Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-21
GEN. HoWard,s OGiefaI Report.

Gen- HOWardiS Official Report. r.
General Howard in his official report
states that on entering upon the discharge
OF his duties he separated the Bureau into
four divisions, one of lands, another of finan-
cial affairs, one OF record, and the fourth q
medical department. To each of these di-
visions he assigned an officer, and secured
the requisite number of clerks by appoint
ment and by detail from the ranks Of the
army. Before the organization of the Bureau
the freedmen's affairs had been entrusted 70
different officers Of the government, thereby
occasiOning diversity of system in differ
ent localities. A few assistant commission
ers were at once appointed and sent to diff
ferent States to organize the Bureau and
complete the work already begun, and set
tie the important question of labor. Just as
far as the safety of events would allow the
assistant commissioners procured citizen
or military officer for each district, county
or parish.
The evident hostility of portion of its
citizens and their ability in the absence of
troops and civil laws TO outrage or take the
life of an agent has hindered the extending
OF operations except by an occasional in
spection by an officer in connection with a
patrol. The General acknowledges the
hearty support of most of the department
commanders in organizing and carrying
out the plans of the Bureau. The tenure of
the Bureau upon abandoned property is re-
garded the same as that possessed by an
actual owner, except that said property may
be restored by competent authority to its
former owner. A mparatively insignifi-
cant amount of property is used as quarters
for teachers and officers connected with the
Bureau and as hospitals. With these ex-
ceptions all the property in the hands of
the Bureau is held as a means of revenue
BY an order of the President the work CT
restoration has progressed very rapidly and
it is probable that when the war terminates
little or no property will remain under the
control of the Bureau.
BY this policy of restoration the expecta-
ton of the freedmen that land would be
assigned them has been disappointed, and
difficulty has arisen thereby, but it has
been overcome with comparative ease.
Much embarrassment and actual suffering
has resulted from the restoration of proper
ty. Much more will result from the cur
tailment of the Bureau. About one FIVE
hundreths of the entire amount of the land
of the insurrectiOnary districts has been
held, and had the plan of assigning it to
freedmen been carried out the Bureau would
have been unable to furnish an acre per
family. Experience has shown that, as
general rule, it is better to leave the price
of labor to be regulated by demand.
Schools have been established, but the hos
tility of white peple to them is undisguised.
Congress-, when it created the Bureau,
made no appropriation to defray its ex-
penses. 1t has, however, received funds
from miscellaneous sources to the amount of
$907,396. The total amount expended is
S47S,363 Deducting the amount held as
retained bounties, Sll5.236, the balance on
hand October 31st, 1865, available TO meet
liabilities was S3I3,7g6 The amount held
as claimed bounies is merely held in trust
for colored soldiers or their families. The
breaking upof the old plantation system
has necessarily left the sick with little or
no medical provision. As soon as they earn
money and become better versed than now
in the ordinary means of self-support, they
will doubtless, secure the necessary aid. 8
From information derived from the vari-
Gus reports of military officers, inspectors,
and assistant commissioners, Gen. Howard
arrives at the general conclusion that free
labor, notwithstanding the sudden emanci-
patton and the thousands of causes of dis
turbance incident to the war, will prove
that'the Freedmen's Bureau or
some substitute of it, of national character,
will have to be continued, and that the pre-
sent organization of the Bureau, with the
that it is not to be perma-
nent, is as good as he could suggest, except
IS to the subject of freedmen's courts and the
employment of civil agencies.
Some general system for providing for the
aged and infrm is necessary, and it would
be well to devote the funds raised during
The war, under the Treasury laws, for the
benefit of the freedmen, TO securing sites
and buildings for school purposes ia the
Iiaarant- StafAs, a..A iLs-s- JOINT companies,
whose object shall be to aid the poor blacks
md whites in rental purchases and the
,ettlemeat of lands, should be encouraged
by the Government, and that the rights Of
5he freedmen to rent and purchase real pro-
oerty should be guaranteed to them beyond
question. m F ul laGuE9 'l
1t is estimated that the amount required
or the expenditures of the Bureau for the
iscal year commencing January, 1866, will
be SI1, ,745,050. ..-.--....... ...-y..