Gene Meyer Steps Down

When a man reaches 71 it is time for him to "take a little rest." With this plausible reason Eugene Meyer suddenly resigned last week after six months as president of the World Bank. Said he: "The Bank is now passing from the preliminary work of preparation to the stage of operating activities. . . . Therefore . . . the moment has arrived when a permanent head should be selected."

But Meyer's withdrawal was a complete surprise to the Administration, since Meyer at the start had stated that he would serve his full five-year term. More than that, the resignation was a serious blow to the Bank, which is far from "the stage of operating activities." The loss of the Bank's head, and its consequent loss of face, might now delay actual operation for months.

The Bank has not yet been able to decide what securities it will float to finance its loans. (Bankers gossiped that this delay, arising from internal conflict over policies, was the real reason for Meyer's resignation.) The chief difficulty is that most states prohibit savings banks, insurance companies and state commercial banks from investing in them. And so far the Bank has been able to devote little time to getting the laws changed. The job won't be easy.

Last fortnight the Wisconsin Banking Commission forbade the state's savings banks and trust companies to buy World Bank securities. Said Commission Chairman James B. Mulva: the guarantee of a foreign government "isn't worth a hoot in hell." (Actually the U.S. would be doing much of the guaranteeing.)

The biggest argument against uninformed talk like that had been that the Bank was headed by a conservative financier who had once bossed the Federal Reserve Board and the RFC. The Administration might find it hard to get a "big name" to replace Meyer. And right now the Bank needed such a name.

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