114 THE FREEDMEN’S SAVINGS BANK 
72,000 depositors . . . do not care very much 
about sympathy provided only they get their 
money. They have been sympathized with by 
their friends until they have been literally 
robbed. These friends of the colored people have 
hugged them around the neck with one hand 
while they have stolen the money out of their 
pockets with the other.” 
Some of the northern members acknowledged 
a certain responsibility on the part of Congress 
for the condition of the bank. Senator Morrill 
admitted that Congress was largely responsible, 
for, as he said, “we certainly gave this institution 
of the Freedmen’s Bank some sort of credit 
throughout the country.” He thought the origi- 
nal trustees should have been prosecuted.” Sen- 
ator Cameron, of Pennsylvania, contented him- 
self with reminding the Senate that he had pre- 
dicted the failure of the bank as a result of the 
amendment of 1870.2 Senator Sherman, who 
had persistently tried to induce Congress to regu- 
late the bank, declared that “the original man- 
agement of the Freedmen’s Bank grossly and 
scandalously abused its trust; and all the powers 
conferred by Congress on that corporation were 
in my judgment abused.”? 
THE TASK OF THE COMMISSIONERS 
But until 1881 all the debates concerning the 
bank resulted in no action, and the commis- 
8 Cong. Record, March 3, 1875, p. 2262. 
¥ Cong. Record, December 8, 1878, p. 36. 
» See above, p. 72. 
# Cong. Record, Feb. 5, 1877, pp. 1273, 1274.