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[337] a tax of $1 upon all negroes between the ages of twenty-one and fifty-five; but very little money was obtained and so used. It was to be collected at the same time as the ordinary State tax, and paid into the treasury. No such law was imposed upon white men. The law went a step further-freedmen not paupers were to pay to the State superintendent, in addition to the tax, $1 a month tuition for each of their children attending the State schools. This State law had another feature capable of being used oppressively. No person was to teach any school of persons of color without a license costing $5 per annum — a license that the superintendent could give or withhold at his pleasure. The penalty for violating this provision was a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500, or imprisonment for not less than 30 nor more than 60 days. The object of the license clause was to exclude Northern white teachers. If it had not been for the presence of the military forces, Northern teachers already there who had not the superintendent's certificate, though sent by the Government or by benevolent societies, would have been fined or imprisoned. Prejudiced men sought at every step to impose new and irksome burdens upon the newly made citizens.

It was, then, a little refreshing to catch a word of hope for Florida. I wrote at the time: “Notwithstanding the peculiarity of these enactments, there is reason to believe that former white residents are not altogether averse to the establishment of freedmen's schools, but are coming to look upon them with increasing favor. During the past year the Bureau had repaired a large number of church and other buildings, in order to adapt them to school purposes, ”

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