The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953 Page: 12
641 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
of $5 to $25. The fine should not exceed $50 if the freedman
voluntarily left his employer. Kiddoo recognized that it was one
problem to get freedmen to make contracts but an entirely dif-
ferent one to get them to keep them, for the negro had some
difficulty in understanding how he could be free and still have
to work.
Throughout the months of June and July of 1866 the rains in
Texas were constant. By mid-summer the crops were in the weeds.
Kiddoo immediately ordered the sub-assistant commissioners to
visit plantations in their districts or call freedmen to convenient
places and lecture to them on the importance of saving the crops.
The effect was to save the crop, and in addition the planters
were almost persuaded that the bureau was working with them.
It likewise convinced the freedmen that the United States gov-
ernment was interested in their welfare.28
Kiddoo for the first time in the history of the bureau in Texas
attempted systematically to organize the courts and to advance
the philosophy that the civil courts should handle all cases as
far as possible looking toward the complete return of all judicial
functions to the civil authorities. He, therefore, ordered that the
bureau should take no cognizance of matters between whites
unless freedmen were involved; should take cognizance of affairs
between freedmen only when civil courts could not be trusted
or were not in full operation; and should take cognizance of
affairs between whites and freedmen when there was good reason
to believe that the negro could not obtain justice, or when his
testimony was not admitted in the courts. All negroes accused
of crimes should be tried by civil courts but bureau officials
could interfere if the negro did not get justice; all cases of beat-
ing, whipping, or maltreating of freedmen should be handled
by the bureau; while the murder of freedmen should be under
the jurisdiction of civil authorities.29
Having organized the bureau more carefully and having done
what he could to encourage the negro to work, Kiddoo turned
to the educational responsibilities of the bureau. He believed
that tuition charges kept enrollment in the schools down to a
28Ibid., 144-
29Ibid., 145-146.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953, periodical, 1953; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101145/m1/30/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.