Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-09-21

them. 1t is also known that, while the
robbery was going on, the President was
large stockholder in the Seneca Sandstone
Company, and the other rings which had
drawn so largely from the funds of the bank.
Under these circumstances it might be sup
posed that it would have appeared to him
as point of personal honor that he should
exert himself to the utmost to procure an
economical administration OF the assets,
and a speedy distribution OF the proceeds to
the suffering victims of the fraud. In fact,
he appointed as commissioners to wind up
the bank, j. A. j. Creswell, of postal fraud
notorieJy. who also holds one or two other
public offices, besides being engaged in
large private business OF his own; Robert
Pervis, respectable but aged cOlored citi-
zen, ard one Leopold, a clerk in the Treas
ury Department. The salary of each Of
these men was fixed at So, 600 year. 1t
appears, however, that Leopold was paid
$500 by each of his colleagues as his COM
pensation for doing all the work. o They
were thus enabled to pocket S., 900 annually
out of the remains of the deposits for doing
nothing. This Commission have expended
perhaps 1 might more properly say wasted
-S150, 900, and have declared one dividend
of twenty per cent.
foul wrongs to which the hapless freed
men have been subjected at the hands Of
Grant and his accomplices in and out OF Con-
gress. 90
Now, I wish to submit proposition
which l hope to live long enough to see car
ried into effect. 1t is that the Government
of the United States shall pay from the pub
tic Treasury sum sufficient to make good
to the depositors in the Freedman's Savings
and Trust Company both the principal and
| interest of their money. | submit that
proposition after mature deliberation, be-
cause at the time that the institution went
| into operation, and subsequently, the freed
men Of the South were, to all lntents and
purposes, the wards of the Nation. They
had been made to believe by the officers OF
| the bank and its branches, as we'll as by the
| agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, which
went into operation simultaneously, that it
was a Government institution, and that
the United States was response l.
BILE for the repayment OF their
money on demand with interest.
Mr. Sperry, in his testimony before the in
yestigating committee, swears that at Vlcks-
burg and other places, inducement was held
out to depositors to place their funds In the
/ Freedman's IS Bank because it was Govern
ment institution. My esteemed friend, Mr..
John J. Zuille, who so ably and faithfully
managed the affairs Of the branch bank es-
tablished in Bleecker sstreet, in this city, in
forms me that Of the Iwo thousand deposit
ors in this institution fully ninth-tenths be-
ieved that the Government Of the United
States was directly responsible for the re-
payment of their money with interest.
that Congress, without the consent OF
knowledge of the depositors, annulled tha
provision Of the charter, which, by requir
| ing that all money should be invested in Sc
curities Of the United States, furnished ;
perfect safeguard against loss. Nor is thi
all. When the fact was brought to thu
: knowledge of that body that the institution
r was so conducted as to render bankruptc
[ inevitable, it turned deaf ear to every ap
peal to ascertain its truth by investigating
: its affairs.
e For one, wish to say that | am ready an
willing to be taxed to make good the losse
2 of the hapless freedmen. 1t gives me un
dissembled satisfaction to add that. OF tn
: large number of persons to whom | hav
. submitted the plan Of reimbursing the de
g positors from the public Treasury, l haV
e not met with a single dissenting voice.
: have submitted my plan alike to Norther
e and to Southern men. Within day or tW
S | have presented it to distinguished citlze
o of Alabama. refer to Benjamin NJ. Woo
n sew, ESQ. of Selma. He not only eNpresse
= his entire and cordial approval of it, but a
# sured me that the planters, and the whl
= population of the South generally, wou
e give it their cheerful and earnest support.
It | believe that hazard nothing in predic
is ing that the Democratic party, ii placed
J. power, will do justice to the freedmen.