the 1966 Act was the paramount statute, that the government had the burden of proving an anticompetitive effect, and that such an effect was not outweighed by "convenience and needs." The Department of Justice persistently refused to plead under the Bank Merger Act of 1966, charging a Section 7 Clayton Act violation in each instance. Against a substantial unanimity of opinion of lower court justices, the Supreme Court of the United States, by unanimous opinion in the Houston case, reversed in one sweep all the lower courts that had considered the issue. Whatever the intent of Congress, the bank regulatory agencies were for the time being substantially reduced in their abilities to approve bank mergers and make the approvals stick.

Yet our historical sketch has taught us that administrative decisions, themselves liable to continuing modifications, are forever made subject to the vagaries of a changing legislative and judicial climate. Within that climate the Office of the Comptroller will exercise its authority and judgment, largely under the direction of an officer whom we may appraise as follows:

1. The Comptroller of the Currency has vast administrative powers that have been exercised under a statute so broadly drawn as to permit wide latitude in judgment. As a federal administrator, the Comptroller affects resource allocation in banking, and more broadly in finance, his decisions determining in large part the number and size of the institutions, the banking structure, and the nature of competition in the market.

2. With the exception of the Presidency itself, no office in government reflects more keenly the personality and style, the intellectual equipment and philosophy, of its incumbent. The performances of the 21 Comptrollers who preceded Comptroller Camp have ranged in quality from routine administration of a meddlesome, intrusive bureaucracy to imaginative and creative reshaping of the competitive environment of financial institutions. The inhibiting influence of the permanent staff of subordinates, while certainly not absent, has probably been less constricting than that of any other commission, bureau, or department of the federal government. 3. The Comptroller of the Currency has nevertheless been historically subject to great pressures from the banking industry, directly from the managers themselves or organized banking groups, and indirectly through officials of the several state and federal agencies. These pressures spring from two basic motivations. The first is purely selfish, as when the chief operating officer of a bank (or his representative in Congress) protests a charter or the approval of a new branch on the grounds that “dangerous” competition would ensure. The other, more subtle, pressure is often ostensibly in the public interest and may be well-intentioned. It comes from an official in some other agency of government who believes that the conservative, prudent decision in the regulation of banking is to take no

action at all. The consequence has been great time lags in the approval of changes required by a growing economy.

Victor Hugo has remarked the impossibility of containing an idea whose time has come. It is similarly impossible to resist, through regulation, the inexorable outcome of economic forces, provided that the economy is not in the vise of totalitarian control. Ancient rulings may for a time distort and delay the allocation of resources dictated by the market system, but the restraints so exercised begin ultimately to retard the rate of economic growth demanded by contemporary society. At last, continuing adherence to the rules of another generation becomes more dangerous than the adoption of new rules, however they may seem to break with old notions of "sound" banking. In the modern setting of a stabilization policy guaranteed to prevent wide swings in economic activity, venturing in the public interest, like venturing in the private interest, becomes progressively less risky.

Comptrollers of the Currency, 1863 to the present

Deputy Comptrollers of the Currency

Appendix C

Historic Banking Legislation

The National Currency Act of 1863 (excerpts)

An Act to provide a National Currency, secured by a Pledge of United States Stocks, and to provide for the Circulation and Redemption thereof.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established in the Treasury Department a separate bureau, which shall be charged with the execution of this and all other laws that may be passed by Congress respecting the issue and regulation of a national currency secured by United States bonds. The chief officer of the said bureau shall be denominated the comptroller of the currency, and shall be under the general direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. He shall be appointed by the President, on the nomination of the Secretary of the Treasury, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall hold his office for the term of five years unless sooner removed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; he shall receive an annual salary of five thousand dollars; he shall have a competent deputy, appointed by the Secretary, whose salary shall be two thousand five hundred dollars, and who shall possess the power and perform the duties attached by law to the office of comptroller during a vacancy in such office, and during his absence or inability; he shall employ, from time to time, the necessary clerks to discharge such duties as he shall direct, which clerks shall be appointed and classified by the Secretary of the Treasury in the manner now provided by law. Within fifteen days from the time of notice of his appointment, the comptroller shall take and subscribe the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution and laws of the United States; and he shall give to the United States a bond in the penalty of one hundred thousand dollars, with not less than two responsible freeholders as sureties, to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. The deputy comptroller so appointed shall also take the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and shall give a like bond in the penalty of fifty thousand dollars. The comptroller and deputy comptroller shall not, either directly or indirectly, be interested in any association issuing national currency under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall be assigned to the comptroller of the currency by the Secretary of the Treasury suitable rooms in the treasury building for conducting the business of the currency bureau, in which shall be safe and secure fire-proof vaults, in which it shall be the duty of the comptroller to deposit and safely keep all the plates and other valuable things belonging to his department; and the comptroller shall from time to time furnish the necessary furniture, stationery, fuel, lights, and other proper conveniences for the transaction of the said business.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That associations for carrying on the business of banking may be formed by any number of persons, not less in any case than five.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That persons uniting to form such an association shall, under their hands and seals, make a certificate which shall specify

First. The name assumed by such association.

Second. The place where its operations of discount and deposite [sic] are to be carried on; designating the State, Territory, or district, and also the particular city, town, or village.

Third. The amount of its capital stock, and the number of shares into which the same shall be divided; which capital stock shall not be less than fifty thousand dollars; and in cities whose population is over ten

Feb. 25, 1863.

Bureau of currency.

Comptroller of currency; appointment; term; salary.

Deputy comptroller; salary; duties.

Clerks.

Oath and bond of Comptroller and deputy.

Rooms in Treasury building for bureau.

Fire-proof vaults.

Banking associations, how formed.

Certificate to specify

what.