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Office of B. R F and AL. Tuscaloosa, Ala
Feb. 1st 1868

To Genl. Julius Hayden
Commr. Dist of Alabama
Montgomery, Ala

Sir,

in compliance with former orders I have the honor to submit the following report concerning the Freedmen and their condition in this Sub. Dist. In regard to their condition I am of the opinion that it is not so good as it was last year this time. There is a much larger number of them out of employment than there then was; and altho there is much more Bread Stuffs in the country now, than there was last year, yet it is a lamentable fact that, the Poor Whites and Cold, have scarcely any of it, neither have they the money to buy it, one of the great causes of this is the low price of Cotton, and as most of them worked for a share of the crop; their expenses during the year has absorbed all that they made, this same cause (low price of Cotton) seems to have discouredged the land owners from trying it again, therefore it is that so many are idle; I am sure that not half as many contracts are entered into yet, as was last