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0810

men have been furnished and nearly as many more are anxious to join the same party. It is not laziness with which the Freedpeople are charged and tantalized, their unwillingness (so called) to labor springs from a disinclination and down right deception of the whites who in many cases neither employ or deal fairly with them. The present winter seems to have been the severest one felt by the Freedpeople since my connection with the Bureau. Every plan has been devised that could be thought of which would have a tendency to lessen the number receiving Government aid. Responsible colored men in each ward of Richmond and Manchester have been authorized to look after and recommend for rations none but destitute and truly worthy persons; with all this precaution I am led to believe that persons are receiving aid who are not entitled to the same but in face of such suffering which is known to exist, whenever

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-23 00:42:16 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-23 02:36:57 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-23 09:11:18 added NARA "seems", not "sums"