The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1866-08-18

Der 1865, Capt. Fease, the school superin-
tendent; reported officially that there were
40 schools III operation and in flourishing
condition, when. in fact, there were but .
1t was also sworn to before us that the books
and records, which would have shown this
report to be inaccurate, were destroyed in
| Capt. Pease's Office, and others substituted
We can see no object for the fabrication of
this false report, unless it was to account for
payments made TO persons who were not
engaged in teaching. On exami hing the
pay roll, No. ,, for the month of August
1865, we found that after it had been certi-
fed and approved, names had been added
and the totals erased and charged on every
page.
"Well, but'-ccntinues our radical, "sure>
y the bureau is doing noble work for the
negro in securing him the wages Tor his
labor-against imposition ard robbery by
the planters" &c. On that point the report
before Us is equally instructive. Says the
Steedmen- Fullerton report:
In Richmond, Texas. Capt. Sloan, the
agou; Of the bureau, is engaged in planting,
in connection with Ills former clerk, Captain
Porter, and an ex>ollicer of the rebel army,
Capt. Mitchell. Complaints were made to
us by numerous persons that Capt. Sloan had
employed the power of the bureau to take
negroes from their plantations and place
them on his own.
Ten of the thirty-fve agents in Texas are
planters, and use the bureau as means OF
getting negroes,
After giving numerous instances Of abuse
of this kind, the report proceeds
The best protection the freedman has in
the South is the value of his labor in the
market, aud if he is left free to dispose Of
this, at all times to the highest bidder, uu>
shackled by contracts made for him By bureau
officers, no apprehensions need be ielt for his
safety or his success If the freedmen could
at this moment demand the wages which the
high price Of the products of the South uld
Justify, 81 per day and board would be the
ruling wages, instead Of $40 or SD per
month, the prices now paid. But they cans
NOT take advantage of the demand fO- their
labor they are bound BIZ contracts, enslayed
for - months, through the agency and iuHu-
ence Of the treedmen's bureau. The hands
of the Mississippi river steamboats, were not
required to make contracts, and they a;c
getting $40 per month and their board. tor
labor less eXactiug than tina. Of a plantation /
.
Savannah rivers are getting on the rice plaza /
tltloEs from so to So per month, under
contract for the year. while fhe labOrcis en- .
p'oyed on the Georgia Central railroad /,
which runs between these streams. are GET /
ting Sl.j0 4 day.
And 50 proceeding 10 give many more
such instances, the report comes to the con~
clu,ton that the system Of contracts now .
existing in the South, and enforced by the .
.feedme"'s bureau, IS simply sLAyEEY Il =
), Ew FORM"
Is the whole complicated aud expensive /
machinery Of the treeImen's bureau entirely !
useless? That is the decided opinion. after
! thorough investigation, Of Gems. S,ceImau
,fi Fullerton. AT the close Of the war,
ND for come tire after the cessation OF hos
ili'ies, it did good. Bat since tie southern
74ople nave found out that the labor Of the
l7.roes IS both desirable and profitable, a
Z fling has sprung up towards the freedmen
hht ha- rot only done away with the ne PES
lily Of tie freadnen's b.reau, bat has uaI,
: operation, upon IL whole, more pa-a:-
i'd us than beneficial" y, - radical
bPiition Congress has given !. new g..
ease Of two years. and appropriate. eleven
Millions year to support it!