The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-08-24

while in a third State the Bureau Off
i GERS 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
/ to regulate the rate of fWages; one form
0fcOntract between employer and en-
pl0yed Is prescribed in0ne State, while
in another a different form is adopted.
In Louisiana the expenses of the freed
! mems schools, have been wholly paid
/ by the Governments; in other States
/ the schools are partially self-support-
ing, and in Texas they are entirely 50.
/ In some localities the Bureau officers
/ interfere arbitrarily between the plant
/ er and the freedman. in favor Of the
/ freedman; in other localities the Bu-
/ reau is used as a means of coercing the
freedman in favor Of the planter. The
expenditure Of the Bureau varies as
much as its mode of administration
In one State the expenses are over
5000, 600 a year; in another State, with
an equal population, the expenses are
not more than $50, ,0G0. In some States
the expenses have been met by taxes
levied on and collected from the
people; in other States the cost Is en-
tirely borne by the United States Trea-
sury.
We found it impossible TO investi-
gate the accounts Of the Bureau Quar-
termasters, for the reason that where
the funds used We're received from tax
es, rents, fines and sales of abandoned
property, there were no means Of as
certaining. the amounts received except
from the personal statements of the Of
ticers themselves. While.a Quarter
master in the army, drawing his funds
from thc Government, has the amount
charged up to him and is obliged to ac-
count for it in his return, the looseness
of the administration Of the Quarter
masters Department of the Bureau
and the absence ofall check upon the
officers give no security except the per-
sOnal honesty Of the men themselves.
We examined the accounts of BreVct
Brigadier General Whittlcsey, Bureau
Quartermaster Of the Department Cf
Mississippi, who satisfied us that he
had honestly administered the affairs
of his department, and had accounted
for all the money received; but wheth-
er his predecessor, who collected q.
large amount from taxes, rents and sales
paid over to General Whittlesey, all
the money in his hands belonging to
the Bureau, we were unable to deter
mine. We do not make this statement
to reflect upon that officer, against
whom there were no charges, but to
illustrate the Iooseness Of the system.
The official report OF Col Reno, Pro-
vost Marshal General of the Bureau of
Louisiana, copy of which is herewith
forwarded, marked 3D." shows a def
cit Of upwards of s., 7,000in the accounts
Of the officers who were engaged in the
collection of taxes in New Orleans,
which deficit Reno says he is unable to
explain in consequence Of the loose
manner in which the books were kept.
One Of the defauIting officers, Lieut..
Foster, who Coz. Reno believes appro-
priatcd to his own use the largest a.
mount of the deficiency, carried Off his
caSh-book with him. This officer, on
his own responsibility, Ieviedan Incl
dental tax" which Col. Reno calls "an
invention ofhisoWn, "and which, ''With
the exception of one or two hundred
dollars, went into his own pocket"
We are Of opinion that at the close
Of the war and for some time after the
cessation of hostilities, the Frcedmen's
Bureau did good. The people of the
South, having at first no faith in the ne
groes working under free labor sys-
tenn, were desir0uS Of getting rid of
them, anJ during the summer Of 1865,
iudicious Bureau and military officers
did much toward restoring order and
harmony, and inducing the people Of
the South 70 resume the cultivation Of
their plantations by employing Tie
freedmen. Before the close of 1860
there was an entire revolution in the
sentiments of the people Of the South
with regard to negro labor. \ feeling
Of kindness sprung up toward the freed
men, resulting perhaps mainly from
the conviction nat the labor was desi-
rabIe and profitable, and the only labor
to be had. The necessity for the Bu-
reau then ceased. since then, while it
has been beneficial IN some localities, it
has been productive in the aggregate
of more harm than good. It has oc-
casioned and will perpetuate discord as
long as it exists, though administered
by the purest and Wisest men Of thena-
ton. Thefreedmcn regard its presence
as evidence that they would be unsafe
without it; and the white people con-
slider it nm imputation upon their in
tegrity and fairness, an espionage upon
theolliciaI actionof all their courts and
magistrates, as well asupon the private
conduct of their citizens. Both races
are thus made suspicious and bitter, by
an agency which in the present disor-
ganiZed condition of civil government