The Washington herald., 1914-10-17
DIFFICULTY is FOUND
NPICKING DIRECTORS
Federal Re.sr. Board Finds Il Task
to Choose Those for
Class C
QUALIFICATIONS ARE RIGID

The task OF the Federal Ressrv'
Board In choosing the class c SOW
srning directors for the Federal rs.
serve system has been no Hghi
one. The class c directors are those whS
act a. the principal executives In the saw.
eral Federal reserve districts. supervis-
ing partially the work Of the directors oi
classes A and 3. The directors oi
the lattsr classes were chosen By the
member banks-that ta, the banks which
have been admitted to active membershiT
In the new Federal reserve system They
were chosen by ballot. and there were
few legal restrictions on qualifications for
service. Their selection was . eompara-
lively simple matter.
Not 30 with the cIasa C dirsctorsL IN
der the Law, not the member banks. but
the Federal Reserve Board was intrusted
with the task Of naming the class c d.
rectors And the rigid qualifications for
membership as a director in class G are
extremely formidable.
The new currency Law says that no man
shall serve as q class c director who ID
not an experienced and capable banker.
There are many such IN the United
States. Of course. but says the law. no
man shall be a class c director who holds
once in any bank or banking institution
or who owns stock In any such concern.
The class c directors must be bankless
bankers. or bankers out OF Jobs. Such
have been very hard to fnd.
II. Parker Willis. secretary 10 the Fed
eral Reserve Board. In discussing the
problem the other day. declared that .
harder combination to get around could
not very well be conceived.
The board" said Mr.. Willis. could
- II 0f -
bankers, and, indeed, It could hnd q good
many capable and experienced bankers
who did not hold once in any banking
institution. But when It came 70 finding
experienced and capable bankers who
held no bank ofices and owned no stock
in any bank the plot thickened-
The board secured the country for
suitable class c directors. OF course, the
directors had to be resident in the dis
trict for which they were to be chosen.
By correspondence the board examined
who had any banking experience and
ability in each district. The first draft
Of candidates had to be sifted out, then
those selected winnowed, and the
suryivals carefully picked over and
sorted until often after going through Q
big batch the board would come out At
the other end Of the job with all the
candidates eliminated and the work
would commence anew on q fresh set Of
names"
But the board has overcome many Of
these ddifaculties, It appears Several
schemes have been adopted to get the de-
sired men.
According to Mr.. willis, the board
found a good many old bankers about
the country with practical experience
and ability who had resigned and sold
their bank stock. At FIRST glance, he says,
the board thought 1t could get many
class directors from this general class
Of former bankers. But IL was diseov-
cred that many Of these gentlemen were
loath to depart from old-fashioned ideas
about banking and looked upon some Of
the provisions OF the new law with dis
favor Therefore, they were out OF the
running.
What was done in many cases was to
60 to an active banker with practical
modern banking experience and offer him
q job as a class c director, provided he
would conform to the law by resigning
as president. vice president, cashier, di-
rector, or whatever Job he happened to
hold, and in addition sell his stock. Quite
a number Of class c directors have been
obtained by the board in this manner.
But Il has not been easy to get high-saI-
aried bank officers with valuable stock 10
trade all those assets for the honor Of
being a class c director.
Another expedient employed by the
board has been to select national bank
examiners in the various districts as
class c directors. These men. already in
the government employ as bank exami-
ners, do not hlod bank stock and hold no
offices in banks. Furthermore, they are
experienced and practical bankers.
But the Federal Reserve Board has had
no holiday job getting the desired men.