New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-08-14

! tulteItuu on lle operation VI TUE Iteulneu 8
bureau in the States visited by them:
The expenses of the bureau for the hire of
! civilian employees, including superintendent,
agents, clerks, etc, given in detail in the report
amount, in the aggregate, for the month, in the
States Of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisi-
ana and Texas, to $l2,096 "a. The commissioners
say the necessity for the relief furnished will not
extend beyond the present season, except in
| Northern Georgia and Alabama, where limited
amount Of assistance may be requisite for some
time longer, unless those States are able to make
| provisions of their Own. Much, however,
depends upon the success Of this years provision
crops.
But little or no encouragement has been given
to the operations of the bureau by the citizens of
these States except Alabama and Georgia, in
which the assistant commissioners, Generals Til
! son and Swayne, have removed much OF the pre-
JUDGE against the bureau, by wisely securing the
cooperation of the civil authorities. great re.
| duction in the expenses of the bureau, and re-
form which would render it far less Objectionable
than it is now would be effected by the discontiu-
| nance of all paid employees not in the military
| service of the government. This would reduce
the expenses by Sl66 .652 per aunum in the States
above mentioned All the labor performed by
these employees, except, perhaps, the occasional
services of a contractsurgeon, might be discharged
| by details from the troops.
| We have recommended the merging of the du-
ties of the bureau and the military. We again re-
| spectfully urge this amalgamation, and that one
set of officers should be required to perform the
joint duties thereby avoiding the expense OF MAIN
| tanning two establishments.
| We have previously stated our opinion as to the
effect of the operations of the bureau the habits
OF the freedmen and their disposition to labor and
support themselves, and we have seen nothing in
our subsequent investigations to induce as to
/ change the views expressed on the subject in past
| reports. II is so apparent that people compelled
! to labor fer livelihood must be by the hope of
| implied support in idleness, that we deem it un-
necessary to present further argument on this
/ istru fipnN Of nc
| bureau in Georgia, under Gen. Wilson, in which
they say he has been assisted by the civil authori
| ties, and to some extent by the citizens of the
| State. They pronounce the amended laws of
Georgia to be fully as liberal as those of any
Northern State, placing the negro in all respects,
| on perfect equality with the white man, as to
his civil rights, and therefore condemn the action
| of the bureau, who have taken cases out Of the
| hands of the civil authorities
They also commend the course of Gen. Swayne,
! of Alabama, but say that numbers of the subOrdi-
nate agents are engaged in planting with the freed
men, in both Georgia and Alabama they are gen
orally ak work, and wherever their wages is remu-
neratiye and regularly paid, they are doing we'll.
| In Mississippi, they report the administration of
! Gen. Wood to be great Improvement on that of
his predecessor, Col. Thomas, whose policy was
| not calculated to produce harmony between the
races, and that there is still more i'll feeling be-
tween the blacks and whites in Mississippi than
was found elsewhere. They also mention irregu.
larities committed by subordinate agents in this
more the former agent at Granada. They say the
bureau in Louisiana is more in need of retrench-
ment and reform than in any other State we have
visited. More money has been collected and more
sguandered in Louisiana, than in any other three
Southern States
The expenses of the bureau for the fiscal year
ending the LIST Of June, 1866, were over 100000
To meet this expenditure there were collected in
taxes and rents 1888, 44S AZ, leaving deficit of
S60O57 30 to be paid out of the national treasury
1t is difficult to determine to what use the last
amount Of property sold by the bureau has been
applied. At the very lowest estimate the property
taken possession of as confiseated or abandoned
amounted in value to ten millions of dollars, and
the rents returned as above mentioned are less
than one per cent. on the entire value. The ex-
penditure of the bureau under the present admin
istration for agents, civilian clerks and employees
about headquarters, alone amount to not less than
$40 236 year, exclusive Of the pay Of staff officers
and orderlies in the military service,
A large proportion of the money expended on
the freedmen schools under the administration Of
the Rev. 4. W. Conway, the late assistant commits
sioner, we are satisfied was squandered.
The bureau is cultVating large plantation in
this State, for which it pays ten or fifteen thou
sand dollars year rent. We can scarcely imagine
the excuse for renting land on account of the
United States, when the government through each
Congress is giving away millions of acres of pub
lie lands to corporations.
In regard to Texas, the commissioners found it
impossible to make such an investigation as would
enable them to report freely on the condition of
affairs in that department AS to the condition of
affairs in the interior, we were unable to obtain
any accurate information, either from agents or
from the bureau, or from any other source.
After citing several instances where agents of
the bureau were engaged in cotton planting on
their own private account, they say the bureau
agents IN Texas exercise Judicial powers in both
civil and criminal cases the discharge sf their
arbitrary and dangerous functions frequently ar
rest and imprison respectable citizens upon mere
rumor Ten Of the thirty-fYe agents in this State
are citizen planters; one of them, Col Melon
nagee, agent In Thornton county, was formerly a |
colonel in the rebel army, and was appointed an
agent Of the bureau by Gen. Gregory, then assist
ant commander for the State, while still unpar-
doned. We heard many rumors with respect to
Gen. Gregory himself being engaged in planting,
but on investigation we concluded that these
statements were unfounded. While we believe
Gen. Gregory TO have been honest in his admins
tration, we think his extreme views and policy
produced i'll feeling and bitterness between the
whites and blacks.
So far as we saw, or were able to get informa-
ton IN Texas, the freedmen were working we'll, |
and the crops were very promising. The wages
Pad-al the payments being made in specie
were better than in any other department.
The following is the summary of the result of |
the investigations of the commissioners In pur-
suing this investigation, which has now extended
over four months, we have found extreme diff |
Guilty In complying with that portion of our
instructions which requires us to report upon the
operations of the bureau and its mode of admin
istration. The bureau has no settled mode of
administration. There is an entire absence of
system or uniformity in its construction. In one
State its officers exercise judicial powers and in
an adjoining State all cases are referred to the
civil authorities, while in third State the bureau
officers collect the cases and turn them over to
the military provost courts to dispose Of
In some departments the officers of the bureau
have attempted the regulations of wages. One
form of contract between the employer and EN-
ployee is prescribed in State, while in another
a different form is employed.
In Louisiana the expenses of the freedmens |
schools have been wholly paid by thegoyernment,
other schools are partially selfsupporting. In
Texas they are entirely so. lte
In some localities the bureau officers interfere
arbitrarily between the planter and the freedmen
in favor OF the freedmen; in other localities the |
bureau Is used as means Of coercing the freed
men in favor at the planter.
The expenditure of the bureau varies as much |
as its mode of administration. In one State the |
expenses are over $500 600 year; in another with
an equal population, the expenses are not more |
than $50 600. In some States they have been met
by taxes, levied and collected from the people; in
other States the cost is entirely borne by the Uni
ted States treasury.
We found it impossible to investigate the ae. |
counts of the bureau quartermasters, for the rea-
son that when the funds were received from taxes
rents, tines and sale Of abandoned property there
were no means of ascertaining the amounts re-
celYed except from the personal statements of |
the otleers themselves. a quaftermaster in the |
army drawing bis funds from the government has
the amount charged up to him, and is obliged to
account for it in his return but the business Of the
administration of the quartermaster department