Sir: At the date of my last monthly report, (July 2d,) the free-labor system in western Louisiana was an experiment. No contracts between the planters and freedmen had then been entered into, and the difficulties to be met with and overcome by the contracting parties were new to each. The herculean task of removing the objections which the freedmen offered to signing a "contract," and of eradicating the prejudice existing among the planters against countenancing the employment upon their plantations as free men of those whom they had so long and firmly held in bondage, devolved upon the agents of the bureau. The objection presented by the freedmen consisted chiefly in the fact that they had _no confidence whatever_ in the word of their "old masters." Said they, in substance, "We cannot trust the power that has never accorded us any privileges. Our former oppressors show by their actions that they would sooner retard than advance our prosperity." While in nine cases out of ten the freedmen eagerly and readily acceded to fair terms for their labor when the matter was explained by a government agent, exactly in the same ratio did they refuse to listen to any proposition made by the planter alone. Their readiness to comprehend their situation and to enter into an agreement to work when enlightened by an agent of the bureau, or, in exceptional cases, when the planters sought in a kind and philanthropic spirit to explain to them their relations to society and the government, is conclusive proof that the disposition to be idle formed no part of the reason for their refusing to contract with their former masters. With these facts in view, it will be readily perceived that the only feasible mode of success was to send agents into the country to visit every plantation. This was undertaken; but with no funds to procure the services of assistants, and with the difficulty of obtaining the right class of men for these positions from the army, the progress made has not been as rapid or the work as effectual as it would have been under more favorable circumstances. Partial returns have been received, as follows: From Bienville parish 248 contracts. " Bossier parish 14 " " Caddo parish 172 " " DeSoto parish 246 " " Marion county, Texas 206 " --- Total received 886 " ===