84 THE FREEDMEN’S SAVINGS BANK 
groes. A faction of the trustees, dissatisfied with 
Alvord’s mismanagement, now determined to 
bring about a change by electing Frederick 
Douglass to the presidency in the hope that he 
would restore confidence and reform abuses. 
The report of the national bank examiner 
brought matters to a crisis. The examiner, C. A. 
Meigs, reported that on January 24, 1874, the 
nominal resources of the Freedmen’s Bank were 
valued at $3,121,101.00 and that its liabilities 
amounted to $3,338,896.15. So there was a defi- 
cit of at least $217,886.15 and the depositors 
could hope to get back not more than 93 cents 
on the dollar, even if the securities held by the 
bank were sound. The examiner ascribed the 
condition of the bank to several causes: there 
were, he said, too many non-paying branches; 
cashiers had been given too much authority in 
making loans and had made many bad ones; too 
high interest—six per cent—was paid on de- 
posits; during the runs the best securities had 
been sacrificed; and finally there was the careless 
bookkeeping, and the poor investments made in 
the District of Columbia. 
4 Bruce Report, pp. 163-165, 181, 183, 254, 255, 256; Douglas Re- 
port, pp. 17, 76, 178, 179, 180; Douglass, Life and Times, pp. 488, ¢t seq. 
4 Report of C. A. Meigs to Comptroller of the Currency, Feb. 14, 
1874. in Ho. Misc. Doc. No. 16, 43 Cong., 2 Sess.