The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-08-14

transportation, ratiohs. and quarter.
masters supplies furnished by the
Governments It is difficult to deter
property held by the Bureau has,
been applied. At the very lowest es-
innate, the property taken possession
of as confscated or abandoned
amounted IN value to $40, 200, 600,
and the rents returned as above men
toned are less than one per cent. ON
the entire value,
The expenditure of the Bureau,
under the present administration, for
agents. civilian clerks and employees
about its headquarters alone, amount
to not less than $40, 236 year, ex-
clnsive Of the pny Of staff officers
and orderlies in the military service.
\. A large proportion Of tho money
expended on the freedmen schools,
under the administration Of the Rev.
T. W. Conway, The late assistant COM
missioner, wo are satisfied was squau-
dered. Mr.. Matthew Whilden, for
meriy chief clerk IN the school de-
partment-in evidence before US
stated that in September, 1856, Capt
Pease, the school perintepdent, re-
ported officially that there were forty
schools in operation and in q flour
ishing condition, when, in. fact, there
we're bat two.
From the sworn testimony it will
be seen that Capt Morse, appointed
provost-marshd Of the Bureau by
Mr.. Conway, made the provost-mar-
shaPs office a slave pen,> arresting
freedmen aud selling them to plan
ters at SIS q head, and sharing the
proceeds with his special policemen
| who made the arrests. This officer
further collected a large amount of
money from freedmen and white per
SONS arrested by him for various Of
fences, and his books only show re-
ceipts from this source amounting to
$675.1O.
The Bureau is eultivating q large
plant tation in this State, for which it
pays $4,000 or $15, 900 a year as
rent. We can scarcely imagine the
excuse for rentin g land on account of
the United States, when the. Govern
ment, through each Congress, is
giving away millions of acres of
public lands to. to.corporations.
TEXAs-EaACH AGENT AN ABSOLUTE
MONARCH. Al the Bureau agents in
Texas exercise judicial powers in
both civil and criminal cases, and in
the discharge of these arbitrary and
dangerous functions, freGnently ar
rest and imprison respectable citizens
| upon mere ramor.
Ten of the thirty-fve agents in
this State are citizen-planters. On,
of them, Col. McConnaghc, agent in
Thornton County. WIS formerly a
Colonel in the rebel army, and was
appointed an agent Of the Bureau by
Gen. Gregory, then assistant conf
missioner for the State, while still un.
pardoned.
SO lar as We saw, or were able to
get information in Texas, the freed
| men were working we'll and the crops
were promising. The wages paid
all the payments l,eing made in
specic-were better than in any other
department.
SCN1MAsY.-In pursuing this inves-
tigation. which has now extended over
four months, We have found extreme
difficulty in complying with that por-
ton Of our. instructions which re-
| Qulrcs us to report upon the opera
tons OF the Bureau and its mode Of
administration. The Bureau has no
settled mode Of administration
There is an entire absence of system
or uniformity in its constitution.
In one State, its officers exercise iu-
dlcll powers; i'll an adjoining State,
all cases are referred to civil authori-
ties; whi'e in third State, the Bn-
reau ofl.cers collect the cases and
turn them over to the military pro-
vost counts to dispose Of. In some
departments, the officers Of the Bu-
rcau have attempted to regulate the
rate of wages; one form of contract
between employer and employed is
prescribed in one State, while in an
other. 4 different form is adopted. III
Louisiana, the expenses of the freed
mems schools have been wholly paid
by the Government; in the other
States, the schools are partially self
supporting, and in 'exas they are
entirely so. In some localities the
Bureau officers interfere arbitrarily
between the planter and the freed
men in favor Of the freedmen; in
other localities, the Bureau is used as
n means of coercing the freedmen in
favor Of the planter. The expeEli-
| A