The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1866-06-21
Operations of tho Fresdmen,s Bureau

Operations Of the Freedmen's Bureau.
Gen. Fisk has made an elaborate re.
port to Gen. Howard upon the condi.
ton of affairs in Tennessee and Ken.
lucky. Hesays that during the month
OF May n, ratious were issued to
white persons, and 7,4O9 to freedmen
He has ordered the distribution of an
aggregate of 10000 ratons for June,
at least two. thirds Of which will 90 to
the whites. The people of Kentucky,
he thinks, are indisposed to properly
care for the aged and in6rm freedmen,
and their support will for time be a
burden upon tho Government.
Such is the tenor of the reports gen.
orally of officers of the Bureau Of
Freedmen, Refugees and Abandoned
Lands" called the Freedmen's Bureau
for the sake of brevity, but which des-
ignation is calculated to create the en-
tirely erroneous impression that the
Bureau was created for the benefit of
the negro solely-whereas he is in re-
ality by far the smallest recipient of
its favors. The class receiving its aid
under the title of Refugees, comprises
a portion of the poor white population
of the South, many times outnumber.
ed those under the title of Freedmen
The reader viii notice that according
to the report of Gen. Fisk above refer.
red to the population relieved was
nearly TEN TO ONE, OF whites, as com
pared with blacks.
In relation to the dishonest copper
head Misrepresentation SO freely scat,
tered over the country on this subject
the Columbus Journal well remarks as
follows:
"No branch of Government has
been more misrcpresented than this
Bureau. 1t has been the shield and
fense of the helpless freedmen, and all
the batteries of prejudice and proscrip.
tion have been leveled against it,
Every Southern snob who has thus far
lived all his life on the sweat of other
peoples brOws, joins in the howl that
the Bureau is supporting the niggel
in idleness, and that the Niger will
never work unless he is com pclled to
And all their Copperhead aunkeys a
the North, envious that the negro
should refuse 10 serve masters they are
not able to rid themselves of, echo the
cry, and yelp in concert "Eleren Nil
lions to be paid by as to support the ne
gro in idieneSS" Ut would be q curl
Gus calculation to make, how much o
this tax is really paid by these fel
lows
We have no expectation that tn,
Copperhead leaders, or their press, vii
ever enlighten their readers as to tht
expenditures Of the Bureau. 1t hai
again and again been shown, upon ev
idence interested adversely, that al
the freedmen who are able bodied ar,
at work, under the direction of tn,
Bureau or independently; that the few
freedmen who draw rations from th,
Government are old and superannua
ted, disabled by lifelong service o
masters who now refuse to supper
them in their old age, helpless wive
and children Of soljiers killed or main
ed in Government service, and othe
worthy objects of charity, the victim
OF circumstances and necessity.
has been repeatedly shown, in addition
TO this, that but small share of ex
pcnditures for food and clothing zoe
to the freedmen or any of the blac
race; and that by far the greater shar
of them is contributed to the suppol
Of the poor and starving of the whit
race-the wives and children of reb,
soldiers who have been killed fghtin
against the Government, or of wortt
less white men, ashamed to work an
afraid IN atasI ~