Evening star., 1935-09-19
.ECCLES TO Direct
NEW BANKING ACT
Roosevelt Names Him First
Chairman of Reorganized
Reserve System.
By the Associated Press.


HYDE PARK, N. Y, September 10.
Mariner S. Eccles, exponent Of
conscious monetary control" Is Presi-
dent Roosevelt's choice to direct the
new banking reform law.
Eccles, head of the Federal Reserve
System, will become the first chair
man of the reorganized system when
it goes into effect with increased pow
ers next February.
Mr. Roosevelt designated Eccles to
succeed himself last night. Six other
members of the new board are to be
named later. Eccles was chosen
chairman for a four-year term, the
maximum permitted by the act. His
term as a member of the board was
not fixed, however.
The seven original members will be
named for terms staggered from to
IA years, with subsequent appoint
ments for IA years each. The salary
will be $4,000 annually.
Appointment Has Been Expected.
The Eccles appointment confirmed
widely held belief in New Deal
financial circles that he was the ap-
for the reorganized
board.
He was named head Of the present
board late last year and shortly after
set out to try to convince the coun-
try Of a need for conscious monetary
control from a national viewpoint" l."
He held that idea was behind the
bill to amend the Federal Reserve act
and give the Reserve Board broader
powers for control Of the Nations
credit machinery.
Because he was regarded as the
chief promoter of the bill and leading
exponent of the ideas 1T embodied,
most observers had taken for granted
his appointment as chairman of the
reorganized board
Control to Be Powerful.
Rather diminutive in stature, but an
energetic and tenacious fighter, Eccles
is expected to lead one of the most
powerful financial controls conceived
under the New Deal.
While the Senate. under the spur OF
Senator Glass, Democrat, Of Virginia,
altered the bank bill in many details,
the act as finally approved provided
for far-reaching changes in the re-
serve mechanism.
1t gave the Seven-man Reserve
Board the dominant voice in deciding
open market operations by the regional
reserve banks, broadened their dis
count powers. permitted the Reserve
Board to double present reserve re-
quirements against deposits Of member
banks without declaring an emergency
and gave the board tighter control
over rediscount rates of the regional
banks.
AS the so-called New Deal gov
ernor" of the Reserve Board. Eccles'
economic PHILOSOPHERS. expounded in
hearings on the bank bill and else
where, attracted wide notice.
Wants to Natten Cycles.
Among other things he envisaged
the Federal Government taking the
pdIL Va CUIApCAASdtAls o6CAG III SSO-
nomic cycles, spending heavily in bad
times to create employment and ex-
pand credit and taxing in the good
years to reduce the debt and prevent
excessive piling up of income on one
end of the scale
Coming out of the West. he was
favored in some political circles be-
cause of disaSsociation with Wall
Street. But he came to Washington
with a reputation of having multiplied
the millions he inherited and with
having been eminently successful in
conducting a group Of banks and large
industrial interests in the West.
His youthful experiences as a Nor
mon missionary in Scotland, where he
was sent from his native State, and as
a lumber jack when he was learning
the ropes in industry, added pic
turesque touches to the background of
the brisk Westerner.