Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-08-12
The Freedmen's Bureau.
Final Report of Gems. Steed-
man and Fullerton.
Frauds on the Treasury.
The LOO8eneSs of its Management,

oIEEDMAN ana + ULLEHION To-Day nle
their final report on the operations Of tn
Freedmen's Bureau. After giving a grea
deal Of statistical information, Messrs
STEEDMAN and FULLERToS make the fol
lowing concluding summary:
In pursuing this investigation, which ha
now extended over four months, we hav
found extreme difficulty in complying will
that portion Of our instructions which re
quires US to report upon the operations 0
the Bureau, and its mode Of administration
The Bureau has no settled mode Of admins
tratiOn. There is an entire absence Of sys
TEN or uniformity in its constitution. IN
one State its officers exercise judicial powers
in au adjoining State all cases are referred
10 the civil authorities, while in a third
State the Bureau officers collect the cases
and turn them over to the Military Provost
Court to dispose Of In some department.
the officers Of the Bureau have attempted to
regulate the rate Of wages. One form of
contract between employer and employed is
prescribed in one State, while in another a
different form is employed.
In Louisiana the expense Of the freed
mems schools have been wholly paid by the
Government In the other States the schools
are partially selfsupporting, and in Texas
they are entirely 80.
In some localities the Bureau officers in
terfere arbitrarily between the planters and
the freedmen, in favor Of the freedmen; in
other localities the Bureau is used as means
Of coercing the freedmen in favor Of the
planter. The expenditure Of the Bureau
varies as much as its mode of admininstra-
tion. In one State the expenses are over
S3OO,0OO year; in another State, with an
equal population, the expenses are not
more than $4,000. In some States the ex-
penses have been met by taxes levied on and
collected from the people, and in other
States the cost is entirely borne by the Uni
ted States Treasury.
We found it impossible 10 investigate the
accounts Of the Bureau Quartermasters, for
the reason that when the funds were received
from taxes, rents, fines and the sale Of aban-
dOned property, there was no means Of as.
certaining the amounts received except from
the personal statement Of the officers them
selves. A Quartermaster in the army draw
ing his funds from the Government has
the amount charged up to him, and is obliged
TO account for it in his return, but the loose
ness Of the administration Of the Quarter
masters Department Of the Bureau, and the
absence Of all check upon the officers, give
insecurity, except TIE personal honesty ofthe
men themselves. We examined the accounts
Of brevet Brigadier-General WHITTLEsEY,
Bureau Quartermaster Of the Department of
Mississippi, who satisfied us that he had hon
estly administered the affairs of his depart
ment and had accounted for all the money re-
ceived by him; but whether his predecessor,
who collected large amount from taxes,
rents and sales, paid over to General WHIT
TLEsEY all the money in his hands belong
ing 10 the Bureau, we were unable to deter
mine. We do not make this statement to
reflect upon that officer, against whom there
were no charges, but TO illustrate the loose
ness Of the system.
The official report of Col. Reno United
States Army, Provost Master General Of the
Bureau for Louisiana, copy of which is
herewith forwarded, marked ID, shows a de-
icit Of upward Of 81, 600 in the accounts of
the officers who were engaged in the collect
ing Of taxes in New Orleans, which deficit
Colonel RENO says he is unable to explain
in consequence of the loose manner the
books were kept.
One Of the defaulting officers, Lieutenant
Foster, who, Colonel Reno believes appro-
priated 10 his own use the largest amount Of
the deficiency, carried off his cash-book with
him. This officer, on his own responsible.
~, levied an incidental tax, which Colonel
RENO calls an invention of his own, and
which, with the exception Of one or two
hundred dollars, went into his own pocket.
We are Of opinion that at the close of the
war, and for some time after the cessation
Of hostilities, the Ereedmen's Bureau did
good.
The people of the South, having at first
no faith in the negroes working under a
g.. III. r
rid Of them, and during the summer Of 1865,
iudicious bureau and military officers did
much towards restoring order and harmony,
and inducing the people Of the South TO
resume the cultivation Of their plantations
by employing the freedmen. Before the
close Of 1865 there was an entire revolution
in the sentiments of the people Of the South
with regard 10 negro labor. A feeling Of
kindness sprang up towards the freedmen,
resulting, perhaps, mainly from the convic-
tion that his labor was desirable and profit
able, and the only labor to be had. The
necessity of the Bureau then ceased. Since
then while il has been beneficial in some
localities, il has been productive, in the ag-
gregate, Of more harm than good. Il mas
occasioned, and will perpetuate discord as
long as il exists though administered by the
purcst and wisest men Of the nation.
The freedmen regard its presence as an
evidence that they would be unsafe without
IT, and the white people consider il an inn
putation upon their integrity and fairness;
an espionage upon the official action Of all
their courts and magistrates, as well as upon
the private conduct Of their citizens. Both
races are thus made suspicious and bitter by
an agency which, in the present reorgauized
condition of civil government and society in
the Southern States, is useless 10 advance
the interests Of either.
The best protection the freedman has in
the South is the value Of his labor in the
market, and II he is lef free 60 dispose Of
this at all times 10 the highest bidder, nm
shacklcd bv contracts made for him by Bu-
reau officers, no apprehension need be felt
for his safety or his success. IL the freed
IaCn could. at this moment demand the
wages which the high price Of the products
of the South would justify 81 and board
would be the ruling wages instead Of $40 or
SIP per month, the prices now paid. But
they can not take advantage Of the demand
for their labor. They are bound BY con
tracts, cnslJved for twelve months through
the agency and influence Of the Frecdmen's
Bureau. The hands on the Mississippi river
steamboats, were not required 20 make con-
tracts, and they are getting SO per month
and boagd Cor labor less exIciing than that
of plantation negro.
The freedmen on the Ogeeche and Savan-
nah rivers are getting on the rice plantations
from ten 70 fifteen dollars per month, under
contract for the year, while the lHborcrs EN-.
ploycd on the Georgia Central Railroad,
which runs between these streams, are get
ting dollar and half day. Some COM /
plants were made 90 us by the planters on
the Savannah river that their laborcrs were
Disseminated, and did not work as required
by their contracts. One of the planters, a
practical, liberal minded man, explained the
cause of discomfort 20 be the low wages at
which the negroes were hired. lie said: 81
can get hands enough, and good work done
too, by paving dollar day and rations and
! am paving that and expect 70 pay even
more. can give three dollars day and
make money. The negro is going to make
all he can ont Of his freedom, and he has a
night 20 do son
The enlightened policy advocated by this
gentlemen policy strongly in accordance
with justice and sound political economy
Is defeated by the contract system inaugu-
rated aud forced into operation by the officers
OF the Ereedmcn's Bureau We met with
instances Of freedmen working for $40 per
month and raiions under yearly contracts,
sanctioned ty the Bureau, while in the same
held. doing the same work other freedmen, l