The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1866-08-18
THE FHElDMEN'S BUREAU.
Final Report Of Gems. Steedman
and Fullerton.
Frauds on tho Treasury.
Tho LOOscness Oft Management

| ing great zeal OF STATISTICAL lnlOfma-
ton, Messrs. Stcedman and Fullerton
make the following concluding summa-
ry:
In pursuing this investigation, which
has now extended over four months.
we have found extreme difficulty in
complying with that portion Of our in
structions which require us to report
upon the operations Of the Bureau, and
its mode Of administrations. The Blu
rcau has no settled mode ofadministra-
ton. :; There is an entire absence of
system or uniformity in its constitu.
ton. In one State its officers exercise
judicial powers in an adjoining State
all cases are referred to the civil au-
thoritics, while in a third State the Blu,
reau officers collect the cases and turn
them over to the military Provost
Court to dispose Of In some depart,
mcnts the officers Of the Bureau have
attempted to regulate the rate Of wages
One form Of contract between employ
er and employed is prescribed in one
State, while in another different form
is employed.
In Louisiana the expense Of tho
freedmcn's schools have been wholly
paid by the Government. In the 9th,
er States the schools are partially self
supporting, and in Texas they are ell,
tirely So
In some localities the Bureau officers
interfere arbitrarily between the plan
ters and the freedmen, in favor Of the
freedmen; in other localities the Blu.
reau is used as Il means Of cocrcing the
freedmen 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
100000 year; in another State,
with an equal population, the expenses
are not more than $4,000. In some
States the expenses have been met by
taxes levied on and collected from the
people, and in other States the cost is
entirely borne by the United States
Treasury.
We found it impossible to investi,
gate the accounts Of the Bureau Quar-
tcmnastcrs, for the reason that when
the funds were received from taxes,
rents, fines and the sale of abandoned
property, there was no means asccr-
tanning the amount received except
from the personal statement of the otli-
GERS themselves. A Quartcrmastcr in
the army drawing his funds from the
Government has the amount charged
up to him, and is obliged to account
for it in his return, but the looscncss of
the administration Of the Quartcrmas
tcr's Department Of the Bureau, and
the abaccnc of all check upon the Off,
GERS, give no security, except the per-
sonal honesty Of the men themselves,
We examined the accounts of brcyet
Brigadcr General Whittlesey, Bureau
Quartcrmastcr of the Department of
Mississippi, who satisfied lis that he
had honestly administered the affairs OF
his department and had accounted for
all the money received by him; but
whether his predecessor, who collect
ed large amount from taxes, rents
and sales, paid over to General Whit
tlcscy all the money in his hands be.
longing to the Bureau, we were unable
to determine. We do not make this
statement to reflect upon that officer
against whom there were no charges
but to illustrate the loosencss of tho
system.
The official report of Col. Reno
United States Army, Provost, Master
General Of the Bureau for Louisiana, I;
copy ofwhich is herewith forwarded
marked ID, shows deficit Of upward OF
1000 in the accounts of the officer.
who were engaged in the collecting OF
taxes in New Orleans, which deficit
Colonel Reno says he is unable to eX
plain in consequence of the loose man
ner the books were kept.
One Of the detaulting officers, Lieu.
tenant Foster, who. Colonel Reno be
licves appropriated to his own use the
largest amount of the deficiency, car
ricd off his cash book with him. This
officer, on his own responsibility, levied
an incidental tax, which Colonel Reno
calls an invention of his own, and
which, with the exception of one oil
two hundred dollars, went into his owl
pocket. We are Of opinion that at the
close ofthc war, and for some time
after the cessation of hostilitics, tho
Frcedmcn's Bureau did good.
The people of the South, having at
first no faith in the negroes working
under a free labor system, were desi
rous of getting rid of them, and during
the summer Of 1865, judicious bureau
and military officers did much towards
restoring order and harmony, and in
ducing the people of the South to re
sumo the cultivation of their planta
tons by employing the freedmen. Be
fore the close OF 1865 there was an en-
tie revolution in the sentiments of the
| p, ,ople of the South with regard to he
gIo labor. a feeling of kindnes,
spIang up towards the freedmen, re
sulting, perhaps, mainly from the con
viction that his labor was desirable ant
profitable, and the only labor to b,
had. The necessity of the Bureau ther
ceased. Since then, while it has beer
beneficial in some localities, ithas beer
productive, in the aggregate, of more
harm than good. II has occasioned
and will pcrpctuate discord as long a.
it exists. though administered by tht
purest and wisest men of the nation.
The freedmen regard its presence a!
all evidence that they would be unsaf,
without it, and the white people con
slider it an imputation upon their integ
rity and fairness an espionage upon tn
official action of all their co Irts an,
magistrates, as well as upon the pri