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The Owen-Glass Currency Measure
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Tho following Ib tho full toxt of iho admin
V iBtrution curroncy bill as finally approved De-
comber 23, 1013:
An Act To provide for tho establishment of
Federal reserve banks, to furnish an elastic cur
' ' ronqy, to afford meanB of redlscountlng commer-
- clnl paper, to establish a more effective super
vision of tho banking' in tho United States, and
- ' for other purposes.
J3o it onactod . by the Senato and House of
Representatives of tho United States of America
in Congress assembled, That tho short title of
this Act shall bo tho "Federal Reserve Act."
Wherever the word "bank" Is used In this Act,
tho word shall bo hold to Include Stato bank,
banking association, and trust company, cxcopt
whero national banks or Federal reserve Vanks
aro specifically roforrod to. . '
Tho torms "national bank" and "national
banking association" used in this Act shall bo
hold to bo synonymous and interchangeable.
Tho term "member bank" shall bo held to mean
' any national bank, State bank, or bank or trust
company which has become a member of one
of tho reserve banks created by this Act. The
tovm "board" shall bo hold to mean Federal Re
servo Board; tho term "district" shall be held
to mean Federal reserve district; the term "ro
sorvo bank" shall be held to mean Foderal re
a'orvo bank.
FEDERAL RESERVE DISTRICTS
Sec. 2. As Boon as practicable, tho Secretary
of tho Treasury, tho Secretary of Agriculture and
thp Comptroller of the Currency, acting as "The
Rosorvo Bank Organization Committee," shall
designate not lesB than eight nor more than
twelve cities to be known as Federal reserve
cities, and shall divide the continental United
States, excluding Alaska, into districts, each dis
trict to contain only one of such Federal reserve
cities. The determination of said organization
committed shall not be subject to review except
by the Federal Reserve Board when organized:
Provided,' That tho districts shall bo apportioned
with duo regard to tho convenience and custom
ary course of business and shall not necessarily
bo coterminous with any State or States. Tho
districts thus created may be readjusted and
new districts may from time to time bo created
. by tho Federal Reserve Board, not to exceed
twelve in all. Such districts shall bo known as
Foderal reserve districts and may be designated
by number. A majority of the organization
committee shall constitute a quorum with au
thority to act.
Said organization committee shall bo author-,.-..
. ized to employ counsel and expert aid, to tako
testimony, to send for persons and papers, to
administer oaths, and to make such investiga
tion as may be doomed necessary by the said
committeo in determining the reserve districts
and in designating tho cities within such dis
tricts whero such Federal reserve banks shall be
severally located. The said committeo shall
supervise tho organization in each of the cities
designated of a Federal reserve bank, which
shall include in its title tho name of the city in
which it is situated, as "Federal Reserve Bank
of Chicago."
Under regulations to be prescribed by tho or
ganization committoe, every national banking
association in the United States js hereby required,-
and every eligible bank in the United
States and every trust company within the Dis
trict of Columbia, is hereby authorized to signify
in writing, within sixty daya after tho passage of
this Act, its acceptance of tho terms and pro
visions hereof. When the organization commit
tee shall have designated the cities in which
Foderal reserve banks are to be organized, and
fixed tho geographical limits of the Federal re
serve districts, every national banking associa
tion within that district shall be required within
thirty days after notice from the organization
committee, to subscribe to the capital stock of
such Federal reserve bank in a sum equal to six
per centum of the paid-up capital stock and sur
plus of such bank, one-sixth of the subscription
to be payable on call of the organization commit
tee or of tho Federal Reserve Board, one-sixth
-within three mouths and one-sixth within six
months thereafter, and the remainder of the
subscription, or any part thereof, shall be sub
ject to call when deemed necessary by the Fed
eral Reserve Board, said payments to be in gold
or gold certificates.
Tho shareholders of every Federal reserve
bank shall bo held individually responsible,
equally and ratably, and not one for another,
for all contracts, debts, and engagements of such
bank to the extent of tho amount of their sub
scriptions to such stock at the par value thereof
in addition to tho amount subscribed, whether
such subscriptions have been paid up in whole
or in part, under the provisions of this Act.
Any national bank failing to signify its ac
ceptance of the torms of this Act within the sixty
days aforesaid, shall cease to act as a reserve
agent, upon thirty days' notice, to be given with
in tho discretion of the said organization com
mitteo or of the Federal Reserve Board.
Should any national banking association in
the United States now organized fail within one
year after the passage of this Act to become a
member bank or fail to comply with any of the
provisions of this Act applicable thereto, all of
the rights, privileges, and franchises of such as
sociation granted to it under the national-bank
Act, or under the provisions of this Act, shall be
thereby forfeited. Any noncompliance with or
violation of this Act shall, however, be deter
mined and adjudged by any court of the United
States of competent jurisdiction in a suit
brought for that purpose in the district or terri
tory in which such bank is located, under direc
tion of the Federal Reserve Board, by the Comp
troller of the Currency in his own name before
the association shall be declared dissolved. In
cases of such noncompliance or violation, other
than tho failure to become a member bank under
tho provisions of this Act, every director who
participated in or assented to the same shall be
held liable in his personal or individual capacity
for all damages which said bank, its sharehold
ers, or any other person shall Have sustained in
consequence of such violation.
Such dissolution shall not take away or impair
any remedy against such corporation, its stock
holders or officers, for any liability or penalty
which shall have been previously incurred.
Should the subscriptions by banks to the stock
of said Federal reserve banks or any one or
more of them be, in the judgment of the organ
ization committee, insufficient to provide the
amount of capital required therefor, then and in
that event the said organization committee may,
under conditions and regulations to be pre
scribed by it, offer to public -subscription at par
such an amount of stock in said Federal reserve
banks, or any one or more of them, as said com
mittee shall determine, subject to the same con
ditions as to 'payment and stock liability as pro
vided for member banks.
No individual, copartnership, or corporation
other than a member bank of its district shall be
permitted to subscribe for or to hold at any
time more than $26,000 par value of stock in
any Federal reserve bank. Such stock shall be
known as public stock and may be transferred
on the books of the Federal reserve bank by the
chairman of the board of directors of such bank.
Should the total subscriptions by banks and
tho public to the stock of said Federal reserve
banks, or any one or more of them, be, in the
judgment of the organization committee, insuffi
cient to provide the amount of capital required
therefore, then and in that event the said organ
ization committee shall allot to the United States
such an amount of said stock as said committee
shall determine. Said United States stock shall
be paid for at par out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and shall
be held by the Secretary of the Treasury and dis
posed of for the benefit of the United States in
such manner, at such times, and at such price,
not less than par, as the Secretary of the Treas
ury shall determine.
Stock not held by member banks shall not be
entitled to voting power.
The Federal Reserve Board is hereby em
powered to adopt and promulgate rules and
regulations governing the transfers of said stock.
No Federal reserve bank shall commence busi
ness with a subscribed capital less than $4,000,
000. The organization of reserve districts and
Federal, reserve cities shall not be construed as
changing the present status of reserve cities and
central reserve cities, except in so far as this Act
changes the amount of reserves that may be
carried with approved reserve agents located
therein. The organization committee shall have
power to appoint such assistants aid incur such
expenses in carrying out the provisions of this
Act as it shall deem necessary, and such ex
penses shall be payable by the Treasurer of the
United States upon voucher approved by thef
Secretary of the Treasury, and the Bum of $100,-
000, or so much thereof as may be necessary; is
hereby appropriated, out of any moneys in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the
payment of such expenses.
BRANCH OFFICES
Sec. 3. Each Federal reserve bank shall
establish branch banks within the Federal rer
serve district in which it is located and may do
so in the district of any Federal reserve bank,
which may have been suspended. Such branches
shall be operated by a board of directors under
rules and regulations approved by the Federal
Reserve Board. Directors of branch banks shall
possess the same qualifications as directors of
the Federal reserve banks. Four of said direct
ors shall be selected by the reserve bank and
three by the Federal Reserve Board, .-and tlioV
shall hold office during the pleasure, respective
ly, of the parent bank and the Federal Reserve "
Board. The reserve bank shall designate one of
the directors as manager.
FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS .. .
Seq. 4. When the organization committee
shall have established Federal reserve districts
as provided in section two of this Act, a certifi
cate shall be filed with the Comptroller of the
Currency showing the geographical limits of
such districts and the Federal reserve city desig
nated in each of such districts. The Comp
troller of the Currency shall thereupon cause to
be forwarded to each national bank located in
each district, and to such other banks declared
to bo eligible by the organization committee
which may apply therefor, an application blank
in form to be approved by the organization com
mittee, which blank shall contain a resolution to
be adopted by the board, of directors, of each
bank executing such application, authorizing a,
subscription to the capital stock of the Federal
reserve bank organizing in that district in ac
cordance with the provisions of this Act.
When the minimum amount of capital stock
prescribed by this Act for the organization of
any Federal reserve' bank shall have been sub
scribed and allotted, the organization committee
shall designate any five banks of those whose
applications have been received, to execute a
certificate of organization, and thereupon the
banks so designated shall, under their seals,
make an organization certificate which shall spe
cifically state the name of such Federal reserve
bank, the territorial extent of the district over
which the operations of such Federal reserve
bank are to be carried on, the city and State in
which said bank is to be located, the amount of
capital stock and the number of shares into
which the same is divided, the name and place
of doing business of each bank executing such
certificate, and of all banks which have sub
scribed to the capital stock of such Federal re
serve bank and the number of shares subscribed
by each, and the fact that the certificate is made
to enable those banks executing same, and all
banks which have subscribed or may therfinftAr
subscribe to the capital stock of such Federal
reserve bank, to avail themselves of the ad
vantages of this Act.
The said organization certificate shall be
acknowledged before a judge of some court of
record or notary public; and shall be toeothr
with the acknowledgment thereof au&enttclted
by the seal of such court, or notary 23"
to the Comptroller of the CtaSXl
Ills 'office arefUlly P1'eServe the 8ame in '
Upon the filing of such certificate with 'the
Comptroller of the Currency as aforesaid f hi
said Federal reserve bank shall becomf a body
corporate and as such, and in the name deste-power-
organization certificate, shall have
First. To adopt and use a corporate seal
Second. To have succession for a period of
Third. To make contracts.
Fourth. To sue and be sued, complain and
defend, in any court of law or equity
Fifth. To appoint by its board of directors
such officers and employees as are not otlwwffj
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