, Houston, and Salt
'Jake city.
414 It is clear that under the provisions of the present
the aount
m
available for additional construction at
the
branches is wholly inadequate for programs which are
seessFry in the interest of efficient operation.
"It should be borne in mind that all expenses in con13,7e ion with the construction and enlargement of the branch
tr buildings are met by the Federal Reserve Banks out of
in
:
ir own funds. No appropriations of Government funds are
th;Ted, Moreover, the Board of Governors, as an agency of
(/vernment, is vested with the general supervision of
rederal
Reserve Banks; and, in the exercise of this suPer
4,
,nsion,
11
all construction projects with respect to branch
ap—rs- buildings come before the Board of Governors for its
inPr°val
in the . In each case, the Board considers the proposal
1
, -Light
of the needs of the branch, the type of build—
EtvV0 be constructed, the
reasonableness of the cost, the
tirallebility of materials, whether the construction at the
sit
:is generally in keeping with the prevailing economic
1 i0/1, and other pertinent
considerations.
e,mou The Board believes that the q0,000,000 aggregate
pedent which under the
1947 amendment may be expended for
ID ,I,rtiral Reserve branch buildings (exclusive of land, vaults,
1.44,
11,?nt equipment, furnishings, and fixtures) is clearly
this - 'elent at this time and recommends, therefore, that
draft ''°,000,000 amount be increased to 25,000,000. A
alld
of bill to carry out this recomnendation is enclosed,
rem,2he Board earnestly hopes that your Committee will give
consideration to this legislation at an early
datu
e.able
r
110:
The.Bureau of the Budget has advised us that there is
Co,
01"Jectlon to the presentation of this proposal to the
--.fl
gress




Approved unanimously.

236
2/23/5o

—5Letter to the Honorable Frank Pace, Jr., Director of the Bureau

the Budgpt,
reading as follows:
"In comPltance with a rPouest received from the House
coMmittee on the
Judiciary, the Board has prepared the entic)sed report on the bill H.R. 6976 to amend Title 18 of the
united States Code reletin, to bank robbery.
"Before transmittinE; this report, the Board will apreciate advice as to the relationship of the proposed legslation to the program of the President."




Approved unanimously.

ChairmPn.