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To His Excellency F. H. Peirpoint Governor of Virginia As Commonwealth Atty for the County of Mecklenburg I would respectfully submit the following grievance. I am in possession of the fact, that the agent of the Freedmans Bureau of this County is issuing to the Freedmen of this County permission to sell ardent spirits contrary to the license laws of the State. Your Excellency will perceive at once that in the unsettled condition of the Country, with the large number of Freedmen going at large without employment and under little or no restraint, that to allow them unlimited permission to set up dram shops not only defeats our revenue laws, but must operate most injuriously upon the Freedmen themselves, who unaccustomed to self restraint drink to excess when he can get it and becomes averse to and incapable of regular labor, and is an evil which if not corrected will produce demoralization of the race to the infinite annoyance of the whites. I respectfully submit the facts to your Excellency hoping that you will take such steps as may be necessary to remedy the evil Very Respectfully Your obt servant E. K. Harris Atty for Commonwealth
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Reopened for Editing 2024-01-20 15:57:29