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14.
the number of Schools have been gradually increasing. Great difficulty in procuring suitable buildings and competent teachers is experienced.- Fifty more schools could have been established if teachers could have been procured who were willing to accept the allowance made by the Bureau and have taken the risk of collecting tuition from the Freedmen sufficient to delay their expenses.- The benevolent associations have been unable to enlarge their work for want of means and the prospects are that the Bureau will have to sustain a very great proportion of the expense of conducting the schools in the State until the next year's crop is made available and should this be as abundant as present indications promise it is not unreasonable to anticipate a degree of interest and increase in this Department proportionate to their prosperity in other respects.- In the more populous sections of the State a very commendable interest in the education of the Freedmen is manifested by the whites and at Columbus, Miss, steps have been taken to procure