Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-08-29
rHr rREEnnEN,s nuREAU.


THE FREEDMEN's BUREAU.
The National bteRigencer said, some
time ago:
The records Of the bureau in this dis
triet will show, or ought TO show, II prop
erIv kept. that the recent municipal
election farce in this city has added
thousands to the list of pensioners upon
the public bounty. Since then 1t has
been. a common occurrence for idle,
sOOrthless cOlored UdqdbOndS to present
themselves for relief bg the bureau, Nth
this endorsement upon their certificates :
&" Cause Of d~estitUtiOn, rant Of employ
ment on account of UOtjRg IN the election"
Even the negroes themselves who were
previously required to pay a nominal
rent for the occupation OF the quarters
provided fOT them by the bureau, have,
since the election, become insubOrdinate,
and when called upon for their rents re-
fuse to pay, upon the ground that they
were compelled to attend the election
and consequently lost the "jobs" to
which they were to look for their rent
money. What occurs here is occurring
daily in all the states where the freed
mems bureau is in existence. A very
large proportion Of its agents are simply
radical party managers. me principal
part of its expenditures are paid out eX-
cIusively for radical party purposes, TO
secure the Attenuation Of the southern
states.
It republishes this, and says:
All this we repeat. Its truth can be
shown. It can be shown that for weeks
after the recent municipal election relief
certificates were issued to negroes by n
Of the radical members of the present
city council, then, and while . eandi-
date, employed in the freedmenis bureau
with the Endorsement, "Cause of desti-
tuition, want Of employment on account
Of voting in the election" Such certi-
fcates were regularly passed through the
necessary offices Of the bureau, were seen
and remarked by numerous employees of
the institution, and were signed regular
lv by its proper officers. These relief
certificates were unquestionably the pay
ment made to the negroes who had been
promised by the radical member of the
council to be taken care of for voting for
him.
The refusal of the negro renters to pay
their rents on account of having lost
"jobs" by being compelled to attend to
the election Is equally susceptible OF
proof from official sources that cannotbe
eo~ntroverted by the mere assertions Of
the Star.
And it adds, and we are not in the
least surprised at the statement nor do
we doubt its truth
The proof is being prepared of an
amount of fraud and corruption and
-. g. -.Vsts.,1 yMvW.,.a1 Of Fha
institution entitled the fTeedmen'sbureau,
that will astOund the people, who, rely
ing upon the high character and chris
tian reputation Of its chief, have been
unwilling to believe that his subordi-
mates were everywhere, not only here,
hut wherever its qualifications extend,
making it the preteXt for wholesale
frauds upon both the taxpayers Of the
country and upon the freedmen them
and using its machinery and dis
bursting its appropriations for the basest
partisan political purposes. We speak
advisedIy.
We believe the Freedmen's Bureau to
have been the most corrupt and corrupt
ing Government establishment we in
stituted in the world. 1t offered every
temptation and the highest premiums
for -sscality. Enough was reported long
.co nv Generals STEADMAN and
Frr1ERToN, to have " astounded the
.Deople.u if any thing Of that sort could
have asto1mded them. The Republican
party was originally composed, in large
of honest men, When the
Missouri Compromise was repealed, a
vast number Of old Wings and Demo-
Gratis Joined it, forced to do so, as it were,
By the indignation of the people OF the
North at that suicidal measure on the
part Of the South. But, as soon as it be-
pretty evident that it was to gain
as~cendancy ia the nation, an I'M
number Of the DALGETTIEs who
serve for pay on any side, Of the losfers
who live by doing the dirty work of fac
ton, and alwaysf flock to the stronger party
the carrion-crOws who scent out the
flesh and of all whose principles
are put on and off with the same
facility as a loose garment swarmed
ike flies into the party. 1t
became, as DR.. JOHNSON said Patriotism
was. the last refuge of a great many
scoundrels and from the day when it
attained power the plundering of the Re-
public began. The war cost FIVE hundred
millions more, by means Of the n%efarious
practices Ofknaves, than it ought to have
cost. Think only Of an acknowledged
iebt Of twenty-five hundred millions,
contracted in four years, to which ought
u Justice and honesty to be sdded at
east five hundred millions more! IN
our years! 1t was the very carnival Of
.ascality. No wonder the habit Of
regulation, and the poisonous disease OF
corruption so contracted, has continued
md thai they still prevail in every
department. of the Government, and
specially in that Angean Stable of
STATIONS, which General GRANT is
low making an effort to purge and
,leanse. No wonder we have whiskey-
.rauds, and petroleum-swindiing Of the
-eveuue, and an expensive Indian war.
By all means ventilate the Freed
mans Bureau. Here is nv charge,
rom a pretty responsible source:
from the National Baptist, Philadelphia
AN EXPLANATION NEEDED.
Only ten thousand dollars have been
yiven by the National Theological in
.titute, Baptist while twenty-five
housand dollars have been given to
university, a Congregational
school of Washington, by the
commissioners of the freedmsn's bureau,
nut of the large fund Of W one nun
Ired thousand dollars, this money being
he unclaimed bounty and back pay OF
deceased colered soldiers from Virginia
md North Carolina.
Now, a very large proportion OF the
people OF those states are Bap-
while such q person as a coiored
JOngregatiOnalist can hardly be found
rom the banks Of the Potomac to the
Rio Grande. Why not distribute this
money in proportion to the strength of a
denomination among the colOred people,
and in proportion to the work done for
hem, OF which the institute stands first
n the country? Is this discrimination
made because the commissioner is Con-
yregationalist ?