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Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen & Abandoned Lands,
HEADQUARTERS ASST. COMMISSIONER, STATE OF VIRGINIA
Richmond, Va., July 3rd 1865
To
Maj Genl O.O. Howard
Com'r Bureau of RF&AL
General
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of "Blank Form of Contract" from your Office. Objections have been made to the Form by Applicants for help, on the ground that they cannot bind themselves when there is no obligation, on the part of the Employees, to fulfill their art of the contract. They say that "Unless the Freedmen are to suffer, if they fail to fulfill their contracts, they will be continually changing their minds, upon the most frivolous pretexts." They further claim that "it is unjust to bind the