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sense of justice toward freedmen is not the keenest. But an agent would be powerless in that section of the state without troops to execute his orders.

II  If it be found impossible to send troops to the above point, there I would suggest that Girard be put if possible under the jurisdiction of the agent at Columbus and that the same agent be requested and empowered to approve contracts for Eastern Alabama.
I found in this section generally great ignorance as to what form of contracts would be approved and who are the proper persons to approve them. Many think all that is necessary is to have contracts witnessed by two competent persons. This ignorance is accounted for in part from the fact that mail routes have not yet been established, and orders which have been issued on the subject, and published in Montgomery papers, have not found their way generally into this section of the State. Many of the planters have had no experience in this kind of business, and would I