MISMANAGEMENT AND OTHER TROUBLES 83 
examiner’s report showed that the institution 
had actually been insolvent for a year.# But for 
several weeks the conclusions of this report were 
not generally known. 
When the bank began to show signs of weak- 
ness the few trustees and officials who had money 
on deposit withdrew it, while at the same time 
the management tried to evade investigation by 
Congress, and to delude the Negroes into making 
more deposits. Some of those most interested in 
the welfare of the institution, among whom was 
Sperry, endeavored in 1873-1874 to secure an 
investigation by Congress. But somehow it de- 
veloped that anyone who expressed doubt of the 
bank’s policy was suspected of hostility to the 
Negro race. President Alvord and the trustees 
were also opposed to any investigation. This at- 
titude was, on the part of most of them, due 
probably to ignorance of actual conditions. 
Sperry was of the opinion that an investigation 
by Congress, if it had been made in time, would 
have saved the bank, but he said, “We could not 
get the help from Congress at the time we 
needed it.”® 
During the runs the trustees neglected the 
affairs of the bank; only one of them—Purvis, a 
Negro—came in to advise and assist the actuary, 
who during the crisis had to act most of the time 
on his own responsibility. The clique of specu- 
lators had resigned in good time and left affairs 
to the well-meaning incompetents and the Ne- 
4 Douglas Report, p. 180; Meig’s reports in Report of Comptroller 
of the Currency, 1873-1874. 
% Douglas Report, pp. 254-256; Bruce Report, pp. 178, 179, 238.