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Office Bureau R.F. and A L
For Sumter County Geo
March 1st /66.

Sir,

I have the honor to send to your address a package of contracts, all that I have approved since I have had the office.  Some of them are for a less amount of wages than your order of Feb 23rd would justify but from the fact that there are circumstances attending their cases that seemed to justify their approval, in some instances the Freedmen were present and insisted that they prefered to remain where they were, than to change their home 

Others have incumbrances which makes their services less valuable - most of the best hands are working for a part of the crop.  I have examined the contracts approved by the different Officers that have been stationed here and find that they were on an average for less wages than any I have approved.  I have endevered to enquire into each individual case where the wages were less than what seemed to be fair, and have only approved them when I thought them Just and enquitable, though many of them are irregular and without form, a fault which I shall endever to correct in the futur.

I am hapy to be able to state that the Freedmen are doing much better than the most sanguine have expected, and they are receiving good attention and fare wages and are perfectly contented and doing well.

There are some exceptions however on both sides which I have so far been able to correct without much trouble -