The President had sent General Grant and General Carl Schurz on tours of inspection and inquiry through the South, during the late summer and autumn of 1865; and Congress now asked the President to impart to it the information thus gathered. The two reports were quite contradictory. General Grant said that he drew the conclusion from his observations that "the mass of thinking men of the South accept the present situation of affairs in good faith." He also indicated that the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau were a useless set of men, dangerous to the peace and prosperity of the South, and recommended that the military officers in the different districts should be put in charge of the bureau. Mr. Schurz, on the other hand, reported that his conclusions from his observations were that there was no loyalty among the leaders and the mass of the people in the South, except such as consisted in submission to necessity; that they were consciously attempting in their new legislation to establish a new form of slavery, distinct only from the old chattel slavery; and that this could be prevented only by national law and national control, at least for many years to come. General Grant's visit had been a flying one, and his inquiries upon the subject were secondary only to his other business. On the other hand, General Schurz had journeyed deliberately, and his inquiries were the chief, if not the sole, purpose of his visit. Moreover, {64} General Schurz was a keener observer in regard to such matters than General Grant, and a much better reasoner. [Sidenote: The attitude of Congress toward the reports.] Despite, therefore, the great popularity and influence of General Grant, Congress was inclined to place more credence in the report of General Schurz. While its Committee on Reconstruction was deliberating, it, therefore, most naturally set itself about doing what it could, under the Thirteenth Amendment, and also under its still existing war powers, in behalf of the civil rights of the freedmen. [Sidenote: The Freedmen's Bureau bill of 1866.] The first measure it attempted was one to enlarge the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau. This supplementary project originated with the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, and was presented in the Senate on the 12th of January, 1866. The new bill proposed to increase the personnel of the bureau and expand the powers vested in it as provided in the law of March 3d, 1865, in the following most important respects: First, While the law of March 3d, 1865, provided for the appointment of a commissioner and ten assistants as the entire personnel of the Bureau, the new bill authorized the appointment of a commissioner, twelve assistant commissioners, and the appointment or detail of an agent for each county or parish throughout the section where the Bureau might operate.