Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1866-05-23
FOR GOVERNOR
HESTER CLY.UER,
The Negro Official Report
OF BERKs COUNTY


pense Of millions, to the white race, is
being ventilated IN becoming man
ner, by the officers appointed by the
President, and proves, that instead OF
improving the negroes, either in NOR
ais or industry, the bureau agents
the "loyal Philnnthropists''--"r' &c
certained to be scOundrcls of the first
water, and are still rendering the
blacks more dependent and miserable.
Generals Stcadman and Fullerton
the commissioners appointed to inves-
tigate the workings Of the Frecdmen's S
Bureau IN the Southern States. in re
gard to their observations in Virginia
and North Carolina, have made an in
teresting report to Secretary Stanton
as to the condition of affairs in Vir-
ginia and North Carolina. The main
facts contained in this report are thus
given in the National lntelligencer:
They state that large number of
the freedmen who are now dependent
upon the government for support
would be able to earn a living if re-
moved to localities where labor could
beprocured and not collected az now,in
many cases, in localities where the
land is unproductive and the demand
for labor limited and that as long as
reliefis extended to the able bodied as
the helpless, the former will not change
their location to procure employment.
They found that in those districts in
Virginia and North Carolina where
the affairs of the bureau had been
faithfully and impartially administer
cd by men of sound sense and iudg-
ment there had been no conflict be-
tween the agents of the bureau and
the citizens, and that wherever the
agents were not mon of capacity and
integrity q very unsatisfactory state
o. things existed. They state that it
is not certain whether the effect of
the operations of the bureau is to pro-
uIot~ Industry Or idlou0e5 anlOng tile
freedmen that prudent and industri
Gus freedmen rarely call upon the bu-
rcau for assistance, and that it is the
idle and worthless who look to it for
support; that n mass of the negroes
have an idea that the bureau possesses
some mysterious power to serve them,
and that IN case they are unable to
obtain livelihood as they desire, they
can fall back upon it for support. The
report says;
"These ideas, it will be readily seen,
lessen their efforts to procure employ
mcnt and to support themselves and
their families. They also regard the
existence Of the bureau as evidence
that the government looks upon the
white people of the South as their en-
emies, which is calculated to excite
suspicion and bad feeling on their
part"
They s.atc that they discovered no
hostility among the white people Of
Virginia to the education Of the freed
men. In several localities, more
especially at Lynchburg and Char
lottesville, whore they thoroughly ex-
amined into this subject, the people
were taking much interest in the es-
t9blishment of schools for their edu-
cation, giving as a reason for their
efforts IN this direction that educated
labor was preferable to uneducatcd
labor, which sentiment they believe
prevails throughout the State.
In North Carolina the commissions
ers made an investigation into the
conduct OF the officers of that State
outside of their official duties. This
investigation revealed the fact that
nearly all of them were engaged, with
parties from the North, in working
farms, running saw mills, and other
occupations. In some cases they found
that the agents paid the freedmen
working for them on private account
in part with government rations, anC
that clothing gbelonging to the govern
ment, and supplies sent by benevolent
societies, for the aid of the freedmen
had been sold and the money apropria
ted by the agents. The cruelties, ,prac-
ticed, in many cases, toward the freed
men by the agents, and those having
them IN charge, exceed in atroclty
anything that has been charged a,
having been committed against them
by any Of the citizens Of the Southern
States. They recommend that botl
in Virginia and North Carolina the
officers of the bureau be dispensed
with hand that their duties be perform
ed by officers commanding the troops
in those departments They say
"Such change would relieve the
government Of the large, and, in oui
opinion, wholly unnecessary expense
of supporting superfuous number Of
officers and employees, while the du
ties can be as efficiently and satisfsc
torily performed in the manner in
which We have suggested. AS long a:
the government Of the United State'