Viewing page 14 of 65

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

6.
and that, so long as it is continued, the apparant necessity for it will exist.

That the crops of the year, though small, are amply sufficient, with economy, to supply the people with the necessaries of life, till another crop is harvested. See Enclosures 1. 2. 6. 10. 11. 12. 14.

That the system of placing Southern men, and local politicians, rebels to day, in positions giving them the absolute disposal of large amounts of Government property, although it may "promote good feeling between the various classes of society" and secure a harmony highly delightful to rebels, and their sympathizers, is false and dangerous even as considered in reference to the issue of rations only.

These men have the absolute control of the issue of rations from the fact that the estimates upon which the supplies are drawn from the Commissary Department are furnished by them, and that the rations are finally entrusted to them for distribution.

That the system is, dangerous and wasteful appears when it is considered that these men are all petty politicians, anxious to secure popularity and votes, and that no cheaper and more convenient means of obtaining popularity can be imagined than a gratuitous distribution of the necessaries of life at the expense of the Government by the candidate for official position. (See Enclosures 2. 3. 5. 6. 8.)

In fact I found every where a disposition among these men, to arrogate to themselves, or to the State Government all the gratitude and credit that the benevolence of the General Government should receive, and a wish to convince me that the necessity for relief would be far from done away by the incoming of the present crops, some going so far as to say that the General