Chapter VII: Section 7: Amended to read, “One bridge at the place where the Liberian (2)

While raw products offered by nature have been and are the chief element in Liberian trade, another element is immediate, and will ultimately be the chief dependence of the nation. Agriculture, though far from being in a satisfactory condition, has always contributed material for export. The country can not forever count upon a supply of raw products. Gradually the value of the forests will become secondary to that of produce of the fields. There is no reason why the Liberian coffee should not be fully re-established in the foreign market. The tree seems to be a native of the country; Ashmun reported that it was found everywhere near the seacoast and to an unknown distance back from there. Under natural conditions, the tree grew often to a height of thirty feet and a girth of fifteen inches. Coffee berries from wild trees were brought in by hundreds of bushels to the early settlers by the natives. Plantations were soon established, and many of them met with great success; in fact, coffee was once the principal export of the Republic; it was mainly shipped from Monrovia and Cape Mount; the more important plantations were located along the St. Paul’s River. Liberian coffee was much appreciated in the European market; at its period of greatest vogue it used to bring twenty-five cents a pound; the price has now fallen so low as eight or nine cents a pound. This decline is due, in part, of course, to the enormous development of the Brazilian coffee trade; it is, however, largely due to the carelessness of the Liberian planters, who had only primitive machinery for its preparation and who neglected proper care, with the result that the coffee berries reached the market broken and impaired. It is a delicious coffee, of full flavor, and improves with age. Sir Harry Johnston claims that about 1,500,000 pounds are annually produced, and reports that the output is increasing slightly. At the Muhlenberg Mission School, coffee is cultivated; care is taken in its preparation, and the price is rising; if the Liberians will give serious attention to the matter, there is no question that the old importance of the culture may be restored. It will require improved methods of cultivation, the use of better machinery, greater care in the preparation of the berry, and constant attention to proper packing and handling.

Discouraged at the fall in price of coffee, some Liberian planters introduced the culture of cacao, from which our chocolate and cocoa are derived; this culture has long been successful in some of the Spanish possessions of West Africa; in Liberia the plant grows well, and the cacao seems to be of superior quality; it is said that a good price for it may be received in Liverpool. This culture must be considered as only in its infancy, but there appears to be no reason why it should not become of great importance.

The rubber so far sent out from Liberia has been wild rubber; it would seem that a wise policy in national development would be to encourage the establishment of plantations of rubber trees or vines. One such plantation has already been established by an English company, who hoped to gather the first harvest of latex in 1912; one would suppose that the best tree for planting would be the _funtumia_ which is native to the country and a good yielder; it is chiefly this plant which is being set out by the Belgians in the Congo colony; the English company in Liberia, however, claims that their experiments with _funtumia_ were not encouraging, and the species actually planted is the _hevea_--the one which yields the famous Para rubber. While coffee, cacao, and rubber will no doubt be the earliest important plantations to be developed in the country, other products should not be neglected. Ginger has already been well tested in the Republic--there have been times when it was quite an important article of export; sugar-cane grows well, and from the earliest days plantations of it have yielded something for local consumption--if capital were available, there seems no reason why profitable plantations of cane might not be made; cassava has always been to some degree an article of export in the past,--it is of course the main food product of the natives--it is the source of tapioca and other food materials abundantly in use among ourselves. Liberia at present imports rice from abroad, yet rice of excellent quality is easily cultivated in the Republic and forms a staple food in native towns--effort to increase its local production would be good economy from every point of view; fruits of many kinds--both native and imported--grow to perfection in Liberia; experiments have been made, without particular results, in cotton raising--there are species of wild cotton in the country and experiments with both wild and foreign grades would determine to what degree culture of this useful fiber might be profitably carried on. This list of cultivated vegetable products might be enormously extended; we are only interested here in indicating those plants which would be important as trade products if their cultivation were seriously undertaken. In the matter of fruits, we may add a word; here is the suggestion of a beginning of manufacturing interests in the country; some of these fruits are capable of profitable canning or preservation, others might be dried, while still others yield materials which could be utilized outside; it would seem as if the natural beginning of manufacturing interests in the Republic would be in the establishment of factories to deal with these fruits and various derived vegetable materials.

It is to be anticipated that there will be a development in mining in Liberia; it is not an unmixed blessing to a country to possess mineral wealth; it may be disadvantageous to a little country, of relative political insignificance and actually weak, to possess great wealth of this sort. But there are certainly deposits of gold and diamonds in the Republic; these will in time be known, and their development will be undertaken. When that time comes, ores and other mineral products will form an element in national trade.

Closely associated with the matter of production is the question of transportation. It is one of the most serious that faces Liberia.

If produce can not be taken to the coast, it is of no value in the development of trade. There are practically no roads in Liberia to-day. As in the Dark Continent generally, narrow foot-trails go from town to town. The travel over them is always in single file, the path is but a few inches wide and has been sharply worn into the soil to a depth of several inches by the passage of many human feet. As long as transportation is entirely by human carriers, such trails are serviceable, provided they be kept open. A neglected trail, however, is soon overgrown and becomes extremely difficult to pass; that a trail should be good, it is necessary that the brushwood and other growth be cut out at fairly frequent intervals. Often, however, the chief of a given village does not care to remain in communication with his neighbors and intentionally permits the trail to fall into disuse. There is a feeling too, surviving from old customs, that trails are only passable with the permission and consent of the chiefs of the towns through which they run; chiefs have always exercised the right of closing trails whenever it pleased them; they have expected presents (“dashes”) for the privilege of passing. If now, large trade is to be developed in the matter of native produce, it is absolutely necessary that the trails be kept in good condition and that free passage over them be granted to all. Much of the energy of the Government must of necessity be directed toward these ends. At the best, however, there is a limit to the distance over which produce can be profitably transported on human backs; there must be very large inherent value in such produce to warrant its being carried more than a three days’ journey by human carriers. It is not only the labor involved in the transportation, but the loss of time which renders this problem important. The richest resources lie at a great distance in the interior; even with good trails it is impossible to utilize them.

In time, of course, the foot-trails must be developed into actual roads; some other mode of transportation must be devised than that of the human beast of burden. Horses have never prospered in the neighborhood of Monrovia; yet there are plenty of them raised and, it is said, of good quality, among the Mandingo. Serious efforts should be made to introduce their use as beasts of draft and burden; if, as is likely, these experiments should come to naught, attempts should be made to use oxen for hauling produce to the market. Improved trails and roads are of the highest importance to the Republic for several reasons. (a) For intercourse: only by means of them can ready and constant intercourse be developed between the different elements of population; no great development of trade, no significant advance, can be made without constant intercourse; it must be easy for the Government to reach and deal with the remotest natives of the far interior; it is equally important that peoples of neighboring towns have more frequent and intimate contact with each other; it is necessary that the members of different tribes come to know other tribes by daily contact. (b) For transportation; there is no reason why even the existing trails should not be covered with caravans carrying produce to the coast. (c) For protection; at present the movement of the Frontier Force from place to place is a matter of the highest difficulty; if trouble on the border necessitates the sending of an armed force, weeks must elapse before the enterprise can be accomplished; until the present unsatisfactory condition of trails be done away with, Liberia is in no position to protect her frontiers.

The construction by the English of the Sierra Leone Railroad running from the port of Freetown across the colony through the interior to the very border of Liberia, was a master stroke of policy; it not only developed the resources of the British area through which it passed and carried British products to the sea, but it tapped the richest part of the Liberian territory; formerly the production of that wealthy and well populated area found its way to Cape Mount and Monrovia; now it all goes out through a British port, in British hands. No single work would better repay an outlay by the Liberian Government than a good road running from Monrovia up the St. Paul’s River, out to Boporo, and on through the country of the Mandingo to the region where this British road ends. Such a road would bring back into Liberia her part of a trade which has always been legitimately her own. The idea would be to construct upon such a road-bed a light railroad; such an enterprise would very probably soon be upon a paying basis.

With the exception of one or two short stretches built by foreign companies for their own uses, there are neither roads nor railroads at the present time in the Republic. In 1912 the legislature granted a concession to the Cavalla River Company to make roads along the Cavalla River, to negotiate with the inhabitants of those parts for the development of the rice industry, etc. At the same session the right was granted to Wichers and Helm to negotiate a railroad scheme for the construction of a light railway from White Plains to Careysburg, and from Millsburg to Boporo, the right was also granted to construct a railroad from Harper to Dimalu in Maryland County. It is to be hoped that these three enterprises may all develop; they would mean much for the progress of the country.

We have spoken of the exports of Liberia; the imports consist chiefly of cotton goods, hardware, tobacco, silks, crockery, guns, gun-powder, rice, stock-fish, herrings, and salt. Most of these items are the staples which for centuries have maintained the trade of Western Africa. The total value of this import trade is estimated by Sir Harry Johnston at about $1,000,000 annually. It is curious that rice should need to be imported; 150,000 bags, equal to 700 tons are brought in every year; this rice is used entirely by the civilized Liberians; certainly they should be raising their own rice or buying it from natives. That salt should be introduced into a coast district where salt, by evaporation from seawater might be easily produced, is less strange than would appear at first sight; the salt from Europe is, on the whole, better in quality and is more cheaply produced than the local article of Liberia. The stock-fish is brought from Norway and is especially in demand among the Kru. Intoxicating drinks do not occur in the list above quoted; Sir Harry Johnston says that gin and rum are introduced, but that there is not much drunkenness among the people. Measures are taken to prevent the introduction of gin among the natives, but a great deal must be surreptitiously introduced among them; when we were in the Bassa country, our interpreter’s constant regret was that we had not loaded up with a large supply of gin which, he assured us, would accomplish much more with the chiefs of the interior towns than any other form of trade-stuff. The bulk of the cotton goods taken into Liberia is intended for trade with the interior natives; the patterns brought vary but little and are extremely old-fashioned--taste having been long ago established and the natives being conservative in such things.

As to the actual volume of trade and its movement, some words are necessary. Recent figures are supplied in a little table issued by the Republic in a small pamphlet entitled _Some Trade Facts_; it covers the period extending from 1905 to 1912. As will be seen, during that period of time, the customs revenue of the Republic more than doubled. Part of this favorable result undoubtedly was due to the fact that the administration of the customs service was for that time largely in the hands of a British Chief Inspector of Customs. There is no reason why this encouraging movement of trade should not continue. There is wealth enough in Liberia, if it can only be properly developed. The resources are enormous; the difficulties have been in handling them. The Republic has usually been in financial difficulties; it has been hard work to make ends meet; but there is no question that with good management and legitimate encouragement the national income may be more than necessary to meet all obligations, to pursue conservative policies of development, and to attract favorable assistance from the outside world.

STATEMENT OF CUSTOMS REVENUE OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA FOR YEARS 1905-1912

(1st April-31st March)

Port 1905-6 1906-7 1907-8 1908-9
Monrovia $114,098 $129,077 $128,030
Cape Mount, etc. 38,128 31,901 19,327
Marshall 11,195 18,412 16,666
Grand Bassa, etc. 103,494 112,168 105,273
Sinoe, etc. 30,228 32,784 27,172
Cape Palmas, etc. 30,603 41,413 48,314
Kabawana, etc. 166 3,483 1,808
Rubber Duties collected
in London 7,443 8,614
-------- -------- -------- --------
Total $230,580 $327,913 $376,684 $355,208

Port 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12
Monrovia $117,524 $135,916 $144,292
Cape Mount, etc. 25,907 27,809 36,125
Marshall 8,211 12,761 23,579
Grand Bassa, etc. 109,876 118,782 140,457
Sinoe, etc. 33,960 28,208 31,784
Cape Palmas, etc. 66,018 78,028 86,615
Kabawana, etc. 206 1,238 3,841
Rubber Duties collected
in London 8,725 4,655 4,637
-------- -------- --------
Total $370,431 $407,400 $471,335

It is interesting to notice with whom Liberia’s trade is carried on. Britain of course has always led; Germany comes second, Holland third, and other nations follow. Sir Harry Johnston says that in 1904 the total value of British trade with Liberia was £112,779, while the total trade of the British Empire with the Republic was £132,000; the £20,000 difference represent trade with Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast chiefly. On the whole it would seem that Germany is crowding Britain and bids fair to lead. A little table will show this clearly; the first statement shows the amount of British imports, exports, and entire trade for the years 1904, 1908, and 1909 in pounds sterling; a second statement shows the corresponding items for German trade for the years 1908 and 1909 in marks; a third statement changes the totals figures to dollars at the rate of five dollars to the pound and four marks to a dollar, which of course is only approximate. It shows, however, that Germany is actually crowding her longer established rival.

(a) BRITISH TRADE WITH LIBERIA (Soler)

Imports Exports Total
1904 £60,350 £62,710 £123,060
1908 74,348 75,137 149,485
1909 69,511 63,500 133,011

(b) GERMAN TRADE WITH LIBERIA (Soler)

Imports Exports Total
1908 1,177,000 mks. 1,856,000 mks. 3,033,000 mks.
1909 1,095,000 mks. 2,282,000 mks. 3,377,000 mks.

(c) ENGLISH AND GERMAN TRADE (1908-1909)

1908 1909
English $747,425 $665,055
German 758,250 844,250

The Liberian nation is to be made up of the Negro civilized to some
extent in the United States and repatriated, and of the aboriginal
tribes. At present it is composed of a small number of civilized and a
large number of aboriginal communities in varying degrees of
dependence. The problem is how to blend these into a national
organism, an organic unity.--A. BARCLAY.

THE NATIVE.

Jore, in his valuable study of Liberia, discusses the question of the actual number of natives in Liberia as follows: “Messrs. Johnston and Delafosse have estimated the number of natives of Liberia at 2,000,000 persons. This figure would appear to-day to be above the actual. In fact, from serious studies which have been made in French West Africa, it results that a density of population superior to twelve inhabitants to the square kilometer, has been found only in Lower Dahomey, Ovagadougou, in Upper Senegal and Niger, in Lower Senegal, and in a very restricted part of Middle Guinea. Generally the density remains inferior to five inhabitants to the square kilometer. But there is no reason to believe that Liberia is, in its entirety, more populous than our own possessions in West Africa. In taking the density at the figure 8, one runs the chance of still finding himself above the reality. Liberia, having to-day 80,000 square kilometers, its population ought scarcely to surpass 600,000 or 700,000 inhabitants. In any case, it certainly does not go beyond 1,000,000 persons.” This estimate seems to us far more reasonable than any other that has been made. Even thus reduced, the native population overwhelmingly outnumbers the Americo-Liberian. More than that, they are at home and acclimated; they enjoy good health and presumably are rapidly increasing. We have indeed no means of actually knowing such to be the fact. But the impression gained from observation is that, while the Americo-Liberians barely hold their own, the Kru, the Mohammedans, and the natives of the interior are flourishing. Even in crowded and unsanitary towns, like those which occur upon the borders of Liberian settlements, the Kru appear to be increasing. Krutown, at Monrovia, suffers from frightful mortality, but those who live are vigorous, hardy, and energetic. The houses are crowded close together, but there are no empty houses falling into ruins and no shrinkage in the area occupied. The schools (that is, the mission schools of the Methodists) are crowded with children; the Kru mission chapel (Protestant Episcopal) is maintained with an energy and interest which could be found only among a people who were looking out upon life with the hope and vigor which comes from physical prosperity. So far as the natives of the interior are concerned, they show every sign of increase. There are of course abandoned towns and villages in plenty, but the towns now occupied are filled with people, and children swarm.

But there are natives and natives. The different natives form distinct problems--it is not just one simple proposition. The Mandingo and Vai are Mohammedan populations; they are independent, proud, aggressive; they are industrious, and their industries render them to a large degree independent of all neighbors. Their towns and villages are large, prosperous, and relatively wealthy. Few visitors have ever penetrated into their country; it is practically unknown to the Liberians. Yet it is in the highest degree important that the Liberians should know them thoroughly, should come into close and intimate contact with them, should co-operate with them in the development and advancement of the country. In their towns and villages boys are taught Arabic and read the Koran; it is true--as in so much religious teaching elsewhere--that they often learn only to repeat the words of the sacred texts without any knowledge of their actual meaning--many, however, read with understanding. It is an interesting fact that the Vai have a system of writing which has been invented by themselves; it is widely known among them and they are fond of writing letters and making records in their own script. Momulu Massaquoi, whose name is well known in this country and in England, is a Vai; he governed a considerable section of his people as chief through a period of years; he has now for some time been located at Monrovia, where he ably fills the position of chief clerk in the Department of the Interior; he is useful to the Government as an intermediary between it and the Mohammedans of the Republic; although himself a Christian, both Mandingo and Vai have more confidence in him than they could possibly repose in a stranger to their customs and languages. There are various ways in which the Government might proceed to develop friendly relations with these people. They should encourage village schools--both religious and secular; in the religious schools, which should be uncontrolled, the Koran and Arabic would continue to be the chief subjects taught; in the other schools there should be the usual subjects taught in the public schools of the Americo-Liberians; these will best be taught through the Vai language, and charts and text-books should be printed in the native characters. Mr. Massaquoi has already undertaken to prepare such text-books. Trade with these peoples should be encouraged; and developed as rapidly as possible. No opportunity should be lost to impress upon them that their interests and those of the Liberians are one, and every effort should be made to gain co-operation. These peoples occupy that portion of the Republic which is most in danger of aggression by the British; surely the natural impulse is for these black peoples, though they be Mohammedans, to unite in common progress with other blacks rather than with any whites. If religion is actually a barrier against friendship and co-operation, it would be as strong against friendship with the British Christians as against Liberian Christians. There is no question, however, that if the Government of the Republic will deal justly, amicably, and wisely with these tribes, they will heartily respond.

The Kru and related peoples of the coast form a completely different proposition. They are full of force and vigor; Sir Harry Johnston and others call them “cheeky”; they are actually awake. They are ready for progress; they want education; they have for centuries been in contact with white men and know their strength and weakness; they are strong, intelligent, industrious, and want work. They have no dainty fears regarding labor, so that it be paid--but pay they want, and justly. At the present they form the strongest immediate hope in the Liberian population. We have said that they want education; as a matter of fact, they flock into the schools. When Bishop Ferguson was at Cape Palmas, in 1912, four promising-looking native boys walked from Pickaninny Cess, fifty miles to Cape Palmas. They told him they had heard of the big school (Epiphany Hall) and desired to attend; that another of their comrades was coming the following week. The Bishop says: “They are just the age when the inducement to go down the coast to earn money is strong; in fact they had already made several trips; but instead of going again, they had decided ‘to learn book’. I did not have the heart to turn such applicants off, and so wrote to the Principal to admit them under special arrangement.” When in Monrovia, I several times visited the College of West Africa. It is over-crowded and ministers to both Americo-Liberian and native boys. On one occasion I seated myself in the midst of the class in fourth grade arithmetic. The recitation was well conducted and well given. While black-board work was occupying the general attention, I remarked to a boy at my side, “But you are a native boy.” “Yes,” he said, “I am Kru--and so is _that_ boy, and _that_ one, and _that_ one.” As a matter of fact, I was practically surrounded by them. “Well,” said I, “and how do you native boys get on? Do you do well?” “Yes, sir,” was the immediate response, “we do well; we do better than _they_ do.” It was not necessary for me to ask who he meant by “they.” I answered, “It would sound better if some one else said so.” He replied, “That may be so; but it is true.” “How does that happen?” I asked. His reply deserves attention: “We love our country more than they do, sir.” I am not prepared to assert that they love their country more than the Americo-Liberians; it is true, however, that they are passionately fond of their native land. The first time that my personal attention was turned to the black Republic was in 1905 when a Kru boy upon our steamer bound to Congo told me with evident affection of his dear, his native land, and pointed out to me the distant green shore of the villages where his people were located. And whether they love their country more than the Americo-Liberians or no, they are more aggressive, more ambitious, more willing to work that they may achieve their ends. These Kru boys on their way to and from school often, after my visit to the College, dropped in to see me. There is the fixed intention among many of them to visit the United States and complete their studies in our schools. One of these boys informed me that five of them some months ago had entered into an agreement in some way or other to reach our country. All of them have made journeys on steamers along the coast; some of them have been to Europe; all of them can easily reach Hamburg and have money in their pockets; the anxious question with them all is how to go from Hamburg to New York--and whether they will be admitted in the port--and whether they can form connections after they are in our country. There is no foolishness in all these plans; they have thought them out in detail: they will come.

Then there are the pagan tribes of the interior. They are a more serious proposition for the Liberian than the Mohammedans and Kru. They are still “bush niggers”; they live in little towns under the control of petty chiefs; most of them speak only a native language; there is no unity among them; not only are there jealousies between the tribes, but there are suspicions between the villages of one tribe and speech; they live in native houses, wear little clothing, have simple needs; they are ununited and know nothing of the outside world--they know little of France or England, have rarely seen a white man, scarcely know what the Liberian Government means or wants; they are satisfied and only wish to be left alone; they do not need to work steadily--life is easy, they raise sufficient rice and sweet-potatoes and corn and cassava to feed themselves; if they wish to cover their nakedness, they can weave cloth for their own use; there is little which they need from other peoples. Few know anything either of the teachings of the Prophet or Christianity; they practice fetish--“devil-worship”--have their bush schools for the instruction of their boys and girls in the mysteries of life and of religion. They are polygamists, the number of whose wives depends wholly upon the ability to accumulate sufficient wealth with which to purchase them. Among them domestic slavery--which, by the way, is not a matter which need particularly call for reprehension--is common; some of the tribes no doubt still practice cannibalism; it is these tribes in the interior upon which Liberia depends almost completely for the development of wealth; if Liberia shall flourish, it is necessary that these peoples shall produce and deliver the raw materials for shipment to the outside world; it is these peoples who must supply palm nuts, palm kernels, palm oil, piassava fiber, ivory, rubber, gums; it is these peoples who must keep the trails open, and develop them into roads; it is they who must permit the easy passage of soldiers and Government representatives through their territories; it is they who must supply the soldiers for the Frontier Force.

It is clear, then, that the “natives” present no simple problem. There are many questions to be considered in laying out a native policy. The matter has by no means been neglected by Liberian rulers; one or another of them has grappled with it. Of President Barclay’s native policy Gerard says: “Among many other subjects of preoccupation, Barclay attaches an entirely particular importance to the native policy. At the beginning of his administration, he brought together a great number of native chiefs, notably of the Gola, Kondo, and Pessy tribes; he convoked likewise a crowd of Kru and Grebo notabilities; he sent special missions along the Cavalla River up to two hundred kilometers from its mouth, and others up the St. Paul’s. This innovation was so much the more appreciated by the natives, and aided so much more powerfully toward the development of mercantile relations of the coast district with the interior, because theretofore the repatriated negroes had been considered by their subjugated congeners only as unjust conquerors and pillagers, or as merchants who were equally tricky and dishonest.”

President Howard also realizes the importance of conciliating the native populations; he designs to carry out an active policy; in his inaugural address he says: “We are aware of the oft-repeated charges of ill treatment toward this portion of our citizenship, made by foreigners against the officers of the Government, also of the fact that some of our people feel that these uncivilized citizens have but few rights which should be respected or accorded to them. But the responsible citizens recognize that in order for us to obtain that position of independence, power, and wealth, which we should obtain, it must be accomplished by the united efforts of all citizens, civilized and uncivilized, male and female. The denial of equal rights to the ‘natives’ has never been the intention or purpose of the Government. We will not disallow that much wrong has been done to that portion of our citizen body, but it is equally true that much of the deception and misunderstanding of the past have been due to machinations and subterfuges of some unscrupulous aliens, among whom had been some missionaries who have done all in their power to make and widen the breach between the two elements of our citizenship. We are very optimistic, however, in our belief that the dangers of such exploitations and false pretensions of friendships are drawing to a close.”

Again he says: “Much of our interior trouble of the past has been the result of a lack of proper understanding between ourselves and our fellow-citizens of that section of the land. Another source of trouble has been the actions of unqualified men sent among these people to represent the Government. We believe that great good will accrue to the State by holding frequent conferences with these chiefs and head men, and by responsible representatives of the Government, explaining to them its policy, the benefits to be derived by them in co-operating to build up the country, as well as the evils of the inter-tribal wars which they have been waging with each other for years.”

Exactly how to unite the chiefs with the Government is a serious question; to seriously weaken their authority among their own people would lead to chaos; to lead them to recognize the supremacy of the Government and yet not arouse their hostility by the abrogation of their own powers is a delicate task. Yet it must be done. Of one of the notable features of this inaugural President Howard himself says the following: “The very large concourse of chiefs and head men from the interior of all the counties, as well as from the Kru coast and most of the Grebo towns in Maryland, who are up to take part in the inaugural exercises, is to me one of the most pleasing features of the occasion. Their presence here testifies to their loyalty to the State and their willingness to co-operate with the Government in matters pertaining to the welfare of the country. Moreover it betokens the kindly feelings they and their people entertain toward the outgoing, and their well wishes for the incoming administration.”

No less difficult than the question of how to adjust the power of the Government with the power of the chiefs is the problem of how to adjust Liberian law and practice to native law and practice. According to their constitution, Liberia must forever be without slavery. Still domestic slavery flourishes in the interior. We have already indicated our opinion that it is not a serious matter and that it may quite well be left to regulate itself with time; still there is bound to be an outcry on the part of outsiders in this matter. Liberia as a civilized and Christian nation is legally monogamous; yet both among Mohammedans, Kru and pagan interior tribes polygamy is common. Is it wise, is it possible to extend the monogamous law of the Republic to the polygamous natives? Cannibalism no doubt still exists among certain of the interior tribes; if so, it will be long before the strong arm of the Government located upon the coast can reach the practice. Among all these native tribes there are methods of procedure and ordeals which have their value and their place. Thus the sassy-wood ordeal is used not only in dealing with witchcraft, but with a thousand other difficulties and misdemeanors; personally I should consider it unwise to attempt to do away with such native methods of control; they work more certainly than the legal procedure of the civilized government can work. A wise policy will probably lead to the gradual disappearance of these things with a general advance in education and with a greater contact with the outside world. There is always, however, the danger of these native practices extending their influence upon the Christian populations in the outside settlements. If the bush negro is polygamous, and the Americo-Liberian is in constant contact with his polygamy, the legal monogamy of the Government may become more difficult to maintain; if the sassy-wood ordeal is repeatedly seen to be effective in the conviction of the truly guilty, there will be a constant tendency to reproduce it for the detection and discrimination of criminals among the civilized; if domestic slavery is tolerable among the neighboring pagans, a feeling of the harmlessness of some vicious system of apprenticeship may be developed. These are real dangers, and while it probably is wise to exercise a deal of tolerance toward native customs, it must be constantly and carefully watched from this point of view.

The native life is certainly good in many ways; all that is actually good in it should be left so far as possible. Native houses are well adapted to the conditions of the country and nothing is gained by the attempt to change the styles of local architecture; scantness of clothing, or even nakedness, is not immoral, suggestive, or in itself worthy of blame--and native dress, though scanty, may be entirely becoming and even beautiful; there are many native arts--which, far from being blotted out, might well be conserved and developed; public palavers in native communities are often models of dignified conduct and serious consideration; the respect shown to native chiefs is often warranted and in every way should be encouraged and developed. The topic lends itself to many observations and tempts to full development. We can only say, however, that there are actually few things in native life which deserve condemnation and immediate destruction. The natives will be happier, better, and make more certain progress if they are permitted to build largely upon their own foundations. Dr. Blyden was always begging the people to make an African nation in Liberia, not the copy of a European state. Delafosse carries the same plea to an even greater extreme. It is impossible to actually meet the wishes of these gentlemen. Liberia is and must be patterned after other civilized nations. Such a native African state, original in all things, and purely African, as Delafosse imagines, would not be permitted to exist a single week by the crowding, selfish, civilized and Christian foreign nations. If Liberia is to play within the game, it _must_ follow the rules of play.

In dealing with its natives, the government should be frank, honest, and candid; it should make no promises unless it knows that it can keep them--unless it means to keep them--unless it will keep them. Too many times in the past, when misunderstandings have led to armed resistance on the part of native peoples, the Government has appealed to one or another man of great personal influence among the aroused natives. Facing danger, frightened, wanting peace at any price, it has authorized its representative to make promises of satisfaction which it knew perfectly well could not and would not be kept. Such a temporizing policy is always bad; it not only fails to right wrongs, but destroys the trust of natives in the government, and shatters the influence for good which the intermediary formerly enjoyed.

It is time that, in dealing with the natives, chiefs be considered as men and dealt with not as if they were spoiled children; appeals should be made to manhood and to principle, not to depraved ambitious tendencies. Less gin and more cloth should be used in gaining their assistance. President Howard pertinently says in this direction: “By way of encouraging the ‘natives’ to stay at home and develop their lands, we feel that instead of granting ‘stipends’ and ‘dashes’ as formerly, they should be given only to the chiefs and people who will put on the market so many hundred bushels of kernels, or gallons of oil, so many pounds of ivory, rubber, coffee, cocoa, ginger, etc., or so many hundred kroos of clean rice. The proceeds of these products, of course, would go to the owners. We feel that this plan would have a better result than the one now in vogue.”

That there should be a feeling of caste in the Republic is natural. There are actual differences between the four populations which we have indicated. It is impossible that Americo-Liberians, Mohammedans, coast peoples, and interior natives should not feel that they are different from each other, and in this difference find motives of conduct. This feeling of difference is based upon actual inherent facts of difference, and can not be expected to disappear. It should, however, give rise to mutual respect, not to prejudice and inequality of treatment. Every motive of sound policy must lead the Liberian in the civilized settlements to recognize the claims, the rights, the opportunities which lie within this difference. He needs the friendship of the “bush nigger” far more than that pagan needs his. Caste in the sense of proud discrimination of social difference and the introduction of over-bearing treatment must be avoided. It is suicide to encourage and permit the development of such a feeling.

In the nature of things, constant intermarriage takes place between the Americo-Liberians and the natives. There is more or less prejudice against such connections, but they have taken place ever since the days of the first settlement. They are, for the most part, one-sided, Americo-Liberian men marrying native women. The other relation, namely that of native men with Liberian women, is so rare that it may almost be said not to occur. There is no question that these mixtures should tend to produce a good result, the children inheriting physical strength and fitness to their surroundings beyond that of the Americo-Liberian. There is, however, a danger in such unions; the native woman has all her associations and connections with her own people, and there is a constant tendency for the husband to assume a position of influence among the natives, adopting more or less of their customs, and suffering the relapse of which we hear so often. None the less it is certain that such mixtures are more than likely to increase in number with the passage of time.

A notable influence upon the native problem may be expected from the Frontier Force. The soldiers for this force are regularly drawn from the tribes of the interior. It is easy to get Boozi Mpesse, and their neighbors in large numbers. They come to Monrovia as almost naked savages, with no knowledge of the outside world, but with strong, well-developed bodies; they are quite amenable to training and quickly make improvement; they have almost the minds of children, and are easily led in either direction; if well treated, they have a real affection for their officers; if they are badly treated, they are morose, dispirited, and dangerous. They love the companionship, the bustle, the music, and the uniforms, and rather quickly submit themselves with fair grace to discipline. They regularly bring their women and their boy slaves with them from their distant homes, and these live together in special houses constructed at the border of the barracks-grounds. As the government not infrequently is in arrears in paying them their wages, there are times when the camp is full of insubordination and bad feeling; at such times there is always danger, unless the officers are tactful, of their becoming mutinous, and demanding payment with a show and threat of force. It is not impossible that some time on such occasions serious results may occur. When the term of enlistment has ended, these soldiers may go back to their towns and villages, carrying with them the effect of the influences, good or bad, to which they have been subjected at the capital. Not a few of them, however, re-enlist for a second, or even a third, term of service. The effect of this training must be very great upon the tribes. It could be made a most important influence for raising the condition of the whole interior; there is no more certain way by which the people of the remoter tribes may come to know about the Government.

We have read dreadful accounts of the relapse of civilized natives to their old form of life. Bright boys taken from the interior towns and villages are trained in mission schools, or even sent to the United States, and given a fairly liberal education. They have become nominal Christians; they have learned English and can read and write; they wear white men’s dress and seem to have adopted white men’s ways; much is expected of them when they return to their native country in the way of mission effort with their people. After they return, all changes; their Christianity takes flight; having no one but their own people with whom to converse, they return to the native dialect; as the European dress wears out, they soon possess a nondescript wardrobe; instead of leading their people in the ways of industry, they sit down at ease; gradually they resume natural relations with their people and play the part of advisers to the chiefs, or even themselves become petty chiefs; of them it is frequently claimed that they have all the vices of Christian and pagan and none of the virtues of either. There is more or less of reality in such accounts. But it is not true, even in these cases, that nothing has been gained. One must not expect rare individuals to produce rapid results in a great mass of population. It is doubtful whether the result is harmful. The importance, however, of impressing upon all children, who are taken into mission schools, their relation to the government, their duty to it, and the advantage of co-operation with it, should be profoundly emphasized; in such schools loyalty is as important a subject for inculcation as religion, reading, and industry. If as much care were taken to instruct the mission child in his duties as a citizen, as is taken in other directions, every one of these persons on their return to the bush would be a genuinely helpful and elevating influence. It is also true that Americo-Liberians occasionally take to the bush. Sometimes they are persons who have had difficulties in the settlements and find it convenient to change location; sometimes they are men who have married native women and find it easier and more profitable to turn their attention toward the natives; sometimes they are traders who spend about one-half their time in settlements and the other half in going from town to town to secure products; sometimes they are shiftless vagabonds merely drifting from place to place in order to avoid labor. Such Liberians among the natives may be found everywhere. They are usually of little value to those among whom they live. But the fact that there are such should not be over-emphasized. It is by no means true that the Americo-Liberians as a whole tend to throw off civilization and to become degenerate.

From this native mass much that has been helpful to the nation has already been secured. Work among them has always been accompanied by encouraging results. Two-thirds of the communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church are natives; they show as true a character, as keen a mind, as high ideals, often more vigor, than the Americo-Liberians in the same churches. Wherever the native is given the same just chance as his Liberian brother, he gives an immediate response. At the Girls’ School in Bromley, and among the boys at Clay-Ashland, natives and Liberians do the same work and offer the same promise; so in the College of West Africa the Kru boys are every whit as good as the Liberians. The number of natives who are at present occupying positions of consequence in the Republic is encouraging. The Secretary of the Department of Education, Dr. Payne, is a Bassa; Mr. Massaquoi, a Vai, holds the chief clerkship in the Department of the Interior; Senator Harris is the son of a native, Bassa, mother; Mr. Karnga, member of the House of Representatives, is a son of a recaptured African--a Kongo; Dr. Anthony, a Bassa, is Professor of Mathematics in Liberia College; there are numbers of Grebo clergymen of prominence and success within the Protestant Episcopal Church--as McKrae, who is pastor of the flourishing Kru Chapel at Monrovia, and Russell, who is pastor of the Liberian Church at Grand Bassa.

The natives, after all, are the chief asset of the nation. Only by their co-operation can aggression and pressure from outside be resisted; carefully developed and wisely utilized, they must and will be the defense and strength of the Liberian nation. Even if immigration on an enormous scale, a thing not to be expected, should take place, the native population will never be submerged; it will continue to maintain supremacy in numbers.

For support given to education, Liberia holds the first place among
West African administrations. Sierra Leone, with a revenue six times
greater than Liberia, spends only one-fifth of the sum devoted by our
State to the cause of public instruction.--A. BARCLAY.

EDUCATION.

The importance of education was recognized by the “fathers.” The quotation of President Roberts which we have given above voiced the feelings of the more thoughtful of the settlers. Yet it must be admitted that the educational situation is far from perfect. There is a recently established Department of Education, the Secretary of which holds a Cabinet position. In 1912 Dr. Payne had under his direction ninety-one public schools in different parts of the Republic. Most of these schools were housed in buildings totally unsuited to their purpose; they were small, badly built, and unsupplied with even the barest equipment. There are no book-stores in Liberia, and there is a notable lack of suitable text-books for the children’s use; there are few black-boards and those of poor quality; the desks, seats, and other furniture are conspicuous either for their absence or poor quality. Teachers are frequently badly prepared; they not infrequently neglect their duties; the number of days of teaching is uncertain--as often the teachers will be occupied with other work than that to which they are supposed to devote their time and attention. Salaries are very low and badly paid. Mr. Deputie, once Superintendent of Education, in his report of 1905, appealing to the legislature, said: “Lend a hand by your official acts that will tend to ameliorate the condition of the teachers in the public schools, that they may receive a just recompense of reward. Some of these teachers, after serving faithfully during the quarter, receive only ten shillings on their bills, while many others of them receive not a shilling.” In 1910 Mr. Edwin Barclay was General Superintendent of the Schools. He made a careful study of the situation and in his report presents interesting statistics and facts with reference to the condition. He made a series of thoughtful recommendations for the future, and drew up an entire scheme of proposed legislation. Much of that which he suggested has been approved and theoretically put in practice. In regard to the matter of teachers’ salaries, he makes an interesting statement in tabulated form, comparing the average salaries of teachers with those of clerks in the department of the Government and in mercantile establishments. He shows us that the average salary of public school teachers at that time was $143.95 per year; that this salary was stationary and without increment of any kind. At that same time, clerks in government departments received an average salary of $321.29 per year with definite chance of promotion and a career before them. Clerks in mercantile establishments did even better, receiving an average annual salary of $365.90 a year with contingent increment annually of from twenty to fifty per cent on net profits. It is hardly strange under the circumstances that good teachers are rare and that promising young men should look to other fields than that of teaching. Three grades of teachers are recognized in the public schools; all teachers are required to pass an examination and receive certificates; second grade teachers receive thirty dollars per year more than third grade teachers, and teachers of first grade, thirty dollars more than those of second grade. Public schools are subject to the inspection of a local school committee which “consists of three good, honest, substantial citizens of the locality, having an interest in education. Sex ought not to be a barrier. They need not be highly educated, but should be able to read and write intelligently and earnest friends of education.” Membership in the committee is purely honorary, no fee accompanying the appointment. The members of the committee are to take an annual census of children of school age and to see that they attend school; they are to keep tab on the teacher and report him if he be guilty of immoral conduct or fails to advance his school. Each county has a school Commissioner whose business it is to examine candidates for teaching, to employ and direct teachers, to approve bills of salary, to visit each school in his district without announcement at least once a quarter, to remove and replace teachers, to make reports to the General Superintendent, to supply text-books, and hold annual teachers’ meetings in order to develop greater ability on the part of the instructors. Compulsory education is recognized in the Republic; as, however, many young people are obliged to assist in the support of the families to which they belong, night schools are provided for those who may be working during the hours of the day. The public schools are practically confined to the Americo-Liberian settlements. The latest definite statistics in regard to the number of children in attendance on the public schools are those of 1910. At that time 1782 children were in the schools; of these 1225 were civilized, 557 uncivilized, i. e., native; the distribution according to counties was as follows: In Grand Bassa County, 407; in Maryland County, 148; in Montserrado County, 947; in Sinoe County, 280. The instillation of patriotism into the young mind is regarded as a matter of importance, and it is required that the flag of the Republic shall be daily displayed at every school-house or place where public school is held; and “the hoisting and striking of colors at the daily opening and close of school session shall be attended with such ceremonies as shall tend to instill into the minds of the pupils a respect and veneration for the flag and a knowledge of the principle for which it stands.”

The public schools, however, are probably less numerous, and certainly reach fewer scholars than the various mission schools conducted by the different denominations. At the time that Mr. Barclay made his report he claimed but sixty-five public schools to ninety mission schools. While the public schools reached 1782 children, the mission schools had an attendance of 3270 children.