Viewing page 104 of 236

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

0574

Bureau Refugees, Freedmen, and Abd Lands
3rd Division 4th Sub District
Charlottesville V'a Jany 31st 1868

Sir

Regarding Bureau Affairs in this Division I have the honor to report as follows

At the beginning of the new year the general complaint from Farmers was, that Laborers for the year could not be hired, that higher wages then before was demanded, and that the present prices for produce and the high rate of living would not warrant the payment of more than $110. to $120 per year for good field hands. For a time it did seem as if the long looked for struggle between capital and labor was about to commence, but I am happy to say that contracts for the year at the above named prices have been generally entered into, and as high as $140. to $150. have been paid foreward. The two classes being so dependent upon on each other. and this bounty having no outlet for dissatisfied labor, a good feeling seems to exist between employer & employee. Labor being scarce, a difference in politics presents all agitation regarding the procurement of white labor, and I judge that the Farmers are more anxious to keep their hands than the hands are anxious to remain Complaints are made on all sides the allurements of Court days, political gathering & the like,

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-22 12:18:21