The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-08-05
COLUMBIA, s. G.
Wednesday Morning. August 5. 1874.
f,sszae kesson OF tho Froedmen's Bank.
The Fraadmen'a See;nc. md Trvat

~'S10pAuys ht Atb luC6ptlOn, naO ROOut
14 come marks Of interest and concern
-AE the prosperity Of the oolored peo.
spie. But these were either bats which
Sxere put in to allure and deceive from
;ztlae hrst, or, being available for this
spatpose. were captured and turned
against those whom they professed to
sFcoteot. The institution soon took on
"a party character, and was placed
szader the wing OF the Government.
iDepositors were led to believe that the
,1aoyernment guaranteed the safety of
'-saear money. It became an engine
<-3or political purposes, and the funds
~hioh poured in freely from branches
:s1 over the country were intended to
Re used, and were used, to promote
~obJects'which are foreign to the legiti-
.rsnate business 'of q bank. What more
>*1ssural than that the freedmen should
aoek with confidence to an institution
~hich sent forth oiroulars announcing
that the company was chartered by
che Government of tho United States
on March 3. 1862" The effect was TO
inspire the belief in their minds that
4he Government guaranteed the So.
: nurity oi the deposits. But it did not;
it,ohly allowed its name to be used in
cbhfs way. The bank sailed under Go
zernment co!ors, and the money came
an freely. The branches we're kept
busy feeding the mother bank at
washington. Certain special allure
:-nents were devised to induce the
money TO flow thither with rush.
The bank promised to pay six per
cent. interest on all sums deposited.
On some of the branch bank books, it
wae announced that deposits were
payable on:demand-a promise which
a3asa~n1t redeemed. But tie uee to
A=seasach the deposits were put was worse,
ii anything. than the deceptions by
'1thi6h they were gained. A portion
Vas invested in the bonds of the Dis
y.trict of Columbia. and the remainder
t3eut to favored customers on doubtful
security, and on mortgages of real
.astate not worth more than half OF tho
aoan. The list which was published
. .Bome time ago looked iiko the seouFi-
sizes on which the money of the Bank
.aaf ahe State has been lent here. It
saatainly had degenerated into, or de-
ssloped into. local machine, run by
shepherd and those connected with
dzm in his disreputable government.
Hnnh machine could not be wound
1p to run long, and the end came, and
dzae colored depositors and supporters
:foand ont, too late, that something
0er5 like swindle had been practiced
on them.
The matter went before Congress,
mad the same disposition which had
nuined the bank manifested itself as to
1he mode OF settling up its affairs. It
sxAs attempted to close 1t up by slow
and complicated method, which, TAX
saug it through the intrioaoies of courts,
Eould afford chance for further pick
2ass and spoils. Fortunately. the Sc
:aste bill. which proposed to appoint a
neoeivor, and would have distributed
4he property among the officers OF the
ZlAg and special commissioners, to the
8A6s;ment of the depositors. failed to
.11ass the House. A bill was at last
::Eaesed. which seeks to protect the
-Eemnant which is left of the oolored
saaan's money. It provides that all
Azture deposits, until July I. 1875,
>nsaall be held as special deposits, and
zzepealed the dangerous feature OF the
ssriginal charter. which required that
tho branches shall send all their money
10 Washington. This bill Was devised
Ind passed in the real interest of the
freedmen. chiefly through the sagaoity,
&erseverance and love of right aud fair
play Of two members OF ,ngress from
Kentucky, and not members of tho
Republican party. This party gave
'caseua the bank: led them to believe
ssssEt it was national and the safety OF
r.. g. a.