LETTER FROM THE COMMISSIONER OF THE FREEDMAN'S SAVINGS AND TRUST COMPANY, SUBMITTING His report for the year ended November 30, 1890. OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE Washington, D. C., December 10, 1890. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, my report as Commissioner of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company for the year ended November 30, 1890, as required by section 5 of the act of February 21, 1881. Very respectfully, E. S. LACEY, Commissioner. Speaker of the House of Representatives. Hon. THOMAS B. REED, 3 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE FREEDMAN'S SAVINGS AND TRUST COMPANY. DECEMBER 11, 1890.-Referred to the Committee on Printing. OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE FREEDMAN'S SAVINGS AND TRUST COMPANY, Washington, D. C., December 10, 1890. SIR: In compliance with the requirements of section 5 of the act of February 21, 1881, I have the honor to submit for the consideration of Congress the following report of the condition of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company for the year ended November 30, 1890: To sundry disbursements in cash, as per statement No. I of appendix..... To disbursements by check, as per statement No. I of appendix. Balance on hand November 30, 1890 959.56 240.00 60.00 32. 01 10.00 19, 888.63 37, 353. 10 3, 141.37 5, 917.94 31, 435. 16 PAYMENTS UNDER ACT OF CONGRESS APPROVED FEBRUARY 17, 1883. Three claims, amounting to $126.60, have been presented and paid during the year under the provisions of the act of February 17, 1883, making 1,022 claims, paid under that act, amounting to $10,492.61, and leaving 1,389 claims unpaid, calling for $6,988.49. BARRED CLAIMS AND DIVIDENDS. Five claims have been presented during the past year for payment, requiring $467.36 to pay the 62 per cent. declared in dividends, making 200 claims, calling for $3,450.07, presented since May 12, 1885, but which are barred under the provisions of the act of Congress approved Febru ary 21, 1881. ASSETS COLLECTED. Of the available assets enumerated in my last annual report, the fol lowing have been collected or converted into cash: Of the claims against Beaufort County, S. C Of deferred payments on lots in Beaufort County, S.C. Proceeds of $1,242.97 of the tax-lien certificates, converted into drawback certificates under the act of June 2, 1890. Total...... $959. 56 10.00 3,075, 37 4,044.93 The interest allowed by the District of Columbia on the tax-lien certificates converted, as above mentioned, amounted to $1,969.62, which, with the principal, aggregated $3,212.50, for $3,206.70 of which draw back certificates were issued, and $5.89 was paid in cash. Of the drawback certificates $2,312.65 were sold at 96 cents, realizing $2,220.14, and $894.05 at 95 cents, realizing $849.34, an aggregate, including the cash payment, of $3,075.37. These certificates are available only for payment of taxes. Of the other assets of the company of uncertain value, fully described in the report of the Commissioner for the year ended December 1, 1883, Mis. Doc. No. 10, Forty-eighth Congress, first session, the sum of $15,511.69 has been recovered on the judgment against H. L. Cranford et al., equity No. 4465, $511.69 through attachment proceedings and $15,000 by compromise. A decree for $6,227.49, with interest from January 1, 1889, has been obtained in the case of The Commissioner vs. the District of Columbia, equity No. 8680, covering, among others, the remaining tax-lien certificates on hand and herein enumerated. This decree, however, has been to some extent anticipated by the conversion of a part of the tax-lien certificates under the provisions of the act of June 2, 1890. Nominal offers have been received for a quitclaim deed to the company's banking house at Jacksonville, Fla., sold under a judgment recovered against the Trust Company by Jonathan C. Greeley, mentioned in former reports, and for the $14,250 free-land bonds of the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad Company; but both of these offers have been declined, on account of their insignificance in amount. The decree in the lower court, in the case of The Company vs. Robert Stevens et al., involving the collection of certain judgments of the Trust Company against S. S. Smoot, which was adverse to the Trust Company, has been affirmed by the court in general term. A final dividend of $32.01 in amount has been collected on the company's claim against the estate of Jay Cooke & Co., and some progress has been made in the case of The Commissioner vs. Leonidas Scott. JUDGMENTS. The following judgments have been revived during the year: No. 14852, Law vs. Charles R. Douglas, for $1,800. No. 15991, Law vs. L. H. Douglas et al., for $561.52. No. 16139, Law vs. Joseph Daniels, for $8,471.77. No. 5328, Equity vs. Silas L. Loomis, trustee, et al., for $2,776.01. OUTSTANDING CHECKS. A large number of checks, issued in payment of dividends declared by the several Commissioners, have never been presented for payment. They are mostly for very small amounts, but aggregate the sum of $8,016.07, issued as follows: By Hon. J. A. J. Creswell et al., Commissioners. By Hon. John Jay Knox, late Commissioner By Hon. H. W. Cannon, late Commissioner By Hon. William L. Trenholm, late Commissioner.. Total...... $3,590, 37 4,263.37 99.12 63.21 8,016. 07 As few of these checks are likely ever to be presented for payment the amounts will inure to the benefit of the United States unless Congress shall otherwise direct. CONCLUSION. In conclusion, I beg to recommend to Congress the removal of the bar contained in the act of February 21, 1881, against the payment of dividends not presented within two years of their declaration, and to submit herewith draft of a bill designed to carry out this suggestion: A BILL authorizing the Commissioner of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company to pay certain dividends barred by the act of February twenty-first, eighteen hundred and eighty-one. Be it enacted, etc., That the Commissioner of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay from the funds in his hands available for that purpose, to all claimants otherwise legally entitled thereto, who have not yet received them, the sixty-two per cent. in dividends heretofore declared in favor of the depositors of said company, notwithstanding the limitation for the payment of such dividends contained in section eight of an act entitled "An act amending the charter of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, and for other purposes," approved February twenty-first, eighteen hundred and eighty-one. By reference to the claims and dividends uncalled for and barred under the act of February 21, 1881, as shown by Statement No. II of the appendix, it will be seen that although the large sum of $184,494.13 is reported, only 2,411 claims, calling for $17,481.10, were presented for examination and audit under the provisions of the act of February 17, 1883, between February 21, 1881, and May 12, 1885, a period of over four years. |