"In all cases have the employees given satisfaction where their former masters are at all reasonable. I would mention the case of Jacob Hoss as an example: he contracted with his former slaves in the latter part of May for one-fourth of all his crops; they have been steady and industrious, and have decidedly the finest cotton and corn in the district." Mr. Hoss has 200 acres of cotton, 400 of corn, and 8 of potatoes. Your attention is also solicited to the testimony of the _liberal few_ who have taken the amnesty oath with the intention to keep it. One says: "The freedmen in my neighborhood are laboring well where they are well paid." Another, a large land proprietor, states that "he could not ask his hands to work better." The same gentleman also states that "he would not have the freedmen upon his plantation made slaves again if he could." The testimony is concurrent that, where liberal wages are paid and the freedmen are kindly treated, no difficulty is experienced with them, and that they labor honestly and industriously. The complaints which have been presented at the office for consideration are very nearly in a direct ratio of the two classes, but the wrongs of the freedmen are by far the most aggravated, as they suffer in almost every conceivable way. It has been necessary to fine and assess damages upon several planters for beating their laborers, and also to punish several freedmen for violating their contracts and for other misdemeanors. The following is a literal copy of a document brought to this office by a colored man, which is conclusive evidence that there _are_ those who still claim the negro as their property: "This boy Calvin has permit to hire to whome he please, but I shall hold him as my propperty untill set Free by Congress. "July the 7, 1865. E.V. TULLY." The spirit of the above also made its appearance in another form in the action of the police jury of the parish of Bossier, which was an attempt to revive at once the old slave laws, and to prevent the freedmen from obtaining employment from the plantations of their former masters. The gist of the enactment alluded to is contained in the paragraph directing the officers on patrol duty "to arrest and take up all idle and vagrant persons running at large without employment, and carry them before the proper authority, to be dealt with as the law directs."