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just claims due to freedmen must remain unprosecuted and become extinct, by reason of the Statute of limitations relative to the time for commencing civil action.

III
[[left margin]]Nature of contracts for the present year[[/left margin]]

The contracts for the present year are upon the whole very fair, though in some few instances the contrary has come under my observation. The consideration for labor is generally for a portion of the crop, in some cases one quarter, and others one third, likewise in many instances the employer reserves the exclusive right to some particular crop. The worst feature and most vexations by reason of the many misunderstandings, the originators and writers in most instances being the employers who rarely have the slightest conception of the legal effect and wording of a contract, undoubtedly supposing that a "jargon" of words covering several sides of "foolscap" will cover a multitude of errors. 

IV
[[left margin]]Number of sick, old, or infirm, suffering from want.[[/left margin]]

It is impossible for me to state with any degree of certainty the number of sick, old or infirm freedmen requiring assistance, the proportion is not so great as would naturally be supposed and from my own observation I should judge that it could not exceed two per cent of the colored population; very few cases of suffering from want have come to my knowledge. I think the number of indigent and destitute whites