15

43

Georgia

the supply, to approve of no contracts that do not
give able bodied laborers the wages mentioned in
part 4 of his Circular No. 5.

The General says he is aware that his actions and or-
ders may justly have seemed to the Commissioner
and other friends of the Bureau, radical, and per
haps ill considered, but he declares thta he never takes
a step without the most careful thoughtful
consideration, and thanks Providence that so
far events and results have fully justified
his course.

District of Columbia
S. O. No. 23.

On the 7th of February
1866, and in virtue of S. O. No. 23, Bureau R. F. and
H. L., Brevet. Brig. General C.H. Howard, U.S. Vols,
was assigned as Asst. Commissioner of the Bureau
for the District of Columbia.

Mississippi
Quarterly Report
of Col. Thomas

On the 29th ult,
the Bureau is in receipt of the Quarterly Report
of Col. Thomas, Asst. Com'r, for the Quarter Ending
December 31st 1865.

The Colonel advises that many complaints reach
him that the negroes failed to work well last
year and were unreliable as laborers, and also
that the freed-men complain that the whites
fail to pay according to contracts, and abuse
them as in days of slavery.

No regulations have been adopted with reference
to labor, but on the 31st December, 1865, General
Orders No. 16, putting in force the State law,
considered ample for that purpose, were
issued.

263.