ORGANIZATION AND EXPANSION 35
THE FREEDMEN’S BANK AND THE
FREEDMEN’S BUREAU
In many ways the Freedmen’s Bank was connected
 with the Freedmen’s Bureau, and the
connection was used to every possible advantage.
The Negroes came to believe that the bank was
a part of the Freedmen’s Bureau system. When
he went south in the interest of the bank, Alvord
found that his connection with the Freedmen’s
Bureau educational department was of decided
advantage to him in his work. He carried with
him the endorsement of General O. O. Howard,
the Commissioner of the Bureau,'? and he is said
to have represented this recommendation as an
order from Howard that the Negro soldiers
should deposit their bounty money with him.
“It appears also,” asserted later investigators,
“that Howard directed that bounty money in
the hands of Bureau officials be turned over to
the Bank.”
For five years Alvord, as inspector of the Bureau
 schools and as officer of the bank, traversed
the South soliciting deposits and establishing
branch banks. He continued this work for two
years after he became president, for in this field
he was considered most valuable by those who
were directing the policy of the institution. To
meetings of Negroes he explained its purposes
and told of its advantages. He, Sperry, and other
agents scattered circulars broadcast explaining
the benefits of the bank, and stating that Lincoln
had favored it, and that General Howard con- Howard’s
 Statement. See Appendix, p. 146.
Douglas Report, p. 67.