THE WORK OF COMMISSIONERS 117 
to the branches was found to be almost without 
value.? 
But the commissioners worked on, closing the 
branches one by one until only those in Nashville 
and Beaufort were left open. In order to avoid 
heavy losses the commissioners were obliged 
after foreclosure to buy in nearly all good prop- 
erty. And then owing to the depressed financial 
condition of the country, they frequently had to 
hold this property for years before it could be 
disposed of without loss. Meanwhile, much of 
the income from it was absorbed by the expenses 
of caretaking. The headquarters building in 
Washington was leased for a time for the use of 
the Attorney General and the Court of Claims 
and in 1882 was sold to the United States govern- 
ment for $250,000. ) 
Although at first the trustees tried to control 
or embarrass the policy of the commissioners, 
their efforts could be ignored, and their organiza- 
tion finally went to pieces. Creswell and 
Purvis were on friendly terms with them, but 
Leipold, advised by the Treasury Department, 
refused to allow them to have anything to do 
with the affairs of the bank. They took revenge 
by making charges against him of improper con- 
duct in the administration of the business. Lei- 
pold was intensely disliked by the Negroes, who 
said that he “did not treat us politely, but would 
2 In Congress, Representative Small, a Negro, from South Carolina 
complained that the commissioners were acting in collusion with pur- 
chasers in South Carolina in selling property at low prices, The com- 
missioners answered that it was difficult to sell property in the South at 
any price.—Bruce Report, p. 29; Reports of Commissioners, 1874-1879; 
Bruce Report, pp. 13, 17, 19, 31. 
% Bruce Report, p. 38.