FOMC Minutes

A meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee was held in

the offices of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

in Washington on Monday,

PRESENT:

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

September 18, 1939,

at 10:30 a.m.

Eccles, Chairman

Harrison, Vice Chairman

Ransom

Szymczak

McKee

Davis

Draper

Fleming

Leach

Martin

Hamilton

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Morrill, Secretary

Carpenter, Assistant Secretary

Wyatt, General Counsel

Goldenweiser, Economist

Williams, Associate Economist

Dreibelbis, Assistant General Counsel

Sproul, Manager of the System Open

Market Account

Mr. Thurston, Special Assistant to the

Chairman of the Board of Governors

Mr. Piser, Senior Economist in the Division

of Research and Statistics of the Board

of Governors

Messrs. Young, Sinclair, Parker, Schaller,

Peyton, Gilbert and Day, Presidents of

the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston,

Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Minne

apolis, Dallas, and San Francisco,

respectively

Mr. Kimball, Secretary of the Presidents'

Conference

Messrs. Goldenweiser and Williams discussed the credit and

business situation.

Copies of their statements have been placed in

the files of the Federal Open Market Committee.

9/18/39

-2At the end of Mr. Goldenweiser's statement Chairman Eccles

joined the meeting.

At the request of Mr. Goldenweiser, Mr. Piser discussed the

trend of prices and yields of Government securities as shown by a num

ber of charts which he displayed during his discussion.

Mr. Sproul then presented a report which had been prepared at

the Federal Reserve Bank of New York covering open market operations

for the System account since the meeting of the Federal Open Market

Committee on June 20-21,

1939, up to and including September 15, 1939.

Mr. Sproul discussed the operations reflected by the report and stated

that there were no transactions in the account on Saturday, September

16, 1939.

Following the presentation of the report Mr. Sproul explained

briefly the instructions under which the bank was operating today and

said that, while for the last two or three days the outside bids on

the market had been higher than the bids of the New York bank in most

issues, quotations on many issues had dropped today to the bids of the

Reserve bank and that the bank had bought $2,351,000 of bonds.

The

latest report, he said, was that the selling had dried up and that the

market was in a static condition for the moment.

After a discussion of Mr. Sproul's report,

Chairman Eccles sug

gested that each of the presidents report on the reaction in his dis

trict to developments in

the Government securities market.

The

statements of the presidents indicated that in their opinion, while

9/18/39

-3

there had been some selling of Government securities on the part of

smaller banks, there had been relatively little

selling on the part of

larger banks except for the account of customers and trust estates,

that many banks and other institutions were ready to buy but were hes

itant to go into the market just at this time, that the market was in

a stronger position because of the decline in prices, that there was

a feeling in

some quarters that there is

now beginning a period of

higher interest rates, that, while banks had suffered a loss of ap

preciation in their Government security holdings, such loss might be

substantially counteracted by increases in the amounts of and returns

from their loans and other investments,

that the System should not at

tempt to hold prices of securities at any particular level but should

allow the market to seek its

own level, that there was little

likeli

hood of panic selling at present prices, and that the System had done

a good job in

the way in

stated, however,

which it

had handled the market.

It

was

that there had been some criticism of the practice

of requiring names of large sellers of securities and of the action

taken by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in getting dealers to

close at 4:00 o'clock.

discussed in

In this connection Mr. Harrison and Mr. Sproul

detail the reasons for the adoption of the practice for

a short period of requiring the names of sellers in

connection with

certain types of offerings to the Federal Reserve bank, pointing out

that such requirements are no longer made.

They also explained the

situation as to the hour of closing, pointing out the desirability of

9/18/39

-4

having a uniform time for discontinuing operations in the over-the

counter market.

It

appeared from the statements of the presidents that

no Federal Reserve bank had made an advance to a bank on Government ob

ligations under the policy recently announced by the Board, and it

was

the consensus that, while there had been some selling on the part of

banks throughout the country as a whole, the total sales by all holders

were not large in

view of the disturbed conditions to which the market

had been subject.

After a further general discussion a recess was taken and the

meeting was reconvened at 2:30 p.m. with the same attendance as at

the morning session.

Upon motion duly made and seconded,

and by unanimous vote, the minutes of the

meeting of the Federal Open Market Com

mittee held on June 20-21, 1939, were ap

proved.

Upon motion duly made and seconded,

and by unanimous vote, the actions of the

executive committee of the Federal Open

Market Committee as set forth in the min

utes of the meeting of the executive com

mittee on June 20-21, 1939, were approved,

ratified, and confirmed.

It

was stated that on September 8, 1939, it

was decided by

the members of the executive committee, with the approval of the mem

bers of the Board of Governors who were not members of the executive

committee, to ask the other members of the full Committee (Messrs.

Fleming, Martin, and Hamilton) for their concurrence in granting au

thority to increase the System open market account by a second

9/18/39

-5

$500,000,000 as provided in the last resolution adopted at the meet

ing of the Federal Open Market Committee on June 21, 1939,

and that

the granting of such authority was approved by Messrs. Fleming, Martin

and Hamilton on September 9, 1939.

Upon motion duly made and seconded,

and by unanimous vote, the action of the

members of the Federal Open Market Com

mittee in granting the additional author

ity referred to was approved, ratified,

and confirmed.

Upon motion duly made and seconded,

and by unanimous vote, the transactions

for the System open market account, includ

ing the purchases of obligations guaranteed

by the United States Government, during the

period since that covered by similar action

at the meeting of the Federal Open Market

Committee on June 20, 1939, to and includ

ing September 16, 1939, were approved, rati

fied, and confirmed.

There ensued a discussion of the questions of policy with re

spect to the authority to be granted to the executive committee to

arrange for transactions in the System open market account.

eration was given in

Consid

this connection to a revision of the resolutions

adopted by the Federal Open Market Committee at its

last meeting and

to the question whether the authority granted to the committee to in

crease or decrease the System account for the purpose of exercising

an influence toward the maintenance of orderly market conditions

should be so worded as to authorize the executive committee to in

crease the account by a stated amount irrespective of the bills which

might be allowed to run off or whether the authority should be for

9/18/39

-6

the purchase or sale of a stated amount of securities without regard

to the amounts of Treasury bills that might be allowed to mature with

out replacement.

Chairman Eccles stated that the principal question that had

been discussed by the members of the executive committee during the

recent period was the rapidity with which the market should be al

lowed to decline, the amounts of securities that should be purchased

for the System account during declines, and the timing of such purchases.

He stated his position that in

view of the existing large amounts of

excess reserves he would rather have remained out of the market en

tirely than to have been in

and permitted the market to decline too

rapidly, that he felt that the System should increase its

as the market declined,

resistance

that, since a substantial decline had taken

place and Government securities were getting close to their issuing

prices the Committee should take either the position that it

charged its

responsibility and that the market should stand on its

feet or the position that, if

it

had dis

it

was going to be in

own

the market at all,

was more important now than when the market was very much higher

that the market show no substantial declines, that he did not think

it would take much buying to give the market stability, that in view

of that situation it

would be a mistake to let the market go through

par without considerable resistance on the part of the System, and

that he would favor a policy of resistance.

Mr. Harrison stated that the Secretary of the Treasury on

9/18/39

-7-

September 12, 1939, advised the members of the executive committee

that he thought that if there were any criticism of the System's op

erations it

that it

was that it

had given the market too vigorous support and

was the feeling in the Treasury that the System should let the

market go down towards a natural level more quickly and with less ex

penditure of funds for the reasons (1) that the Treasury might be in

terested in going into the market to do some financing but it

did not

want to do so until the market was a more natural one and (2) that

private financing had been delayed because of the desire of issuers

to wait until the market had found what they deemed to be a more nat

ural level.

Mr. Harrison felt that in these circumstances it might

be preferable to select a course between the two extremes suggested

by Chairman Eccles, that is,

to let the System get out of the market

entirely but to be prepared, as in the past, to attempt to avoid dis

order in the market by placing bids under particular issues, whenever

it

appeared that there was heavy pressure on those issues without any

outside bids.

Under this procedure, he said, bids would be placed

up to, say, $250,000 on any particular issue and some bonds would be

taken if

necessary to avoid having than drive the market down.

conditions showed that the market had not found its

said, it

If

own level, he

should be followed down with purchases only to maintain

orderly conditions.

The question of the policy to be adopted for the future

was discussed at length and particularly the questions whether the

9/18/39

-8

Committee should give vigorous support to the market at this point,

whether, if

the market had not found a level where it

would be inde

pendent of Federal Reserve buying, the Committee should permit it

decline slowly,

to

taking a substantial amount of bonds on the decline,

or rapidly, taking only a few bonds, or whether, if

the market should

break through the present levels with substantial selling, a strong

stand should be taken by the System at some point in order to dry up

offerings.

Consideration was also given to the desire of the Treasury

to have a reasonable period of stability in the market and of freedom

from official support before announcing any new financing.

Mr. Ransom referred to the close attention which the execu

tive committee had given to the market during the preceding three

weeks and suggested that, if

in Washington,

possible while the whole Committee was

some more definite formula be worked out than had ex

isted heretofore in order that the executive committee might not be

under the necessity of giving the matter the constant attention that

had been required during the recent period.

was discussed at some length but it

Mr. Ransom's suggestion

was stated by a majority of the

members that they felt that because of the unusual conditions under

which the System account was being operated anything more than a very

general statement of objective was not possible at this time.

The opinion was expressed, however,

that it

should not be the

purpose of the Committee to "peg" or maintain the market at any pre

determined level.

9/18/39

-9

In response to a request from Chairman Eccles that the presi

dents who were not on the executive committee of the Federal Open Mar

ket Committee express their views with respect to the problem before

the Committee,

a number of them discussed the matter.

Mr. Young said that he would let

and if

the market seek its

own level

that appeared to be two or three points lower he would let

it

go

that far before putting in orders, that if it did not hold its own at

that point he would let it

fore he would give it

continue as far as another three points be

strong support, and that he would not be concerned

with the speed with which it was allowed to drop.

Mr.

Day said he would not like to see a precipitous drop and if

the market went down he would want to ease it

down in order not to

create the impression that there was no support and to prevent it from

breaking away.

Mr. Gilbert did not favor complete withdrawal from the market.

He did not see any reason for varying the program that had been followed.

He said that the extent to which the market should be supported would

depend on developments and that he thought the procedure that had been

followed up to date had worked well.

Mr. Martin stated that he would not hesitate to spend enough

to keep the market from going down too fast and that in

his opinion

such action would have the effect of stabilizing the market and bring

ing in

buyers.

Mr. Peyton said he did not see any great variance in

the points

9/18/39

-10

of view that had been expressed, that no one was suggesting withdrawal

from the market altogether, that it

was a matter of practical operation

from day to day, that there was a point at which the market should be

bolstered, and that he doubted that that point had been reached.

He

also said that psychology plays an important part in the market and

that the prices of securities are determined by many outside factors

including the influence of the views of financial writers and bankers

and others that give free advice.

Mr. Sinclair was inclined to stay away from the market a little

and see if

the buyers would come in.

He would be prepared in

any sudden fluctuations to cushion the market a little

gressively as had been done.

case of

but not as ag

He said that in view of the war situation

he would not be in a hurry to do a lot of buying for the reason that

he felt that buying was going to do more to frighten buyers away than

to encourage them to come in,

that he believed the market was going

to a lower level,

we did not find buyers then he would

and that if

be prepared to do some buying but that in the meantime he would mark

time and see what happened.

Mr. Fleming felt that the market would decline if the Neutrality

Act were repealed and that a statement of general principles could be

drawn.

When there are substantial offerings and no purchasers the Sys

tem should be prepared to buy.

The Committee should not deem it

function to maintain any particular level of yields or prices.

its

The

Committee should endeavor to prevent violent fluctuations in the course

9/18/39

-11

of a trading day, up or down.

he was not prepared to say.

As to what those fluctuations should be

He would leave the job to the executive

committee

Mr. Hamilton stated that the general impression prevailed

throughout the country that the System and the Treasury would not per

mit Government securities to go through par and that was one reason

the market had leveled off as it

began to get close to par.

said that he would watch the market closely and if

or more he would get in the market and if

it

He felt, however, that it

went off a point

went below par he would

get in pretty strongly because he thought that is

pected.

it

He also

what the public ex

would not be necessary to go in

very strongly to maintain prices around par.

was too soon after Sep

Mr. Parker was of the opinion that it

tember 1 to formulate a long range program as we had not yet passed

through the crisis and that for a period at least the executive com

mittee should pursue the same policy that it

had pursued up to the

present time and cushion the market so that if

drop it

there were any further

would be a steady one and not bring about a wave of selling.

He felt that if

there were any substantial amount of bonds being of

fered for which no adequate market could be found that condition might

start a wave of selling that could not be stopped without buying a con

siderable volume of securities, that there seemed to be no other prac

tical course at present than that of easing the market down and buying

was

on a substantial scale, and that an impression that the Committee

9/18/39

-12

not going to support the market might produce a feeling of uncertainty

that would deter buying.

Chairman Eccles stated that as he got the general view of the

presidents it

was one of approval of the action of the executive com

mittee up to date, broadly speaking, and that the fact that the System

had purchased about $450,000,000 of securities up to this time in

cushioning the market was not considered by the majority of those

present to have been excessive.

Consideration was given to the resolution containing author

ity to the executive committee to effect transactions in the System

open market account and a draft of a revised resolution which had

been prepared during the discussion was read, as follows:

That the executive committee be directed until other

wise directed by the Federal Open Market Committee to ar

range for such transactions for the System open market

account (including purchases, sales, exchanges, replace

ment of maturing securities, and letting maturities run

off without replacement) as in its judgment from time to

time may be necessary for the purpose of exercising an

influence toward maintaining orderly market conditions;

provided that the aggregate amount of securities held in

the account at the close of this date shall not be in

creased nor decreased by more than $500,000,000.

Mr. Leach raised the question whether the above resolution

would be interpreted as a mandate to the executive committee to spend

$500,000,000 or anything like that amount.

It

was unanimously agreed

that the resolution should not be so interpreted and that the amount

spent and the rapidity with which it

cumstances as they developed.

was spent would depend on cir

9/18/39

-13At the conclusion of the discussion,

upon motion duly made and seconded, the

resolution set forth above was adopted by

unanimous vote.

Reference was then made to the report of examination of the

System open market account as of the close of business on June 17,

1939, which was submitted by Federal Reserve Examiner Koppang under

date of September 7, 1939, in accordance with the request made by

the Federal Open Market Committee at its

last meeting.

A copy of

the report had been sent to each member of the Federal Open Market

Committee by Mr. Morrill on September 11, 1939.

Reference was made

to the last paragraph of the report which called attention to the

fact that, while the designation of Mr. Sproul as Manager of the Sys

tem Open Market Account had been approved by the Federal Open Market

Committee, approval did not appear to have been obtained for the

designation of Mr. Rounds as alternate for Mr, Sproul.

At the conclusion of a discussion dur

ing which the opinion was expressed that

there was no necessity for the approval of

the appointment of an alternate for Mr.

Sproul, it was voted unanimously to accept

and file the report without further action.

Chairman Eccles stated that a question had been raised as to

the procedure and the time for making an announcement of the decision

reached by the Board and the Federal Reserve banks that the recently

announced policy with respect to advances by Federal Reserve banks

to member and nonmember banks on the security of Government obligations

9/18/39

-14

includes Federal Home Loan Banks,

Federal Intermediate Credit Banks,

Federal Land Banks and Banks for Cooperatives and suggested that this

matter be discussed at this time.

In this connection he stated that

an inquiry had been received from the Financial Adviser of the Federal

Home Loan Bank Board as to the application of the policy to Federal

Home Loan Banks and that the Board was under necessity of making some

reply to that communication.

During the discussion some of the pres

idents stated that they had already advised some of the banks in

question in their districts that the policy applied to them.

Chairman

Eccles reviewed again the reasons for the application of the policy

to the Governmental banking institutions.

It

was suggested that the

Board reply to the letter received from the Federal Home Loan Bank

Board by stating in effect that the term nonmember bank as used in

the Board's announcement includes Federal Home Loan Banks, with the

understanding that, if

inquiries are received as to other institutions

of the classes mentioned, replies would be made in a similar manner,

and that if

inquiry be made by them at the Federal Reserve banks they

would be advised that the policy applied to them.

At the conclusion of the discussion

the members of the Board of Governors

agreed that the matter should be handled

in accordance with the foregoing sugges

tions.

Chairman Eccles reported that it

was the intention of the

executive committee to let this week's maturities of Treasury bills

run off without replacement.

9/18/39

-15-

Thereupon the meeting adjourned.

Approved:

Chairman.