, 1876-05-21

As compared with the codes and practices
Of other countries, thera is serious def
cheney In our criminal laws, and painful
lack Of appreciation In our public morals as
to the criminal nature of financial suindles on
large scale. The common thief who robs
till ot few dollars, a. the tramp Who
snesks into the hallway and steals clothes, or
tho poor woman who takes money to buy
bread for her babes, may Be promptly con-
v{cted and severely punished in any State In
the Unioa- But thero has never Jet been so
st1iet construction of our laws, National,
State, CT municipal, whereby the confidence
man in business or banking can be surely
apprehonded and punished. There have been
many striking instances Of financial diahon-
esty since the panic brought speculations to
sn unrespected end, but not one can be
pointed to which has brought On the punish
ment thnt should have been meted out to
it. There have been bank failures in several
large cities Of the conntry-sone in Chicago
that will be recognised without man,
ing them-whioh revealed prolonged
and systematic career OF dishonesty,
whereby hundreds and thousands of people
have been def1auded, and cheated, and
plundered just as much as If the robbers had
picked their pockets, ,-eases in which money
was secured under false pretenses, retained
by false oaths, and squandered in riotous
living and gambling speoulationa. Such
swindling as this is rockoned ut its proper
value in other countries. and the swindlers
are made to suffer the same penalties that
are affixed to other kinds OF stealing With
ua, however, the enormity Of the fraud
seems only to serve as palliation, and the
men who steal millions arc pretty sure Of
immunity from punishment,
This reflection is, unluckily, not new one,
but it takes new Life and ought to receive
moro thoughtful consideration from the reve-
1ations OF dishonesty that have been made in
the Freedmen'6 Bank management The
investigation by the Congressional Commit
tee leaves no manner Of doubt that some half
dozen men (using the names of
some others who are passively guilty for
permitting it) employed the machinery
OF this Freedmen's Bank, organized
undar an oct Of Congress, and extending
throughout the entire South, to possess
themselves Of the earnings~of the negroes to
squander On themselves and their private
speculatious. Perhaps there was never 50
mean and dastardly an advantage taken OF
an ignorant and oppressed people. The
fraud ves perpetrated under the cloak Of
philanthropy, and the patriots Of the North,
who won tha negro's freedom at the point of
the bayone&, wero mode The innocent agents
Of the designing villains who plundered
them. The organization was deliberate
scheme to betray the confidence OF the blacks
IN the men who emancipAted them, and to
use this faith as an agency in selling their
earnings. Religion, patriotism, friendship,
honesty, and the pledge Of humanity and
philanthropy, were all outraged Branches
were established wherever there was pros
pect that the negroes could earn dollar,
and their savings we're scooped into
one common pool, to support
lot ct oonscienceless scoundrels and
desperate gamblers. Washington was
the focus Of the system, and the District Ring
were the CHIEF benefciariea. The money
drawn from the negroes throughout the
South was put into the hands Of these spec
ulators almost without pretense OF security,
and the men who betrayed the trust vers
partners in the sclames and speculations in
which the money YVES used. The officers of
the bank and majority OF the Board Of
Trustees Give in number) were parties to the
plunder, and in one way or another ava;led
themselves Of their own criminal administra-
ton Of the trust, Now, the.Disrict Of Colum-