MISMANAGEMENT AND OTHER TROUBLES 59 
ence and ignorance of cashiers at the branches. 
They had not always the courage to refuse re- 
quests for favors made by influential men, and 
from the beginning certain favored individuals 
were frequently permitted to overdraw their 
accounts. Before 1870 when loans were forbid- 
den the prohibition could be avoided by allowing 
overdrafts. Although in the long run not a great 
deal was lost in this way, in many instances it 
was quite difficult to secure the payment of this 
money when it was badly needed. The Negro 
officials were sometimes over-persuaded by a 
certain strenuous kind of speculator, such as 
Vandenburg, the District of Columbia public 
works contractor, who usually managed to make 
“Daddy” Wilson, the Negro cashier in Washing- 
ton, allow his overdrafts even when Wilson had 
positive instructions not to permit such favors. 
It was easier at some places for a white man to 
borrow money than for a Negro, and many 
whites secured loans on too easy terms. Churches 
which were in debt also found the Freedmen’s 
Bank a too considerate creditor. 
After the charter was amended in 1870,° the 
cashiers at the principal branches were permitted 
to make loans on real estate. This amendment 
of the charter was designed to overcome the 
many objections to the original policy of the 
bank in gathering deposits all over the South 
while lending or investing mainly in the District 
of Columbia. As soon as the cashiers were given 
authority to make loans, they were besieged by 
a dangerous class of borrowers, who would have 
9 See Appendix, p. 136.