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Bureau Refugees, Freedman, and Abd Lands Office Asst Supt Counties Jefferson & Berkeley Harpers Ferry W Va Jany 31st 1867 Sir Regarding Bureau Affairs in these two Counties for the past month I have the honor to report as follows. The year just closed has been an eventful one for the colored people in more respects than one. They have fully demonstrated their capability of taking care of themselves, and that their condition has been elevated by their freedom. There are very few instances through these two counties but what single men (farm hands) are ahead from a hundred, to a hundred fifty dollars on the years labor, though in the upper part of this county the land is thin and crops were small. Colored laborers have done as well again when working on shares, than the whites did before the war, and some farmers are taking away land from the whites and giving it to the colored people to work. Money is too scarce for them to work the farms themselves, hence the system of working on shares is generally preferred, neither is there any prospect of the colored people ever being in a condition under the present state of affairs to purchase land themselves, as the price is too high and the Farmers will not divide their estates, however they are gradually accumalating property such as Horses, Cattle, & farming implements, and as a general thing the farmers seem inclined to help them by trusting them for long periods without interest, seeming
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Reopened for Editing 2024-03-11 09:47:13