Natchitoches spectator., 1868-02-06
Government Relief to Planters.

Under date of New Orleans, January
%, 1865, Bvt. Maj. Gen. Buchanan, AS
sistant Commissioner of the Freedmen IS
Bureau for the State of Louisiana, issued
the following important Circular:
Circular No. l..
In order to carry out the Instructions
contained in letter from War Depart
ment, Bureau Refugees, Freedmen and
Abandoned Lands, dated Washington,
D. G. Jan. 8, 1868, and to relieve extreme
want occasioned by reason of freedmen
beng without employment, through ina
bility of planters to furnish supplies, it
is hereby announced that as far as may
be in the power of the bureau. aid viii
be furnished in such cases under the
following regulations
ART. 1. Duplicate copies of contract,
under which freedmen are employed,
must be filed in office of bureau agent
in the parish.
Cd For supplies of corn meal and
meat. advanced by the bureau, formal
first lien will be taken upon the crops
and moyabes used in cultivation of the
same, for REIN bursement for cost of sup
plies.
These supplies will be furnished each
month until the necessity for such Issue
no longer exists.
Sd. Upon receipt by the planter OF
the first months supplies, he will tile IN
the office of The bureau agent of the
parish, duplicate bonds, with good and
sufficient surety. in the amount of $1,000
| for every twenty freedmen employed
stipulating that for and in consideration
Of supplies furnished by the bureau, to
| the freed people employed as lahorerS
on his plantation during the year OF
| 1865, he binds himself to reimburse to
| the bureau, before the expiration OF SAD
wear; the flsll cost of such supplies, from
the proceeds of the crops or other pro
ducts of industry, raised by him, OF
from the movables on the plantation,
used in the cultivation OF the crops; ana
| lie further agrees that when said crop o1
other products are prepared for market,
| that the same, or his portion thereof,
shall be shipped for sale to such MGR
chants as may be designated by the bu-
treau, in the city Of New Orleans, La,
| and that immediately upon the sale OF
| said crops, sufficient amount of the
| proceeds accruing therefrom, to the full
! amount, if necessary, shall be turned
over to the proper officer Of the bureau
in liquila ton of his just indebtedness
for the subsistence advanced. He fur
| ther stipnIates and agrees, that, should
there still be balance due the bureau,
after the proceeds of the crop have been
| thus applied, then, and in that event.
| the movAbles and other goods on the
plantation shall be liable therefor.
A copy of the contract and bond Will
he forwarded to these headquarters, by
the assistant sub assistant commissioners
on duty in the parish.
ART. II. With view to systematiZe
the issuing of supplies, as indicated III
the preceding article, the following de
tailed instructions will be strictly com
plied with
Ist. A planter who may be unable to
furnish supplies to the freedmen in his
employ, and desires to procure them
from the bureau, will apply to the hn-
reau agent for the parish, aud file in his
office affidavits, in duplicate, stating
whole number of freed peonle employed
for whom rations are required during
the month, and specifying number ol
pounds of corn meal Or hard bread, and
number OF pounds of meat, needed for
the subsistence of the freed people on
his plantation, and further, that he is
not able to furnish subsistence for them
in any other manner. The parish agent
after being fully satisfied of the reliabil-
ity of the planter, of the correctness OF
the number of freed people reported rs
employed in each case, and of the neces
Sity OF fhe bureau advancing the sup
plies, will then forward to these head
quarters duplicate of the affidavit, and
application for approval. The supplies
will then be procured and shipped to the
bureau agent in the parish.
2. The cost of the supplies, including
that of transporting them to the agent,
viii be charged against the planter re-
curing them, bg the officer procuring
and forwarding the same.
3. Said charges will be communicated
to the parish agen5, and will in like
manner be entered upon books, prepared
for the purpose in this office.
4. Upon receipt of the supplies, the
parish bureau agent will, if necessary,
cause the same to he transported to the
plantation where they are required
5. The cost of this transportation will
be an additional charge against the
planter, aud the agent will Immediately
report to the Assistant COmmisSary of
Subsistence, at these headquarters, the
amount of each additional charge, in
order that the same may be charged on
his books.
6. Upon the delivery of the supplies
to the planter, he will receipt to the
agent for the number of pounds of each
: L Il