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passage of the Act in view of the evils which would attend their transfer at that time, it was arranged with the War Department that the change of custody should be delayed until the ensuing season.
 
But provision was notwithstanding made by this Department for the employment and welfare of Freedmen in the leases of abandoned plantations, especially in the valley of the Mississippi; by stipulations therein for their hire and the payment for their labor; and also for the payment in addition to the rent to the United States, of one cent per pound on all cotton grown by the lessee, and a proportional sum upon all other products of labor, for the purpose of establishing a fund for the support of helpless and aged freed people, and for educational and other purposes. 

The fund derived from this tax of one per cent not being in any proper sense rent or income arising from the lands, but a special provision for the class above named, should so far as not expended for the purpose specified in the leases be turned over to the Bureau now in charge of the beneficiaries, and it will accordingly be paid upon your requisition, as soon as the amount can be ascertained. 

Respectfully, 
H McCulloch
Secretary of the Treasury.