The Republican journal., 1875-04-01


1t would be amusing, if it were not for
the outrageous robberies connected with
schemes which those who call themselves
the peculiar friends of the colored men
have devised to divert money to their
own pockets from those of the trusting
African The Freedmen's Saving Bank
was one of these devices. 1t was char
tered by Congress, and set on foot with
| an immense flourish Sambo and Cuffee
and Dinah were all invited to deposit
their funds. When this had been done,
| one after another of the white philan-
| thropists borrowed at the bank, often on
very doubtful security. When the thing
went to smash, as it did, there was found
a beggarly account of assets In fact
there was nothing left. The philanthropic
| whites had absorbed it all A board of
! commissioners was appointed by Con-
gross to investigate and report upon the
frauds. A recent dispatch says that Com
missioners Cresswell, Leopold, and Pur-
! Wis have asked to be relieved from any
further responsibility for OF on account
of said trust, provided their bond may be
released from liability after their retire
ment and new Commissioners substitute
in their places. They assign. as the cause
Of their action, the failure to obtain from
| Congress such legislation as they deemed
essential to the proper and speedy exc
cution of the trust reposed in them.
The truth in connection with this great
radical swindle will come out after awhile
We have hopes that the next Congress will
be able to fully unravel the present mys-
terry. and expose the corrupt workings
OF the institution under the direction OF
| Grants intimate personal friends. Like
all political machines, run ostensibly in
the interest of class, for the purpose of
| securing their votes, the Freedman's
| Bank could not prove other than a gi-
gantic swindle to the class who had been
deluded into building it up by depositing
their earnings with the INSCRIPTIONS man
ayers.
And what is still worse, the full extent
and nature of this swindle has been
known to the Administration and the
Radicals in Congress from the beginning
But it has been carefully suppressed
The report Of the Examiner submitted
to Congress has been hidden away for
nearly two years, no one seems to know
where, and the colored people have been
mercilessly robbed by the leaders and
their gang, some of them inmates of the
White House, since it was made.
What little is known of the Examiners
report fell by accident into the hands of
the reporters of the press before the docu-
ment was concealed by the connvance OF
the Radical majority of Congress. Since
the report was made and hidden away,
Gen Howard has been whtewashed by
military court organized for the express
purpose, and the real proceedings and |
findings of that court, too, have been
hidden away and have probably been de-
stroyed in one of the numerous depart
ment fires, kindled for the express pur-
pose OF destroying official evidences of
guilt
This heartless robbery of the deluded |
depositors Of the Freedmen's Bank, is but
part of the stupendous system of they
cry that holds high carnival in Washing
ton, and has extended all over the country
within the past eight years. Thousands
of dollars Of the stolen funds-for the de-
positors have been literally robbed-have
been traced to the steps of the White
House and into the pockets of President
Grants appointees; other thousands have
been traced to the pockets of Grants per-
sonal associates.
The Freedman's Bank was Radical in
stitution in the m.nutest particulars, and
the Federal Administration aided in the
shameless robbery of the poor negroes.
Under the pretense of protecting their
interests, the canting hypocrites have rob-
bed some of them of their last dollar.
The poor, Ignorant confding freedmen
OF the South believed implicitly in Massa
Grant and Massa Howard Men who
them to be on their guard were
denounced as Ku Klux The dimes and
dollars OF the poor darkey were poured
out into the gaping mouth of the Rings,
never again to come out for the behoof of
The depositors. AS the dimes grew into
dollars, the dollars into hundreds and the
into thousands, the Washington
King divided the spoils among themselves,
md waxed rich and wore purple and fine !
linen, and turned honesty and honest labor
INTO scorn and contempt The stilted and {
titled plunderers with the stolen savings t
'f the freedmen, bought horses and car
'iages and liveried slaves with which they 7
made vulgar display at Presidential
evees or at the seaside resorts where the ,
official vultures undertook to initiate the a.,
of the Orient For years
hey have rolled in their vulgar splendor, ;
Without an honest dollar to which thew
'ould lay claim. For years they have
easted upon the stolen pennies of the poor
miserable, half-starved colored people,
Who have gone to their straw pallets din :
lerless and supperless that the bosses Of
he gang in Washington and about the
White House might keep up their shoddy G
,retensions. 1T
at last their robberies could no longer a
'e concealed, and they pretended that the
ank was embarrassed" but that the funds II
# the depositors were all right. Then it h