"White man bery unsartin": "Nigger haint got no friends, no how"; the blackest chapter in the history of the Republican Party; the men who robbed and combined to rob the freedmen of their hard earnings.Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
History
"White man bery unsartin": "Nigger haint got no friends, no how"; the blackest chapter in the history of the Republican Party; the men who robbed and combined to rob the freedmen of their hard earnings.
Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
Freedman's Savings and Trust Company
The wonder is that Creswell and Leipold did not ask us to credit them
with generous intentions for not waiting until the first day of each
month. These worthy gentlemen, so true to themselves, are Republicans,
holding front seats in the church of Christian statesmen; they are loud
to preach and strong to pray, and they thank God of a Sunday that they
are not as other men. And yet amidst all the suffering and distress,
all the poverty and want, the class of poor robbed by the officials
of this bank here in Washington have been afflicted with for the past
two winters, and which the good and the generous so worthily came
forward to relieve, it does not seem for once to have occurred to these
Commissioners, who were enriching themselves on the money of the washers
and scrubbers, that even one month’s salary would have purchased fuel
and bread enough to feed a thousand starving and shivering families for
a month. There is no charity on that side of Mr. John Andrew Jackson
Creswell’s ledger. He is deaf and dumb when humanity speaks. His name
is not down in charity’s album; at least I have not seen it there. Nor
have I seen Leipold’s mite recorded. And I am sure Attorney-at-law Totten
would regard it as a libel on his reputation to be accused of giving for
charity’s sake.
Let me end this sad story by saying that I want no better proof of the
prudence, docility, and deference of the negro race to the white man than
the fact that they did not rise up and take summary vengeance of the
scoundrels who so cruelly robbed them of their hard earnings.
I have shown:
First: That the Freedmen’s Bank, like the Freedmen’s Bureau,
was an offspring of the Republican party.
Second: That its managers were Republicans of the most radical
type, from O. O. Howard down to ex-Senator Pomeroy; and from
Pomeroy down to G. W. Stickney.
Third: That the men who invented the diabolical plot to rob the
bank, and did rob it, were not only Republicans holding front
seats in its political tabernacle, but friends and associates
of ex-President Grant.
Fourth: That the Commissioners, who have so shamefully
neglected their trust, were high-church Republicans, one of
them an ex-member of Grant’s cabinet.
Fifth: That with the single exception of Vice-President Wilson,
not a Republican, high or low, in or out of Congress, has
raised a hand or voice against the robbers, or come to the
defense of the poor negroes who were being so cruelly robbed.
Sixth: That Republicans have, with the single exception I have
named, invariably apologized for and defended the robbers.
Seventh: That the thoughtful reader will agree with me that
there is a meaner and more despicable class of theft than that
which applies to chicken-roosts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account