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subordinate officers as evidence on any point, or quote from them at length, yet nothing will excuse them from reporting over their own signatures on all points of importance. 

Asst. Commissioners should be careful to have their Staff Officers, such as Medical, Commissary, Quartermaster, and Disbursing Officers and School Superintendents report upon all subjects under their control. Complete statistics on all matters should be obtained and incorporated in the body of their own reports. They should in the general remarks prefacing their reports, make an estimate of the number of colored people under their charge. Of course no accurate consensus can be given, yet officers on duty in a State for some time ought to be able to give an estimate nearly correct.

The organization of the Bureau under their direction should be described, as well as their systems of conducting business, also the duties performed by their officers, and the difficulties in the way of success, as well as the results of their efforts. 

They should report what has been accomplished under the Homestead Act, and reasons for any failure to comply with Circulars and letters from this office on that subject. The statistics with reference to the issue of rations to whites and blacks should be presented; also, the manner of punishing crime, and 

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-09-29 10:08:35