In the olden time, ere a blow was struck in the Rebellion, the whites
of the South did the thinking, and the blacks did the work; the
master planned, and the slave executed. This unfitted both for the new
dispensation that was fast coming, and left each helpless, without the
other.
But the negro was the worst off of the two, for he had nothing but his
hands, while the white man had his education, backed up by the lands
that he owned. Who can wonder at the negro’s improvidence and his
shiftlessness, when he has never had any systematic training--never
been compelled to meet the cares of life?
This was the black man’s misfortune on gaining his freedom, and to
learn to save, and to manage his own affairs, appeared to all to be his
first duty.
The hope of every one, therefore, seemed to centre in the Freedman’s
Saving Bank. “This is our bank,” said they; and to this institution
the intelligent and the ignorant, the soldier fresh from the field of
battle, the farmer, the day laborer, and the poor washerwoman, all
alike brought their earnings and deposited them in the Freedman’s Bank.
This place of safety for their scanty store seemed to be the hope of
the race for the future. It was a stimulus for a people who had never
before been permitted to enter a moneyed institution, except at his
master’s heels, to bring or to take away the bag of silver that his
owner was too proud or too lazy to “tote.”
So great was the negro’s wish to save, that the deposits in the
Freedman’s Bank increased from three hundred thousand dollars, in 1866,
to thirty-one million dollars, in 1872, and to fifty-five million
dollars, in 1874. This saving of earnings became infectious throughout
the South, and the family that had no bank-book was considered poorly
off. These deposits were the first instalments toward purchasing homes,
or getting ready to begin some mercantile or mechanical business. The
first announcement, therefore, of the closing of the Freedman’s Saving
Bank had a paralyzing effect upon the blacks everywhere.
Large numbers quit work; the greater portion sold their bank-books for
a trifle, and general distrust prevailed throughout the community.
Many who had purchased small farms, or cheap dwellings in cities and
towns, and had paid part of the purchase money, now became discouraged,
surrendered their claims, gave up the lands, and went about as if every
hope was lost. It was their first and their last dealings with a bank.
These poor people received no sympathy whatever, from the whites of the
South. Indeed, the latter felt to rejoice, for the negro obtained his
liberty through the Republican party, and the Freedmen’s Bank was a pet
of that party.
The negro is an industrious creature, laziness is not his chief fault,
and those who had left their work, returned to it. But the charm for
saving was gone.
“No more Banks for me, I’ll use my money as I get it, and then I’ll
know where it has gone to,” said an intelligent and well-informed
colored man to me.
This want of confidence in the saving institutions of the country, has
caused a general spending of money as soon as obtained; and railroad
excursions, steamboat rides, hiring of horses and buggies on Sabbath,
and even on week days, have reaped large sums from colored people all
over the South. Verily, the failure of the Freedman’s Saving Bank was a
National calamity, the influence of which will be felt for many years.
Not satisfied with robbing the deluded people out of the bulk of their
hard earnings, commissioners were appointed soon after the failure,
with “appropriate” salaries, to look after the interest of the
depositors, and these leeches are eating up the remainder.
Whether truly or falsely, the freedmen were led to believe that the
United States Government was responsible to them for the return of
their money with interest. Common justice would seem to call for some
action in the matter.