New Orleans Republican., 1876-10-11
THE FREEDMAN'S BANK,

: 1d6 fh66UNANS BANK.
Democratic writer's, speakers and car
toonists acknowledge themselves as har,
pushed for SANDER material when the,
proclaim the failure of the Freedman
Savings Bank as an argument against th'
Republican party. The charge that thu
Republican party, as party, is response
! bic for the failure of the bank is as thir
as reform transparency carried by hired
{ torch bearers in Tilden procession: it is
as untruthful and Intellectual as would be
the statement that the Democratic party
of Louisiana is responsible for the failure
of the Bank of America or the Jacot
Barker swindle of the poor Irish deposit
ors of this city. The colored people are
not fools. They lose their money by the
failure of banks with Democratic direct.
ors, or they fail to get their wages by the
failure of Democratic employers. There
is no reason for that why they should
vote the Democratic ticket. The Freed
mans Savings Company was organized
with the purest purposes. It was to en-
courage men unused to handling the mon
ey they had toiled for to induce them to
lay by their surplus earnings. A man is
much more of a man when he has a bank
account, however small the balance to his
credit. A man may foolishly spend all Of
his money as he goes along in life, or he
may be provident and lose a portion of it
by bad investments. Saving is the bet
ter plan, and every man must use his own
judgment toward making his treasure
most secure. Mr.. Sumner, Peter Cooper,
William Cullen Bryant and others were
the originators Of the freedmen's banking
institution. They can scarcely be called
swindlers. The plan was to invest all
such savings in government securities.
The funds accumulated and the banks
prospered. Then came bad managers.
The directors who took it in charge were
not thieves, but they lacked financial
ability. Other banks were paying better
dividends through fortunate speculations.
When man can double the money under
his control he is not satisfied to let it lay
at low rate of interest The directors
Of the Freedman's Bank forgot that six
per cent in the hand is better than twelve
per cent in the bushes and fool
ishly invested large sums in wildcat
land speculations in uncertain stock COM
panies without good securities, after the
manner of the managers of other trust
companies that have failed through bad
management The manner of losing
money is no consolation to the swindled
depositor. The one hard fact that he has
lost his money is uppermost in his mind.
1t made no difference to the poor Ger
mans of New York who were robbed by a
savings company failure, whether or not
the managers of their funds were Demo-
Gratis or Republicans. The Republican
party is in no way responsible for the bad
investments which led to the failure of
the iFreedman's Bank. The men who
charge that it is write themselves down as
asses, and insult the intelligence of their
readers. Bank or no bank, if the Demo-
Gratis wish to compare their efforts toward
beneftting the interests of colored men
with the efforts made and work accom-
plished in that direction by Republicans,
the Republican party can stand the test.
Before the war the financial affairs of COL
ored men were managed entirely by Dem
ocrats. Those poor men toiled early
and late for hard taskmasters; to
teach them to read or write was
made a criminal offense, there was no
law by which slave could own property;
his earnings belonged to his master, and
when the rainy day came the negro was
sold from his family to enrich and work
for harder master. He was bought and
sold and treated like mule, and not like
a man. A fiippant Democratic speaker
was lately talking to colored men in South
Carolina. He was lawyer, and craftily
asked, ''You have enough to eat, do you
not'" 80, yes, sir, We has plenty to
eat" "Who gives it to you?" edged on
the speaker, as if he had gained point.
Nobody gives it to US, said an honest
laborer, eve works for it." That was not
exactly the answer wanted, but the speak |
er badgered away, and said, "Well, what
do you own now that you did not have
before the war;" At that point one of |
the impudent old niggers, of whom Bas-
com complains at Confederate Cross
Roads, rose in the audience and
demolished the orator by saying,
"What do we own, sab? We
owns our wives and our children" The
speaker found before him an intelligent
body of men more thoughtful than him
self. He found men who had been made |
free men by the Republican party, men
who were accumulating property and edu-
eating their children men who had earned |
and possessed forty acres Of land and
mule, because the proclamation Of equal
rights to all men made it possible for COL
ored men to be men. All talk about Bel
knap or Tilden's income return fails before
such an audience. The man who has been
> slave is as conscious of the power which
yet him free and converted him from
human chattel to man with all the priv
leges of manhood, as be is certain that
! good God will save his soul. All that