The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-08-10

against Tue buTeuu Oy wisely
Of the civil authorities.
IMPRISONMENT AND REFORM
great reduction in tho expense Of the Bureau, and q
reform which would render 1t far less Objectionable than
Il s would be effected by the discontinuanco OF all
paid employees not in the military service OF the govern
ment This would reduce the expense for clerks,
tract surgeons, hospital servants, &c, the following
amounts
Per annum
Georgia S34 5S4
Aiaoama. SS.ol l
mississippi. ..,..........,....... 3O,2Io
texas. iV,oso
All the labor neriormed by ,h:s, employees except
perhaps the occasional services Of contract surgeon
might be discharged by details from the troops. In pre-
We nave r 9Sa the merging ao .ga ao
respectfully urge this amagamaton and that one set OF
officers should be required to perform the joint duss
MSs Avoiding the expense Of maintaining two sa.ea-
sr7Sf u RAJ sscRsF1u.
we have previously stated opinion as to the effect
sna % labor spa
themselves ard have nothing in subs
Investigations to induce 10 change the views expressed
people comp lied to labor for livelihood must be
dered less industrious by the hope or implied promise Of
sent further argument on This subjec. Wv
We proceed now to speak more in detail Of the admin
straton Of the Bureau In the several States have
visited
The Bureau in Georgia. under the management OF the
present able and efficient Assistant Commissioner Brevet
Major General Tillson has been honestly administered
capable Il has boon assisted By tho Governor 81 the
TO some extent by the ctzeDa The amended laws Of
Georgia fully a. liberal those Of any Northern
equality with white man as to his civil rgbts Not.
wihstandng this fact have found that agents or the
Bureau have taken cases out Of the hands Of the civil
authorities and have tried 70 dispose Of them In
ner never contemplated by the laws Of the State For
instance the citizen Judge Of the Fecdmen Court NJ a
in the chain gang charge stealing to which
they pleaded guilty Awhile man committing the same
offence would have been liable, under the State laws
the jury In previously disposed Of in this
court, one friedman for assautng with knife, With
similar offence 70 prison for i've months, when,
By the laws Of Georgia. the punishment prescribed for
less than two NOR more than ton years Decisions such
these must OF necessity create among the white people
feeling Of contempt for the fssdmsns courts and OF H.
such unjust interference with the laws OF tho State
In the Trsedmen's Court - Macon, presided BY
Sss @ 'ri so ss11n' .n si'f Ss sas
. Mr. BoalsoD. and . Mr. stanssl Berwick,
rssSm.n sc r.r. Convicted i0u and TOT
aggregate $780, The nnes imposed upon the two Nor
gans amounting 70 $780, we're reported by the agent
Captain Lambert In written explanation, herewith for
warded, marked states that the money and papers
In tno were ot0lon from MS once tD0k
up his report from memory. Il does not appear, how
ever that Captain Lambert made any Official mention Of
the ROBBERY until aer this discrepancy discovered
by US We found that Captain Lambert's records
rule very loosely kept and tina, his predecessor
who had collected thousands Of dollars left record
evidence behind him OF tho disposition made Of tho
money received similar absence Of records prevented
our making thorough Investigation OF the accounts in
other Offices in the State
State regularly nj work. and wherever their wages
were rcmuneralive and generally pad them con.
tented and doing well
In this State Major General Wager swayne the Assist
ant Commissioner, has pursued q discreet liberal and
enlightened policy IN administering the affairs Of the
ton Of the civil authorities and 10 obtain from the
judicial machinery OF the State q recognition Of tho
freed people This policy OF General sway has pro
duced much more kindly feeling towards the Bureau
than exists where im agents have assumed 10
Though tho administration at headquarters has thus
been satisfactory subordinate agents have been guilty
The following officers and agents Of the Bureau in Ala
hams arc engaged In planting
Captain aud Brcvct Colonel G. Cadeil, Jr, A. A. O. a.
A. Harmount local agent al Montgomery J. r. Mcl;oer.
agent at headquarters late chief quarermsster Of the
Bureau; g W. Buckley superintendent OF education;
y :. Gardner, late agent ~ eelma.
Our attention was called 70 the alleged misconduct Of
the agent at Grecnvc In selling government rations
hut a. General SwHyne himself had undertaken inv
gate the matter we did not inquire into the case
We found the freedmen In Alabama working well on
he plantations, but the heavy rains had swollen the
streams out OF their banks, doing immense damage 10
The crops, and some apprehensons felt thar the
freedmen who were working on shares would lose their
labor and would not be able TO make subsistence for
themselves and families
Mississippi.
The merging Of the Bureau with the military in this
State has placed the control OF freedmens aars In the
hands OF Major General Thomas j. Wood, the Depart
ment Commander. General Wood has greatly improved
upon the administration Of his predecessor, Colonel
a to produce pS'y Sc, ws no, s c"Su
races. There Is still, notwithstanding tho change Of
policy introduced BY General Wood more III feeling e1.
sng between the blacks and whites In Mississippi than
found elsewhere There are, however causes opcr.
sng certain localities Ia this State beyond tho control
pism and bloodshed This tho case at Grenada where
organized band Of have time past
held The town IN terror an and n Apr, last murdered Lieut.
spectacle citizens who themselves have been subjected
u Outrage BY this gang strongly condemned the crime
and sought 10 have the murderers brought 10 justice
Al Meridian, In the same state, . condition Of things
nearly - bad appears to prevail The Bureau officer
there, Major J. u Knox Of the " r. G. fred upon In
Tho ngh short time ago for wha, reason we were I'm
able 20 learn he seems 20 be excellent ocer ana
on good terms With the people generally These we're
The only casee OF ouragcs officers OF the bureau: In
othor districts the agents we'll protected
At Columbus, Major Smith OF the v. r. O., the secn,
stationed there, made remarkable statements to us
which perhaps may serve 10 show the way In which
reports % agents OF the bureau concocted
Ne at nrst said that the people In his district veil
disposed, That the freedmen were doing well, aud were
kindly treated by all except the poorer classes Of whites
nom whom alone they required protection In q very
few minutes afterwards he asserted that outrages on
freedmen bad been committed by two-thIrds OF the
planters In The neighborhood when pressed 10 state
specifically the nature Of the outrngcs and by whom
committed he mentioned three only ali Of which had been
committed on one same plantation by the overseer aud
MI Of which had been rcmedcd by the planter himself
a. soon a. his attention called 20 them On inye.t
CATION We found the statements OF this ocer AZ 10 the
treatment OF negroes grossly exaggerated and learned
tLat the agent himself had one occasion advised
refssed 90 work ~
ASIDE from the places Of which We have spoken az
being Infested ny bad men, ind the negroes m Ms
ss~ippf working ininstrously, and AZ rule kinsIv
treated aud dong veil In this state a. 10 Others we
have visited, tho officers OF the Bureau formerly srer
csed Judicial powers imposed aud coIIetsd nnes ana
often hsIt no records We found Married instance ~
his hIpd ~ oTsnAds whore The former assni q The