The Fed at Seventy Five

On December 23, 1913, Congress approved the Federal Reserve Act. Passage came after lengthy dispute, many pages of testimony, and more than 30 volumes of reports containing the findings of the National Monetary Commission. Despite the detailed investigation of financial systems that preceded passage and the number of alternative bills drafted, considered, and dismissed, the Act says very little about the purposes of the legislation. Decisions about how the central bank was to operate, and the objectives to be served, were left in large part to the organizers