Carl Bixby of the N.F.A.
Carl Bixby was one of the three Administrators of the National Financial Administration in the 1920s. Sobel notes that Bixby, like his two colleagues Norris Jones and Philip Koch, was a conservative New York City banker who as Administrator maintained good relations with the C.N.A.'s banking community, was well thought-of among the Broad Street financial men, and was considered above politics.
Under Bixby and his colleagues, a majority of the N.F.A.'s business loans went to entrepreneurs in the Northern Confederation and Indiana. Only seven percent went to Manitoba and even less to Southern Vandalia. When Governor-General Henderson Dewey proposed in 1928 that the N.F.A.'s business loans should be proportional to each confederation's population, Bixby and his colleagues denounced the plan as "arbitrary" and "unjust." Bixby complained that the N.F.A. was being asked to finance "unworthy enterprises" because of their geographical location.
Sobel states that such charges and statements were counterproductive, making Dewey seem more reform-minded than he actually was, and thus increasing his popularity. In fact, Bixby and his colleagues knew full well that Dewey could replace two of them within four years and thus gain his ends without resorting to legislation. However, commentary by the press made it appear as though Dewey was locked in a battle with the N.F.A., and he emerged as the protector of individualism and diffusionism, while Bixby and his colleagues were castigated as "secret little men with untold power and no public mandate for its use."
Over the protests of Bixby and his colleagues, Dewey announced on 1 December 1928 that he would establish a commission to study the N.F.A. "to see how this important agency may better serve the interests of the nation and its people." When the commission issued its report five months later Dewey made a vitavised address in which he announced his program "to bring the N.F.A. to more people, to increase its usefulness, not detract from it." However, Dewey proceeded slowly with the implementation of his program, as was his wont, and five days after his address he was dead of a heart attack.
Dewey's successor, Douglas Watson, was able to gain passage of his reform of the N.F.A. in 1930. Semi-autonomous branches of the N.F.A. were to be established in each confederation, as well as the associated provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia. Each would be financed independently by bond issues, and the number of loans would be determined by a formula that took into account population, resources, interest rates, money supply, and other similar variables. Although Jones and his colleague Koch resigned in protest, Bixby agreed to become administrator of the Northern Confederation branch, a position he held until 1932.