Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-03-08
Letter from Mobile.

MOBILE, Ala, Feb. 8, 1866.
Editor Rutland Herald: Much is now
said and written in regard to the Freed
mems Bureau. Your correspondent Is
Vermonter, and has served during nearly
the entire war in the Department Of the
Gulf, and since its close has resided
here, and while he holds to the faith of
his fathers, he claims, If his views differ
from some of your readers, simply the
credit of some knowledge of Southern
life and customs and the habits and
wants Of the emancipated slaves, and
pres ents his views of the course which,
If pursued by Government, would most
rebound to the good of the emancipated
and of the Government, whose burdens
are already onerous,
Practically speaking, the Freedmen's
Bureau has effected little or no perma-
nent good hereabouts to the freedmen,
for various reasons. In Alabama it has
amounted to nothing. On the Alabama
river but one headquarters of the Bu-
reau has since the war been in existence,
viz Montgomery. On the Tombigbee,
but one, and that very recently estab-
lished, viz at st. Stephens. These two,
with the Mobile headquarters, virtually
represent the Bureau in the State Of AL
ALBANIA, with its thousands Of freedmen.
Much as has been said, 1t is, neverthe-
less, an undeniable fact, that in Ala
bama the contract system has thus far
proved perfect failure, and on the 9TH
er hand such has been the conflict of Or
ders In regard to the course the Bureau
was to pursue, and the utter impractic-
ability of the one or two orders issued,
that planters In this State have been un-
able to make arrangements to cultivate
crops for this year. In the district of
Mobile, where small pox reigns supreme,
such is the defect of the present system,
that the military, the bureau and the
civil authorities each eschew response
bility of action, and while the city num-
bers five hundred cases in it's precincts,
and the negro. who looks to Govern
ment is dying in alley ways, and in de-
serted buildings and vacant lots, no aid
is rendered. The uselessness Of the
present system is also shown in the fact
that Northern capital sent here for in
vestment, is returning North with its
agents, as laborers may not be worked
under existing regulations. The slaves
from the rural districts are constantly
hocking into Mobile, where, advisedly
speaking, the Bureau is held in con-
tempt, by those opposed to the present
order of affairs, and its modus operandi
disapproved by loyal men, military and
civil.
When the radical men at the North
assert that the Sontherners are practic-
ally disposed to enforce slavery in the
treatment Of the black man, they will
not, if they have the good of the coun-
try at heart, overlook the imperfections
of the system, which is intended to set
tie the question OF negro labor. If they
will not prescribe regulations for insur-
ing fulflBent of contracts, made by
eolored men with contractors for labor
and protect the planter In his rights,
and that 10 something beside mere Or
ders, then the whole system Of the
Freedmen's Bureau, and the interference
Of the Government in the premises, be-
comes q mere farce, and the time is com
ing when, unless correct understand
ing and impartial view of this moment
Gus question be considered, and dispas
sionately acted upon, much evil mus
result.