The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-12-25
To our CoIored Friends.

Read the following article from a col
'ored man, Editor of The Christian Re
corder, Philadelphia. He hits the mail
very hard on the head, and drives it
home. The freedmen are learning wis
dom by bitter experience, and we SYM
pathise with them in their terrible mis-
fortune. Surely they have every reason
to say, Save me from my friends. -
Under the heading The Freedmen
Saving Bank, the Recorder says:
Since the disastrous closing of this
institution we have scarcely had heart to
mention it. So manifold are the evils
which befall us as a race, that in all veri-
ty 1T would seem that curse rests upon
us. We are either great sinners, or the
average white man is a most unmitigated
scoundrel. Deceived by friends, out
ragged by foes, we can say, but in sense
never designed by the Psalmist: He
hath not dealt so with any people,
1T would seem as though our Affections
would never end. Have we respite to-
day, 1t is only to be prepared for the to-
morrow. Before freedom, what tortures,
what separations After it, what betray-
ais! and what continued deaths. Freed
from one master, it is only to have many.
Ushered into the light, it is only to be
more clearly discerned by the eyes Of
fire that are upon us. The morning in
deed hath come, but also the night
"Of all our mishaps, there is scarcely
one, the disastrous effects of which will
be so extended, as the failure of the
Freedmen's Bank. We had thought that
we had found in it, friend, a teacher;
one that would safely lead us up, if not
to affiuence, at least to comfort. Down
in the bogs OF poverty and Indebtedness,
the hand it extended to us, we greedily
eiasped; and for the last ten years have
we been following the path upon which
it set US, and continued to lead US. But
can it be believed, that it has proved to
be a genuine Jack O'Lantern, a-Will-
O-the Wisp, that has allured us into deep
er bog; pushed us INTO deeper depths.
Almost aIe We ready to say with
David: All men are liars We we'll
remember how those fellows talked in the
early days of the Bank to induce Church
es, and societies, poor men and poorer
women, to put away something for a
rainy day they said; and we helped
them do it-went from Church to Church
with them making speeches with Rev. Mr..
Afford at our head. And now, behold the
result, as given in Washington dis
patch:
"'The Commissioners to settle the af-
fairs of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust
Company, write to a correspondent that
il is impossible yet to say when the first
dividend will be paid. They have now
only 50, 600 in the treasury, and $780,
600 are required as the basis of divi-
dend of 20 per cent. In the present con-
dition of the MONEY market, and on ac-
count.Of the high rate to taxation in the
District of Columbia, the collections are
slow and very small, so it will take a long
time to raise sufficient funds to make
such dividend, The approximate liabili,
ties on the lth of July were 81, 800, 900
and the assets 81, 700, 600. While much
will be lost in collections, considerable
sum will be realized in accumulated in
tereSt. AS matter of economy it has
been determined to close the thirty three
branches at the end of this month, by
which a saving of at least $4,000 will be
effected