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evil.  But in our present political state, unsettled as matters are, I see no prospect of aid from that quarter; it is to be hoped the future may give us a remedy.

The Contract system owing to an inclination on the part of the employer to evade and to take advantage of the employee', does not meet the wishes of the laborer.  Numerous cases have been brought to the notice of the Bureau where contracts have been written in such language that the employer at the termination of the contract could send off the laborer without a dollar; and in many instances parties refuse to pay altogether saying that they are enable to do so; one instance occurs where the employer died, and the laborer under the Statutes of Virginia lost all his years labor, or if he recovers anything, twelve months or more must elapse before he can realize any benefit from it.  I would recommend that this subject be brought to the notice of the lawmakers, and that the Statutes be so revised as to compel employers to pay, as first class creditors, the laborer.  This is the Statute law in all of the states now represented in Congress.

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-12-06 14:45:19