The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-16
Times- Dispatch Bureau.
Nunsey Building,


Munsey Building,
| washington ID. c., March 10.
| There is strong likelihood that Con.
! sress at this session will enact legis-
lation providing for the payment Of
depostors in the old and long de-
funct Freedmen's Bank, which is
scarcely more than q name to the
generation which has grown up In the
last quarter OF century, but which
Is n stern reality to thousands of old
negroes still living down South, and
trying to realize to this day just how
| they were so neatly swindled by the
people who set them free.
A bill providing for the repayment.
reported from tho Senate Finance Com
mittee, Will pass the Upper House OF
/ Congress, according to a leading men,
4 Der of the committee A member of
the House Committee on Banking and
Finance. to which bill introduced in
the House was referred, thinks the
committee will report the measure
with some amendments, and that 1t
will be enacted into law. 1t may be
that the House will simply enact the
bill which will pass the Senate.
The fund representing unclaimed de-
4 posts in the Treedmen's Bank is ST.
ury OF the United States. When the
4 Freedmen's Bank was declared insol-
vent in 1874 the government assumed
control OF the affairs of the institu-
ton, and realized something on assets,
though but little. Sixty-two per cent.
Of the deposits were paid, the sum re-
naming in the Treasury representing
the other 3S per cent.
Two decidedly prepossessing negroes
H. Il 81. In
members of the Committee on Bank
ing and Currency this week with. a
plea for the legislation which Will en-
able the depositors to get their money.
One of the darkies was rather Hitter
ate, but he had much horse-sense
Speaking of conditions in the South
Immediately after the war, and the
, gullibllity Of the recently manumitted
/ negroes. he said:
Dem white folks went down dar af-
\ ter de niggers' money and dey shor.
: did git 1t. Dey offered de niggers re-
8 ceipts wild Lincoln's picture printed OIL
one end, an dc flags on the odder end
Cose dey got de money. Dey didn't sa,
right out may be, dat de guv'ment wa
behind de bank, but whom de nigger
saw dc pictures 1t was good-by money
Lincoln and de flag stood for d.
guvment.'
The Comptroller of the Currency ha.
control of the fund, and percentag,
Is applied to payment of the clerks II
: charge.
"Dey's a whole armful o. clerks II
dc Treasury lookin' after dis money
: said the darby. "Dey's good clerks
too, one OBJ 'em gets $500 year. Blu
he gifts 1t out o. our money"
The negroes want the money re-
funded TO such as may present pass
books within a stated time, and at the
q expiration of that period the Secretary
of the Treasury Is to distribute such OF
e the deposits as may be unclaimed
: among negro manual training schools
t in the Southern States. This feature
e will almost certainly be eliminated.
!, The Treedmen's Bank was chartered
: in the District of Columbia in 1855
e Charles Sumner was especially active
0 in originating it. 1t was allegedls
n designed as a means of encouraging
r thrift among the newly-freed negroes
e AS a matter of fact. it was designed
d to be part OF the work OF the Freed
e mems Bureau. organized the same year
: with General o. 0. Howard as commits
lsioner. It was never clearly show
n that the hank was under the aegis o
# the national government, but the ne
! groes regarded 1t as government in
"
d tablfshed in Richmond Atlanta, New
: Orleans, Nashville, Louisville, and II
8 a number of other Southern cities
large and small, the colored brethren
h went hungry in order to become de
q positors in the bank. The bank did al
J enormous business. Its constitution, o
q charter, prohibited it from loanint
$ money on any but government securi
= ties, and this rule was adhered to fo
= a time; but the charter. unfortunately
4 aud probably deslgnedly, provided 70
~ a governing board of fifty, of which
!. nine should form quorum.
Nine unscrupulous rnen-and 1t wa
!, easy to find that number In the Nortl
y at that time ready to get out OF tn,
g got control OF the bank. and succeede,
: in having Congress. in 1870 remov
: the restrictions on investments. osten
= sfbly for the purpose of benef1ting de
e Ipositors by higher rate of interest.
1t is to the credit OF several publ
men Of the North at that period, nota
bly, Senator Simon Cameron, of Penn
sylvania, that they opposed the re
moval OF this restriction. But the.
: were outvoted. and the bank at one
began to invest in wildcat stock:
e disposing of government bonds in or
: der to do so. All the stocks wer
3. speculative in character. and much o
II the money was loaned on mortgage
e covering valueless property. This coul
s not last long. and In 1874 the banl
4 was declared insolvent. 1t was shar
u blow to the trusting negroes OF tn
South, many thousands of whom die
d with their faith in the honor ant
= honesty and benelcence of the govern
e ment OF the United States destroyed
t. for while 1t had set them free, 1t ha
n apparently robbed and swindled Their
: OF the results OF their hard labor
6 In many negro cabin of the sout
n the old gray head "uncle" and "auntie
h still guard with pathetic care those oil
e receipts. bearing the wood cuts o
a Lincoln and the Stars and Stripes. an
also the age-yellowed pass-book:
: whose faded entries meant toll an
l. denial and want.
Some of those who deposited tn
money may be repaid. Much of 1t wi
be claimed by young bucks OF a ne'