UNDER THE COMPTROLLER OF CURRENCY 125 
government was responsible because it had char- 
tered the bank, had provided for Federal inspec- 
tion, and had secured its funds by investment in 
United States bonds, and because its officials 
were usually government officials. All the adver- 
tising done by the bank had made it appear as 
an institution of the government, and the Ne- 
groes had generally understood that they were 
giving their money to the government for safe 
keeping.? 
Men of note took the position that the United 
States should stand between the depositors and 
the loss of their savings. Frederick Douglass 
maintained that the government should make 
good the loss because it had allowed the bank 
to be considered a government institution and a 
part of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and through 
neglect of supervision had allowed it to fail. 
General Howard, trustee of the bank and for- 
merly commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau, 
who had permitted and encouraged the close 
connection between the bank and the Bureau, 
declared that the work of the former was done 
under the guarantee of the United States, and 
that therefore the government should hold itself 
responsible to the depositors.’ 
3 Ho. Misc. Doc. No. 29, 43 Cong., 2 Sess.; Ho. Report No. 58, 43 
Cong., 2 Sess.; Cong. Globe, 1874-1876. Shaler, The Neighbor, p. 170, 
makes a statement which shows that others than Negroes believed that 
the bank was connected with the government. 
4 Bruce Report, Appendix, p. 45. 
5 Bruce Report, p. 273. As indicating the close relation between the 
Freedmen’s Bureau and the Freedmen’s Savings Bank the following 
facts are significant: In 1872 the records of the Freedmen’s Bureau were 
collected in Washington. Among these quantities of papers were found 
which belonged to the Freedmen’s Savings Bank. These papers included 
certificates of soldiers. bounty registers, receipts for bounty, registers of