The written contract system for laborers did not work out successfully. The negroes at first were expecting quite other fruits of freedom. One Mississippi negro voiced what was doubtless the opinion of many when he declared that he "considered no man free who had to work for a living." Few negroes would contract for more than three months and none for a period beyond January 1, 1866, when they expected a division of lands among the ex-slaves. In spite of the regulations, most worked on oral agreements. In 1866 nearly all employers threw overboard the written contract system for labor and permitted oral agreements. Some States had passed stringent laws for the enforcing of contracts, but in Alabama, Governor Patton vetoed such legislation on the ground that it was not needed. General Swayne, the Bureau chief for the State, endorsed the Governor's action and stated that the negro was protected by his freedom to leave when mistreated, and the planter, by the need on the part of the negro for food and shelter. Negroes, he said, were afraid of contracts and, besides, contracts led to litigation. In order to safeguard the civil rights of the negroes the Bureau was given authority to establish courts of its own and to supervise the action of state courts in cases to which freedmen were parties. The majority of the assistant commissioners made no attempt to let the state courts handle negro cases but were accustomed to bring all such cases before the Bureau or the provost courts of the army. In Alabama, quite early, and later in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia, the wiser assistant commissioners arranged for the state courts to handle freedmen's cases with the understanding that discriminating laws were to be suspended. General Swayne in so doing declared that he was "unwilling to establish throughout Alabama courts conducted by persons foreign to her citizenship and strangers to her laws." The Bureau courts were informal affairs, consisting usually of one or two administrative officers. There were no jury, no appeal beyond the assistant commissioner, no rules of procedure, and no accepted body of law. In state courts accepted by the Bureau the proceedings in negro cases were conducted in the same manner as for the whites. The educational work of the Bureau was at first confined to coöperation with such Northern religious and benevolent societies as were organizing schools and churches for the negroes. After the first year the Bureau extended financial aid and undertook a system of supervision over negro schools. The teachers employed were Northern whites and negroes in about equal numbers. Confiscated Confederate property was devoted to negro education, and in several States the assistant commissioners collected fees and percentages of the negroes' wages for the benefit of the schools. In addition the Bureau expended about six million dollars.