STATE OF BUSINESS.: Credit Lift

To spur business, the Federal Reserve Board last week brought out the most potent anti-slump tonic in its bag of economic medicines. It cut by ½% the minimum cash reserves that must be kept by the Fed's 6,400 member banks to back demand deposits; minimum reserves were dropped to 19½% of deposits in New York and Chicago. 17½% in most other big cities and 11½% in "country" bank areas. This freed $500 million from reserves, and since each such dollar can generate up to $6 in loans, it could add close to $3 billion to the credit supply. The...

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