Exhibit M.-CHANGES IN FEDERAL RESERVE DISTRICTS. THE REDISTRICTING DECISION.1 Shortly after its organization, the Federal Reserve Board received petitions from banks located in several of the Federal Reserve Districts, asking the transfer of designated portions thereof to other districts. These petitions were filed under section 1 of the Federal Reserve Act, which provides for an appeal from the decision of the Organization Committee to the Board, in the following language: * * * 'As soon as practicable the Reserve Bank Organization Committee shall designate not less 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 district to contain only one of such Federal Reserve cities. The determination of said organization committee shall not be subject to review except by the Federal Reserve Board when organized: Provided, That the districts shall be apportioned with due regard to the convenience and customary course of business and shall not necessarily be coterminous with any State or States. The districts thus created may be readjusted and new districts may from time to time be created by the Federal Reserve Board, not to exceed twelve in all. * * The Board, recognizing the general desire for the establishment of the Federal Reserve Banks at as early a date as practicable, determined to defer the investigation and hearing of these petitions until a later date, announcing, however, that the action taken with reference to the banks would not prejudice the decision to be arrived at later, when the petitions should come up for definite determination. When the first pressure of work attending the organization of the banks was over, dates were set for the hearing of the petitions, and during the months of January and February, 1915, all that had then been filed were heard by counsel. A detailed list of the dates set for the hearings and a statement of other facts relating to the proceedings were printed in the First Annual Report of the Board (p. 192). Subsequently the petition of certain banks in Tennessee for transfer from district No. 6 to district No. 5 was withdrawn, at least for the time being. This left the following cases pending before the Board: (1) The petition of certain banks in northern New Jersey for transfer from district No. 3 to district No. 2. (2) The petition of certain banks in West Virginia for the transfer of the counties of Wetzel and Tyler from district No. 5 to No. 4. (3) The petition of certain banks in Oklahoma for transfer from district No. 11 to district No. 10. (4) The petition of certain banks in Nebraska and Wyoming for transfer from district No. 10 to No. 7. (5) The petition of the city of Baltimore to be designated as the headquarters of district No. 5 in place of Richmond, Va. (6) The petition of the city of Pittsburgh to be designated as the headquarters of district No. 4 in place of Cleveland, Ohio. Meantime, on March 13, certain banks in southern Wisconsin had filed a petition for transfer from district No. 9 to district No. 7, and still more recently, on May 10, certain banks in Connecticut filed a petition for transfer from district No. 1 to district No. 2. These last two petitions, however, were received at a time when the Board had either decided or was on the point of deciding the cases already presented. They were consequently not included in the action finally taken, but were reserved for later hearing and adjudication. When the arguments and briefs relating to the petitions already enumerated were in hand, they were apportioned to committees of the Board. These committees 1 Reprinted from the Federal Reserve Bulletin of June 1, 1915. reviewed the testimony and filed reports making recommendations with regard to the best method of disposing of the subjects referred to them. Action would then have been taken had it not been for the necessary absence of some members of the Board. This necessitated a postponement of action during the latter part of March and the whole of April. It was then voted to take definite action respecting the pending cases which had been heard at some time during the week beginning May 3. In accordance with this determination the Board on May 4 passed the following resolution: "Be it resolved, That the recommendations of the respective committees be adopted and approved, and that the petitions of the banks in southern Oklahoma, northern New Jersey, Tyler and Wetzel Counties, West Virginia, be granted; and, “Be it also resolved, That the petition of the banks of Wyoming and Nebraska be denied; and, "Be it further resolved, That action on other pending petitions be deferred until further experience in the actual operation of the several districts, especially in the light of the new clearing system which is about to go into effect, and of the extent to which State banks take membership in the Federal Reserve System, shall have provided the Board with the necessary data for a conclusion, it being the opinion of the Board that action on petitions relating to changes in cities designated as the location of Federal Reserve Banks should be deferred until the Board shall have reached a conclusion from experience as to any further readjustments in the boundaries of the several districts, or in the number of districts, which may be desirable in the operation and development of the Federal Reserve System." It will be seen that the Board in this decision denied one of the petitions—that of Nebraska and Wyoming deferred action on two, those of the cities of Baltimore and Pittsburgh, for future consideration, and granted three, those of the banks of New Jersey, West Virginia, and Oklahoma. In order to make plain exactly what changes in the previous districts were made effective by the granting of these three petitions, the accompanying map has been drawn, and is herewith presented for the purpose of showing the boundaries of the 12 districts as they stand to-day. Inasmuch as the map is drawn upon too small a scale to admit of the clear representation of counties, there is hereto appended a list of counties in each of the States affected by the redistricting. The names and capitalization of the banks in these transferred territories are likewise given. |