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I have heard nothing so frequently and confidently asserted, as that cotton cannot be produced by free labor.  It will be remembered that this is one of the premises by which some formerly sought to prove slave labor essential to civilization, and therefore right: And so infatuated are some of these people that notwithstanding they can see men making fortunes all around them by using this very labor, they continue to make the assertion.  When they have sufficiently overcome their prejudices, to permit them to admit the truth when it is in the Freedmen's favor, and when they have learned the kind of treatment due him as a free-laborer, as well as they knew how to manage him as a slave, this old argument in favor of slavery will be effectively exploded.

Very respectfully
Your Obt Servt
D.H. Williams
Lt Col & Insp Genl.
Bureau Refugees &c

A true copy
J W Sprague
Brig Genl Asst Comr