108 THE FREEDMEN’S SAVINGS BANK 
INVESTIGATIONS BY CONGRESS 
While the commissioners were wrangling, and 
the friends of the Negroes were trying to induce 
Congress to settle the affairs of the bank, two 
congressional investigations into the affairs of 
the institution were made—one in 1876 by the 
Douglas Committee, and another in 1880 by the 
Bruce Committee. Both investigations were 
made at the instance of the southern Democrats 
and the Negro Republican members from the 
southern states. Most of the northern members 
of Congress objected to the waste of any more 
time and trouble on the Freedmen’s Bank. Both 
political factions in the South were willing to 
throw responsibility for the mismanagement of 
the bank upon individuals affiliated with the 
northern Republicans. 
These investigations laid bare the fraudulent 
methods and corrupt practices by which the 
bank had been brought to ruin. The report of 
the Douglas Committee, after giving a historical 
sketch of the bank, went into details in regard 
to the causes of its failure, asserting that some 
of the trustees were honorable men, but that the 
controlling members, especially after the re- 
moval of headquarters to Washington, were either 
sharpers or dupes; that the law failed to make 
the trustees liable to penalties for misuse of the 
funds under their control; that there was no 
1 The Douglas Committee from the House consisted of Douglas of 
Virginia, chairman; Bradford, of Alabama; Stenger, of Pennsylvania; 
Riddle, of Tennessee; Hooker and Bliss, of New York; Frost, pri Massa- 
chusetts; and Rainey (Negro) of South Carolina. The Bruce Committee 
from the Senate was composed of B. K. Bruce (Negro) of Mississippi, 
chairman; Angus Cameron of Wisconsin; Los B. Fe of Georgia; 
Robert E. Withers of Virginia; and A. H. Garland of Arkansas.