128 THE FREEDMEN’S SAVINGS BANK
morally and equitably responsible to its creditors,
 and it should, therefore, reimburse them
for any losses they have sustained in its failure.”
A minority report by Representative Money, of
Mississippi, maintained that there was no warrant
 in law for paying such a claim, and that
such a precedent would be extremely embarassing
 to the government.
President Cleveland, in his message of 1886,
reviewed the history of the bank and declared
that to assume the losses was a “plain duty which
the government owes to the depositors, and that
the latter should be paid by the government upon
 principles of equity and fairness.” In pursuance
 of the President’s suggestion a bill was
introduced in 1888 appropriating money to pay
the claims of the depositors. But after passing
the Senate it failed in the House.
In 1907 Senator Gallinger introduced a bill
to reimburse the depositors. The bill again
passed the Senate but failed in the House.’ In
1910 the matter was again brought before Congress
 by Representative Austin of Tennessee
but this effort excited very little interest.
Since 1910 there has been no serious discussion
of paying the depositors. Those who were in
favor of paying the losses of the N egroes in 1875
no longer urged it for various reasons: The de-19
 Ho. Report, No. 1901, 47 Cong., 2 Sess.
1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, VIII, 525.
2 Ho. Report, No. 3199, 50 Cong., 1 Sess.
13 Sen. Bill 48, 60 Cong., 1 Sess.
14 See Banking and Currency Committee, Hearings in January, 1910,
on House Bill 8776 to reimburse depositors of the Freedmen’s Savings
and Trust Company. Extracts from this document are given in the
Appendix, p. 159.