History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United StatesBarnes, William Horatio
History
History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States
Barnes, William Horatio
United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1869; United States. Congress (39th : 1865-1867)
"Who are they? I said there were not a hundred thousand freedmen
provided for by the bureau.
"'Whites, 57,369; colored, 90,607; Indians, 133. The
greatest number by the bureau was 49,932, in September. The
total number for December was 17,025.'
"That sounds a little different from four millions. Seventeen thousand
and twenty-five were all that were provided for by the Freedmen's
Bureau in the month of December last, the number getting less and less
every month. Why? Because, by the kind and judicious management of
that bureau, places of employment were found for these refugees and
freedmen. When the freedmen were discharged from their masters'
plantations they were assisted to find places of work elsewhere.
"The President says," continued Mr. Trumbull, "that Congress never
thought of making these provisions for the white people. Let us see
what provisions have been made for the white people. Major-General
Fisk, Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for the State of
Tennessee, in his testimony given before the Reconstruction Committee,
said:
"'During the last year, the rations issued to white people
in Tennessee have been much in excess of those issued to
freedmen. When I took charge of my district the Government
was feeding twenty-five thousand people; in round numbers,
about seventeen thousand five hundred white persons and
seven thousand blacks. The month preceding the establishment
of the Freedmen's Bureau, for rations alone for that class
of people the sum of $97,000 was paid. My first efforts were
to reduce the number of those beneficiaries of the
Government, to withhold the rations, and make the people
self-supporting as far as possible; and in the course of
four months I reduced the monthly expenses from $97,000 to
$5,000.'
"In addition to the objections already stated," said the President,
"the fifth section of this bill proposes to take away land from its
former owners, without any legal proceedings first had."
"I regret," said Mr. Trumbull, "that a statement like that should
inadvertently (for it must have been inadvertent) have found a place
in this Veto Message. The fifth section of the bill does not propose
to take away lands from any body. I will read it, and we shall see
what it is:
"'That the occupants of land under Major-General Sherman's
special field order, dated at Savannah, January 16, 1865,
are hereby confirmed in their possession.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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