thers, and
Garland. To head such a committee was, indeed, an enviable privilege,
but the real opportunity lay in the kind of service which the
entangled affairs of the bank made possible. At this time, the affairs
of the bank were in the hands of three commissioners, each receiving
$3000 a year, and no promise of winding up the business of the bank
was foreshadowed. Thus the available assets were reduced annually by
the total amount of these salaries. The assets, of course, were to be
paid _pro rata_ to the depositors.

In order that his committee might have more power to go into the
management of the bank, Senator Bruce offered the following resolution
on May 16, 1879:

That the Select Committee on the Freedman's Savings and Trust
Company appointed by resolution of the Senate of April 7, 1879,
is authorized and directed to investigate the affairs of said
savings and trust company and its several branches, to ascertain
and report to the Senate all matters relating to the management
of the same and the cause or causes of failure, with such other
facts relating thereto as may be important to a full
understanding of the management and present condition of the
institution and to a more economical administration and speedy
adjustment of its affairs.

Following this resolution, Senator Bruce presented a petition of R. M.
Hall, M.D., and others, citizens of Baltimore, Maryland, praying the
passage of an act requiring the commissioners of the Freedman's
Savings and Trust Company to close up the affairs of the institution
and distribute the assets among the creditors thereof. This petition
was presented on May 27, 1879.

The resolution and the petition had their desired effect. The services
of the commissioners were dispensed with, thus saving $9000 a year for
the depositors; and the final settlement of the claims was turned over
to the Controller of the Treasury. To Senator Bruce's Committee,
therefore, goes the credit of bringing a speedy close to the affairs
of the defunct Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, with the minimum
of further loss to the depositors. Later, Senator Bruce made a strong,
but vain, appeal to reimburse the colored depositors of the Freedman's
Savings and Trust Company for losses incurred by the failure of the
bank.

His final dealings with the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company came
in the third session of the Forty-sixth Congress, when he intr