42 THE FREEDMEN’S SAVINGS BANK 
New York, took a genuine interest in the bank, 
attended the board meetings, helped with affairs, 
and gave advice to the inexperienced adminis- 
trative force.” 
Before the charter was amended in 1870, no 
loans could be made by the principal bank or by 
the branches, for, by the law of 1865, two thirds 
of all deposits must be invested in United States 
securities and the remainder held as an available 
fund. After 1870, when Congress permitted the 
bank to make loans on real estate, the branch 
banks in a few cities were permitted large privi- 
leges; but, as a rule, to the last, the branch banks 
simply gathered in the money and sent to Wash- 
ington all that they did not pay back to deposi- 
tors as interest or as withdrawals. 
An inspector traveled constantly among the 
branches, examining the books and endeavoring 
to keep the accounts in good order. The first 
inspector was ex-Paymaster A. M. Sperry, who 
had assisted in organizing some of the branches 
and who had secured large sums for deposit from 
the Negro soldiers. Sperry, who was a good man 
for this post, did much to keep the business in 
order, but he was heavily overworked. After a 
time he was given an assistant inspector. 
TRAINING OF NEGRO BUSINESS MEN 
In the branch banks, and at Washington after 
1868 when the headquarters were removed to 
that city, a body of Negro business men was 
being trained. There was a growing sentiment 
that, since the bank was for the benefit of the 
2 Bruce Report, p. 178.