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[[stamp]] THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES [[/stamp]]

the interests of the Freedmen, and, as the year advances, I anticipate seeing the most baleful results flowing from it. Indeed several stout healthy men belonging to this class of settlers have already called on me for rations, and this when white farmers are loudly calling for help and offering both provisions and [[strikethrough]] money [[/strikethrough]] wages.
Most of the Freedmen, however, are working with a certain degree of diligence for the farmers, either for a share in the crop of for [[strikethrough]] money [[/strikethrough]] wages in money. The latter I must say is low, mostly from $5.00 to $10.00 per month for men and from $2.00 to $5.00 for women, thought some few get more. But then the county is very poor and money scarce, as that I believe these prices are as much as employers can afford to give.
One great evil I encounter is the fact that last year some people did not pay the negroes any wages at all. At least this is the assertions I hear coming from the mouths of so many that I am forced to believe it. Any well established cases of such injustice I remedy to the best of my ability, but the times then were in such confusion, and there was so much inequality in the mode of employing and paying the Freedmen that in most cases the employer has greatly the advantage when he chooses to deny the debt.
After the squatting or locating system the most mischievous elements that I encounter are the three following, first the propensity Freedmen have to break their

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-22 15:12:43