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1246 A meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Sys— tem. "as held in Washington on Tuesday, July 24, 1945, at 10:30 a.m. PRESENT: Mr. Ransom, Vice Chairman Mr. Szymczak Mr. Evans Mr. Carpenter, Secretary Mr. Connell, General Assistant, Office of the Secretary Mr. Thurston, Assistant to the Chairman The action stated with respect to each of the matters herein— ter referred to was taken by the Board: the 04 Memorandum dated July 230 1945, from Mr. Leonard, Director of sion of Personnel Administration, recommending, with the conellrren ce of Mr. Bethea, Director of the Division of Administrative Servi_ that Miss Margaret C. Huffman, a stenographer in the Division 'tulletrative Services, be transferred to the Division of Personnel Acstration, at her present salary of $2,232 per annum, effective n v 49, 1945. Approved unanimously. t4 ti lismorandum dated July 20, 1945, from Mr. Bethea, Director of Illai°n of Administrative Services, recommending that the temporary 4PP°111t 111 -- of Mrs. Beatrice Bronson, elevator operator in that Division, be s:tts, for a period of six months, without change in basic salary ot 1440 per annum, effective at the expiration of her present tempoP(Iintment on July 25, 1945. The memorandum stated that, due to the tem_.po„ 'arY nature of her employment Mrs. Bronson is not a member of 1247 N4/45 -2the r etirement system and it is contemplated that she will continue to be exauded therefrom. Approved unanimously. Memorandum dated July 21, 1945, from Mr. Thomas, Director of y the ‘11-1-sion of Research and Statistics, recommending that Mrs. Maria -1-0/ienko be appointed as a clerk in that Division, on a temporary Ullte basis with a basic salary at the rate of $1,836 per annum, P1118 °1rertime of $275.40 on the basis of a 44 hour workweek, effective When she reports for duty after having passed the usual physical ex4aillati°u. The memorandum stated that Mrs. Nikonenko would become a niembe,„. 'of the Federal Reserve retirement system. Approved unanimously. Memorandum dated July 24, 1945, from Mr. Bethea, Director of t4 o, 'Irision of Administrative Services, recommending that Mrs. Grace .uie be employed as a cafeteria helper in that Division, on a tempo- rari ba8i8 for an indefinite period, at a basic salary of $1,440 per 'Plus supplemental compensation for overtime of $216 per annum, etteet* lye July 24, 1945. The memorandum stated that it is assumed that a7ne will become a member of the Board's retirement system. Approved unanimously. kriq Letter to Mr. Triffin, Economist in the Division of Research -Q6le8 of the Board, reading as follows: er , "Under authority of the Board of Governors of the FedRell-L Reserve System, you are to undertake in the Dominican and the Republic of Guatemala the work described in the "e f ollowing paragraphs: 7/24/45 "In the Dominican Republic, you will prepare the studies necessary for the program of banking and monetary reorganization for which the Dominican Republic, through the Department of State, hPs requested your assistance. The work will c°mPrise technical consultation with monetary and other aut horities in the Dominican Republic. It is contemplated that You will spend two or three weeks in making a preliminary survey of the situation and assessing the views of government °facials and others concerned as to possible lines of action. 40u will then proceed to Guatemala for similar work undertaken at the request of the Inter-American Development Commission. the Dominican Republic you All be assisted by Mr. Henry u. Vallich of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who will relliain in the Dominican Republic to complete all statistical d other information indicated by your discussions as being cessary to planning the final legislation. This may require another month or two. "In Guatemala, you will prepare similar studies for the r°gram for which the Inter-American Development Commission, ' representing the interests of the Republic of Guatemala, has T quested your assistance. You will be assisted by Mr. David 1:: Grove of the Board's staff, who will carry on the necessary mPilations of information there. When the work in Guatemala Properly underway, you will return to Washington where you be joined by Ir. Wallich to work out together the tentalegislation to be submitted to the Dominican authorities. ste Projects during this period will be discussed with the tiaff group on foreign relations and possibly with representatives a of other interested agencies in Washington. You and Mr. on-L Ach will then return to the Dominican Republic and carry cle the necessary conversations with government officials in o loping the legislative drafts to be submitted to the ut.i.nican Congress. "You first to will then return to Washington, if advisable going Guatemala, and will have Mr. Grove join you here to carry forward the development of plans for the Guatemalan m;fislation in the same manner as the Dominican. When the mainal is prepared, you and Mr. Grove will return to Guateoff °ngressi 'o the necessary discussions with the Guatemalan -Lcials on the drafts to be subnitted to the Guatemalan r t r tn ,"If it appears expedient, arrangements may be made for Mr, 1 _ .allich to cooperate also in the work on the Guatemalan cent "If occasion arises, you will be expected to call upon teritT banks and finance ministries in other capitals conven'° Your itinerary and particularly in the Republic of fl)19 7/24/45 —4— "Haiti. It is also contemplated that Mr. Wallich will call on the finance ministry of the Republic of Cuba. "Exceptional circumstances may require immediate deci— sions to be made in the field. You are authorized to do so ,1!lthin reasonable limits and under your own responsibility. 'LOU will, however, keep the Board constantly informed of the Progress made and of the movements of yourself and Messrs. Rallich and Grove from place to place. If the Dominican 2!flcials clearly express a desire to share in the costs of Ij_ ne mission, you may discuss with them tentative arrangements c,0 be submitted to the Board. Am ."It is essential that in all the capitals you visit the „ e,r1can Embassy, and particularly the Commercial Attache, be i ';'°rmed of your work and consulted about it as occasion dIrects "It is requested that you retain the original of this letter, furnish one copy each to Mr. Wallich and Mr. Grove, J4c)rming them that the letter contains the official instruc4 0ns of the Board with respect to the two missions, and that ""e Copy, after being initialed by you, Mr. 1Nallich, and mr • Grove, be returned to the Board's files." Approved unanimously. Memorandum dated July 24, 1945, from Ir. Thomas, Director of the 4\1 '81°11 of Research and Statistics, recommending that Mr. Robert Irlf11-43 an Economist in the Division of Research and Statistics, be ELIliteci an advance of funds in the amount of $250 for use in helping to aleet the exPenses of his forthcoming official travel on the missions l'()Ired by the Board on July 41 1945, and July 17, 19115, which include 1re] to the Dominican Republic and Guatemala. As security for this 4111N ce Mr. Triffin has consented to the deduction from any amount stand— his credit in the Retirement System of the Federal Reserve Banks (t'411Y. 811m due and refundable to him in the event of his failure to : c)iltit Properly for any moneys advanced to him by the Fiscal Agent. illern°ralldum also recommended that Mr. Triffin be allowed a per diem 1250 7124/45 —5— tillie4 of subsistence not to exceed $8.00 while absent from Washington IIP°11the discharge of the above described duty. Approved unanimously. Letter prepared for the signature of Mr. Ransom to Mr. Thorp, Ilice Chairman of the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy, DePartment of State, reading as follows: I sn Chairman Eccles' absence I am replying to your two of July 13. We should be happy to designate Mr. °ward S. Ellis, Assistant Director of the Division of Re!sarch and Statistics, to serve on the Committee on American ..r.?.de Problems in Sterling Areas, and Mr. Walter R. Gardner, et of the International Section of that Division, to rzasrve on the Committee on Foreign Investment Policy. These hnmaY find it necessary at times to send an alternate, ZI".. I trust that they can arrange this in a manner that will km entirely satisfactory to you." let Approved unanimously. Letter to Mr. Sproul, Chairman of the Presidents' Conference Cam- t e on Personnel, reading as follows: co "Thank you for your letter of July 13, transmitting a Pr of the report of the subcommittee of the Committee on aleirdsonnel appointed to make a study of hospitalization plans Present its findings, suggestions and recommendations. en "It is noted that at its meetings in June, the ConferPresidents appeared generally to approve the policy eur"Pting some form of hospitalization plan, including andgleal provisions, but asked the Committee on Personnel 11:te subcommittee to work further on the matter, and that so" u°Pe that after its next meeting the Conference may have mething to submit to the Board." p Approved unanimously. Letter to Mr. Sproul, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New, a ork s reading as follows: 1251 ZV45 -6- "Mr. Szymczak has brought to the Board's attention your letter of July 13 to him in which you mention the cabled !xlvitation the Cuban Minister of Finance has sent Mr. Wallich to yisit Havana. The Board is pleased to hear of this recog!lition of Mr. Wallich's work and interposes no objection to the acceptance of the invitation he has received. "You will recall that the central bank proposal which grew out of the work of the American Technical Mission to 1?a in 1941-43 is still before the Cuban people and that the 211, :'1"I'ans themselves have been modifying the measure originally introduced. If Mr. Wallich goes to Havana, he will undoubtedly I: drawn into discussions of the whole set-up proposed by the erican mission. He will, we are sure, employ his usual discretion in such matters and it will be helpful to us to find Oj what the Cubans are currently considering in this field. Before he leaves for his visit, however, we think it would be desirable for him to have a preliminary discussion with Mr. Gardner, who was a member of the mission." Approved unanimously. Telegram to Mr. Evans, Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank c'tballas, reading as follows: "Relet July 18. Board approves appointment of Shanley Simpson :84,,,examiner for Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Please advise effective date of appointment and salary rate." Approved unanimously. Letter to the board of directors of the "Rogers County Bank," Clarela °Ise, Oklahoma, stating that, subject to conditions of membership Aber d 1 to 3 contained in the Board's Regulation H, the Board approves the application for membership in the Federal Reserve System and appropriate amount of stock in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas Approved unanimously, together with a letter to Mr. Leedy, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, reading as follows: 1252 7124/45 —7— "The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System approves the application of the Rogers County Bank, Claremore, Oklahoma, for membership in the Federal Reserve System, sul?ject to the conditions prescribed in the enclosed letter 1Nhich you are requested to forward to the Board of Directors of the institution. Two copies of such letter are also enclosed, one of which is for your files and the other of 1121-1-ch you are requested to forward to the Bank Commissioner for the State of Oklahoma for his information. 'It is assumed that you will follow the matter of the bank's bringing into conformity with the provisions of law 'rid the Board's regulations, its requirements with respect to savings deposit withdrawals." Letter to Mr. Davis, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of 4. Low. 8, reading as follows: "This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of July 18 1945, enclosing a copy of your reply to the letter received iv,the Board from Mr. A. G. Kahn, President of the Union abional Bank of Little Rock, Arkansas, dated June 27, re?'rding absorption of exchange charges. We appreciate the ' °asideration which you have given this matter and the suggestions which you have made. The Board doubts, however, the advisability of sending to int:ember banks at this time any further explanation or rpretation of the Board's position as outlined in its pe rtter of June 22, 1945. While we recognize the reasons to, °111P,ting Your suggestion in this matter, copies of the ' v ru's letter to you of July 13 regarding Mr. Kahn's quesbeen sent to all the Federal Reserve Banks and also t-rt-have n i4 - Comptroller of the Currency, in order that they may be re a position to answer any similar inquiries which they may toeel-ve. We feel that any additional letter or communication al 22 let member banks just now, coming so soon after the June might tend to confuse some of the banks and give il se to further questions. While we have had some inquiries e:re as a result of the June 22 letter, and no doubt the Fedmany1eserve Banks have had more, we have not received as de as might have been expected, and generally it is felt lrable to keep to a minimum the number of rulings which "e „_:d to be brought to the attention of all member banks. ati_ "As you know, it is the Board's general practice not to pa4mpt to rule on questions which it receives as to whether but :3.-cular practices legally constitute a payment of interest all 'd° reserve a determination of such questions until after the facts may be developed by examinations of the banks 1253 714/45 —8— involved. It is our hope that by following this practice the necessity for interpretations will be infrequent and that, if member banks accept the Board's letter of June 22 as a workable and practical approach to the problem, the technical aspects of the problem may be minimized and the magnitude of the problem itself may gradually diminish." Approved unanimously. Letter to Mr. Luther H. Evans, Acting Librarian of Congress, reading as follows: "In your letter of June 28 to Chairman Eccles, you dis— cuss the means you have under consideration for the procure— lient of foreign publications, particularly for use by other Federal Agencies. "It is essential to the discharge of this Board's re— sPonsibilities as central banking authority that it receive current information of international monetary conditions as j l °mPtlY as possible, and to this end we have for a long Islme maintained exchange relationships with foreign central need and other official organizations whose publications we who in turn have use for ours. The war seriously 0 -1-7sterfered with these exchanges, and we are now in process restoring them as rapidly as postal communication permits. ma "The foreign publications already referred to are boinlY the reviews, statements of condition, statistical year to°ks, etc., of central banks and other official agencies of e„!eign governments and some general economic periodicals, an' include over 550 periodical publications and about 350 crual statistical volumes. As far as this collection is tItcerned, our needs could not be met by borrowing from the shj,.,rY of Congress or other Government libraries; but we 0111:T1 be glad to keep the Committee informed as to our ac— An important part of the information obtained by us atd ' s, as you know, published in the Federal Reserve Bulletin iti ' o made widely accessible thereby to other Government offices, raries, and economists. "Our library will be very much interested in receiving foreign bibliographical information on the publication of government documents, books, newspapers, and period— ' s in the whole field of economics, with special emphasis ,7 PUblications in the monetary and financial field. The ;71rices of the Procurement Officers of the State Department per?ttaining copies of new books and sample copies of new le'dical publications would be most useful. 1254 7/24/45 —9— "The work of the Board in the international field has expanded greatly during the war and it is anticipated that °Iir needs for foreign publications will increase. In view Of the size and character of its own foreign procurement ?rogram, the Board will be glad to cooperate with you, and lf You desire, a member of its staff can be designated to serve on your committee." Approved unanimously. Letter to Mr. Thomas B. McCabe, Army-Navy Liquidation Commis' el, New War Department Building, reading as follows: "It was indeed thoughtful of you to express your aptr e ciation, as you did in your letter of July 20, 1945, of he assistance our staff has been able to give you in conIl_ection with your present important responsibilities. I T"I can speak for each member of the Board in saying that we have been happy to give such assistance as we could nd to know that you have found our staff qualified to produce real results. am taking the liberty of bringing your letter to the _pile attention of the appropriate members of the staff, and t. am sure that they will continue to give you every assist'nee that we are capable of rendering." Approved unanimously. Thereupon the meeting adjourned.
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