XIV. Laborers will be permitted to cultivate land on private account, as shall be agreed between them and the employers, subject to the approval of the provost-marshal of the district. The encouragement of independent industry will strengthen all the advantages which capital derives from labor, and enable the laborer to take care of himself and prepare for the time when he can render so much labor for so much money, which is the great end to be attained.

XV. To protect the laborer from possible imposition no commutation of his supplies will be allowed, except in clothing, which may be commuted at the rate of $3 per month. The crops will stand pledged, wherever found, for the wages of labor.

XVI. It is advised, as far as practicable, that employers provide for the current wants of their hands by perquisites for extra labor or by appropriation of land for share cultivation.

XVII. A free labor bank will be established for the safe deposit of all accumulations of wages and other savings; and in order to avoid a possible wrong to depositors, by official defalcation, authority will be asked to connect the bank with a treasury of the United States in the Military Division of the Mississippi.

XVIII. The rules and regulations of the supervising special agent of the Treasury Department dated January 7, 1864, and the terms and conditions of all contracts made in pursuance thereof for leasing abandoned plantations and employing freedmen, are hereby approved, except as to the classification and compensation of hands, and as to police matters, which shall be as herein provided.

XIX. The last year's experience shows that the planter and the negro comprehend the revolution. The overseer, having little interest in capital and less sympathy with labor, dislikes the trouble of thinking, and discredits the notion that anything new has occurred. He is a relic of the past and adheres to its customs. His stubborn refusal to comprehend the condition of things occasioned most of the troubles of the past year. Where such incomprehension is chronic, reduced wages, diminished relations,and the mild punishmentwill do good.

XX. These regulations are based upon the assumption that labor is a public duty and idleness and vagrancy a crime. No civil or military officer of the Government is exempt from the operation of this universal rule. Every enlightened community has enforced it upon all classes of people by the severest penalties. It is especially necessary in agricultural pursuits. That portion of the people identified with the cultivation of the soil, however changed in condition by the revolution through which we are passing, is not relieved from the necessity of toil, which is the condition of existence with all the children of God. The revolution has altered its tenure, but not its law. This universal law of labor will be enforced upon just terms by the Government, under whose protection the laborer rests secure in this relights. Indolence, disorder, and crime will be suppressed. Having exercised the highest right in the choice and place of employment, he must be held to the fulfillment of his engagements until released thereform by the Government. The several provost-marshals are hereby invested with plenary powers upon all matters connected with labor, subject to the approval of the commanding officer of the district. The most faithful and discreet officers will be selected for this duty, and the largest force consistent with the public service detailed for their assistance.

XXI. Employers, and especially overseer, are notified that undue influence used to move the marshal from his just balance between the