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National Geographic : 1910 Sep
Contents
CONDITIONS IN LIBERIA the coast towns and settlements along the rivers Saint Paul and Saint John, but in these towns and settlements law and order prevail, life and property are ade quately protected, and crime is promptly punished. Peace, good-will, and friendly feeling prevail between these towns and settlements and the native villages im mediately adjacent to them. However crude in many respects the civilization of Liberia may be, the Libe rians have advanced, not retrograded, in their civilization. In estimating the prog ress of the Liberian people it is well to bear in mind their origin. The original elements of the population of Liberia were three: Free negroes sent out by the Colonization Society; Africans rescued from slave traders by the United States war vessels during the period of the sup pression of the slave trade; freedmen who emigrated to Liberia since the war. Out of these materials, guided by the traditions of life in America, the Libe rian people have developed a civilization that compares not unfavorably with the better element of the negroes in the United States. It was the conviction of the commission and their associates that the Liberians had influenced the native population by which they were sur rounded far more than the natives had influenced them. In the presence of that great mass of uncivilized people they have maintained a relatively high degree of civilization, of which the well-ordered home, the maintenance of law and order, the quiet Sunday rest, and the well attended houses of worship are conspicu ous signs. It is the larger and more difficult tasks of government which now confront Li beria, chiefly as a result of the partition of Africa by European powers during recent years, which Liberia finds too hard for her. They grow out of the increasing importance of her relations with neighboring countries and the ur gent necessity of more effective control and government of the native tribes within her boundaries. It is with refer ence to these tasks and problems grow ing out of them that Liberia feels the need of help from a strong power. Photo from Captain Cloman, U. S. A . RESIDENTS OF A VILLAGE NEAR MONROVIA Specifically these problems are: I. The maintenance of the integrity of her frontiers in the face of attempted aggressions of her neighbors, against whose might she can oppose only the justice of her claims. 2. The effective control of the native tribes, especially along the frontiers, so as to leave no excuse for the occupation of her territory by her neighbors.. 3. The systemization of the national finances so as to render certain the meet ing of all foreign obligations and to establish the national credit on a firm basis. 4. The development of the hinterland in such a way as to increase the volume of trade and thus supply the resources necessary for the increasing wants of a progressive government and at the same time enable the government to offer in- 735
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