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of their just dues. This practice is so universal that a very large portion of the freedmen find themselves at the end of their years labor no better off than at the beginning. Very many are more in debt at the close than at the beginning of the years service. The result of these practices are a want of confidence and discouragement which retards and will retard more or less the prosperity of both classes

The practices which obtain in the courts adapt them only to the rich and man of means while they are virtually closed to the poor. A knowledge of this fact stimulates and encourages these unjust dealings on the part of men whose only object is to acquire without regard to the rights of others, or the effect upon the prosperity of the community

The only remedy for this state of affairs lies in a more general enlightenment of 

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-03-30 21:21:23