New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-12-28
The Ereedman's Bank and, w. j.
Wilson.

/
Public Men," by J. w. FoRNEY, published il
the Sunday ChrontcIe:
/" After riding along Pennsylvania avenue
and observing the new residences going up il
! every quarter, and the broad streets laid Will
enduring composite we stopped on the noble
walk before the north front OF the Treasur,
| Department and stood opposite the Freedman
| Savings Bank. Its history will form q striking
chapter in the annals of these times. On the
east corner of the same block pointed out tbs
| famous banking house of Corcoran & Riggs
| now managed, L believe, by George w. Riggs
| The contrast between these two ediiices is q
contrast between two ideas, and suggests q
| moral better than an argument Let US take
| two living meu-men whose names are immedi-
ately associated with these insttutions-W
w. Corcoran, the head of the little old banking
house at the corner, and William j. Wilson,
cashier of the new savings bank-the one white
and the other colOred, both natives of the
United States, and both sympathizers with the
South in the rebellion-Corcoran with the Con.
federates and Wilson with the slaves. 1t can
be no offence to the white man to say that like
his eolored brother he was Of humble origin
and it is equally true that while he hourished
under our institutions William j. Wilson was
oppressed and degraded. The white man grew
in riches and in graces with his years. Under
>.
ury, he was the principal depostary Of the
national funds, and TO this day his name is a
letter Of credit in all financial circles Belong
ing to the age that is fast passing away, he
does not forget that most of his wealth. is the
result of the confidence of his Government
and in the rapid growth of Washington, although
he himself has resisted many of the recent eff
forts in that direction, there are no more beau
tifa objects than his noble Art Gallery and the
II e.. l. Ii \.
man had none Of these chances. When Congress,
early in 1865, passed Charter of incorpora.
ton for the Freedman's Savings Bank, VIM.
j. Wilson, the present indOmitable cashier,
was engaged teaching school on Twelfth street,
near X, In Washington city, without remu
neration. The trustees called upon him to
make the bank known to the colored people of
America, and he undertook the work His
first Office was a rented room in n small brick
house on u street, where he remained for few
months stemming the tide of bigotry against
his race, and untiring in teaching them the
necessity of boarding the surplus wages at some
institution that would keep them safe and
probably. A freedman in 1866 told Wilson
that his fathers box had been broken into and
two hundred dollars stolen, but that the old
man had still twenty four dollars left, and this
was the first investment, under Wilson's ad-
vice, in the Freedman's Savings Bank II was
the seed from which has grown what is already
gigantic and must become an overwhelming
corporation. Other deposits followed in rapid
succession, real estate was purchased at the
corner OF Nineteenth and | streets, in Wash
ington. The operations of the concern became
too large in short time, and it was finally
moved to the northwest corner Of Pennsylvania
avenue and Nineteenth street. During this
period colored soldiers began to deposit some
thing of their pay, and those who were wise
enough to do so now reap the benefit of their
wisdom. In the winter OF 1867 the bank was
moved to Seventh street, between h aud f.
where it remained for fourteen months, until
finally it was located in the new building op-
posite the Treasury Department, to which /
have referred. There are few banking houses
in America equal to it, and yet, large, com
modious, and beautiful it is, it is to be still
further extended, inasmuch as the company
has purchased the whole of the western portion
of the lot, and are even now ambitious to buy
out Corccran Riggs, 80 that the entire square
may pc given up 10 them. may fU called
tree of many branches, extending through
the South and Southwest They have fine
buildings, with capable officers engaged in
the good work of collecting the savings
for the freedmen, and so boarding and in
vestng them that in the course of time
the institution will be second to none on the
continent. The Washington depositors are
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred a
day, and the daily amount of business varies
from six to twenty thousand dollars. In four
weeks these deposits have exceeded the drafts by
sixty thousand dollars. Nodiscouuts are made
for the public or for any of the officers of the
bank, and advances are made only on security
of real estate. 1t is unnecessary to give fur
Their details. The concern itself stands first
among financial institutions. Its future may
be judged from its present. With ordinary
care and integrity it must distance all competi-
tors, inasmuch as it has secured the confidence
of the great race which, united for one object,
can accomplish almost anything. Imagine
these millions Of colored men, women, and
children, all resolved upon boarding up their
earnings in one banking institution, and then
contrast this unity of action with the savings
banks in other cities and States which have
grown rich because they have been preferred
by only portion of the whites and you have
the story in a nutshell. The architect of all
this property is William j. Wilson, the cashier,
an earnest, hard-headed, true-hearted man,
with the intelligence, the vigor and the direct.
ness of John w. Garrett or a George Law,
and the conviction of an Oliver Cromwell AS
Pennsylvania, am proud to record the fact
that perhaps, the most efficient and persever.
ing of the coadjutors of Mr.. Wilson in the
administration of the affairs of this magnificent
institution is Colonel ID. l.. Eaton, of Pitts
burg But Wilson is in fact, the w. w. Cor
coran Of the coOred men of the South, success
fully emerging from a deadler struggle, fight
ing against sterner obstacles, and perhaps
surer of grander future Who knows but that
in the years that lie beyond reputation as
pure, credit as high, may await tho pos
terity of the colored banker as that which has
thousand times awarded the white capitalist?
said at the beginning that Christmas is that
holiday in which childhood looks joyously for
ward, and when manhood soemnly looks back
ward, and as | conclude this striking contrast,
may not both child and man be instructed by
its lessons, and alike anticipate the glorious
destiny of orr country2