Albert Himoe writes:
> she thanks H. Parker Willis, "His inspiration and 
> assistance have been invaluable throughout the entire 
> investigation," and does not mention Fisher. Fisher's view of 
> Willis was expressed to Franklin Roosevelt in his evaluation of 
> possible candidates (ranked in order from 1 to 79!) for the 
> reorganized Federal Reserve Board in 1936. Fisher put Willis in 
> the bottom "To be avoided" category with the comment, "A 
> technician but not a sound thinker."


Of course, Willis (being influenced by J. Laurence Laughlin) had a significant role in designing the Federal Reserve system in the original Act along operating principles consistent with the real bills doctrine. In its early days, consistent with Fisher's opinion of him as a 'technician', Willis got charged with helping put into place the processes (including design of forms, etc.) through which the Fed would actually operate on day-to-day basis. Fisher could hardly be expected to think very highly of someone who was a 'real bills man'.

David Hammes