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0660

2

and Christiansburg respectively.

In the condition of the Freedpeople there has been no perceptible change since my last report. But very few scarsely any are making contracts for labor for the ensuing year. The Whites seem more than ever disinclined to enter into contracts which bind themselves equally with the Freedman and which could be approved by the Bureau Officer. The Freedmen have learned by experience that such onesided contracts do not better their condition. Apparently it is the intention of the property holders to compel the laborers to work upon such terms as will keep them in a dependent state, even at the risk of impoverishing the whole Country. This disposition serving the property holders to control the labor for base political purposes is the real cause of the destitution and poverty that exists among the laboring classes.

A few of the Freedmen who have been so fortunate as to deal with honest men have made a comfortable support for their families

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-22 09:40:49