In the olden time, ere a blow was struck in the Rebellion, the whites of the South did the thinking, and the blacks did the work; the master planned, and the slave executed. This unfitted both for the new dispensation that was fast coming, and left each helpless, without the other.

But the negro was the worst off of the two, for he had nothing but his hands, while the white man had his education, backed up by the lands that he owned. Who can wonder at the negro’s improvidence and his shiftlessness, when he has never had any systematic training—never been compelled to meet the cares of life?

This was the black man’s misfortune on gaining his freedom, and to learn to save, and to manage his own affairs, appeared to all to be his first duty.

The hope of every one, therefore, seemed to centre in the Freedman’s Saving Bank. “This is our bank,” said they; and to this institution the intelligent and the ignorant, the soldier fresh from the field of battle, the farmer, the day laborer, and the poor washerwoman, all alike brought their earnings and deposited them in the Freedman’s Bank. This place of safety for their scanty store seemed to be the hope of the race for the future. It was a stimulus for a people who had never before been permitted to enter a moneyed institution, except at his master’s heels, to bring or to take away the bag of silver that his owner was too proud or too lazy to “tote.”

So great was the negro’s wish to save, that the deposits in the Freedman’s Bank increased from three hundred thousand dollars, in 1866, to thirty-one million dollars, in 1872, and to fifty-five million dollars, in 1874. This saving of earnings became infectious throughout the South, and the family that had no bank-book was considered poorly off. These deposits were the first instalments toward purchasing homes, or getting ready to begin some mercantile or mechanical business. The first announcement, therefore, of the closing of the Freedman’s Saving Bank had a paralyzing effect upon the blacks everywhere.

Large numbers quit work; the greater portion sold their bank-books for a trifle, and general distrust prevailed throughout the community. Many who had purchased small farms, or cheap dwellings in cities and towns, and had paid part of the purchase money, now became discouraged, surrendered their claims, gave up the lands, and went about as if every hope was lost. It was their first and their last dealings with a bank.

These poor people received no sympathy whatever, from the whites of the South. Indeed, the latter felt to rejoice, for the negro obtained his liberty through the Republican party, and the Freedmen’s Bank was a pet of that party.

The negro is an industrious creature, laziness is not his chief fault, and those who had left their work, returned to it. But the charm for saving was gone.

“No more Banks for me, I’ll use my money as I get it, and then I’ll know where it has gone to,” said an intelligent and well-informed colored man to me.

This want of confidence in the saving institutions of the country, has caused a general spending of money as soon as obtained; and railroad excursions, steamboat rides, hiring of horses and buggies on Sabbath, and even on week days, have reaped large sums from colored people all over the South. Verily, the failure of the Freedman’s Saving Bank was a National calamity, the influence of which will be felt for many years.

Not satisfied with robbing the deluded people out of the bulk of their hard earnings, commissioners were appointed soon after the failure, with “appropriate” salaries, to look after the interest of the depositors, and these leeches are eating up the remainder.

Whether truly or falsely, the freedmen were led to believe that the United States Government was responsible to them for the return of their money with interest. Common justice would seem to call for some action in the matter.