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0436

and all can obtain employment who desire it. The freedmen appear to appreciate the necessity of laboring for the support of themselves and families and, with few exceptions, are doing so. The indications are that the new contracts will be made on substantially the same terms as last year and that wages will rule at about the same figure.

There is no suffering among the freedmen that I am aware of, the paupers are being cared for by the proper authorities of the respective Counties and I have not seen or heard of any vagrants.

The condition of the freedmen in regard to temperance is not good, liquor is universally used among them, by both sexes, and by some to excess, efforts have been made to induce them to join the temperance cause and a society now formed here for that purpose, but it languishes with only some four or five names on the roll, the people generally being deaf to all appeals to abandon the use of intoxicating liquors; this unfortunate state of affairs is the natural result of the influence exercised by the habits of the white portion of the community upon those of the colored people, the negro, as was to be expected, having copied the vices of his master.

It is a fact to be deplored that the unscrupulous conduct of many white people in their dealings with the freedmen has caused a feeling of distrust

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