Monetary policy decisions and actions in 1968 were clouded by uncertainty about the passage of pending fiscal legislation in the first half of the year and by overestimation of the restraining impact of such legislation in the second half. As a result, monetary authorities did not take action to slow the growth of the money stock in the first half of the year when the pace of economic activity was accelerating. Furthermore, they sought to accommodate any tendency toward easing money and short-term credit market conditions in the third quarter, attempting to avoid economic “overkill,” the anticipated result of the 10 per cent surtax and $6 billion cut in planned Federal expenditures passed by Congress in late June.