Also: “I am here on a visit and to let Liberia know that she has more friends than she counts on; and they will increase in proportion to her efforts to help herself. I for my part will do all I can in my humble way to preach ‘Liberia regenerated’ to all, and help where I can without treading on ground other than within my rights as a visitor and friend.” Most touching, however, is this: “Yes” (there are signs of awakening), “since my return I see the most wonderful strides made in many directions, and a keen desire in the citizens of the wider ideas to aid in their country’s advancement. May it continue. In every season is some victory won. Let us bury the past with all its errors, sadness, and regrets.”
It is sad indeed that humanity is not prone to bury the past; even such expressions of affection may be received unkindly. What could be more dreadful, when a man oozes philanthropy from every pore, than to have such things said of him as the following which appeared about that time in Green’s paper, The African League?
“Major R. Mackay-Mackay, whose name stinks in the nostrils of all country-loving Liberians, because of his conduct when in command of our frontier force, is back in Liberia again, this time at the head of a company whose procedure thus far has not inspired the strongest confidence. More is known of this intimacy than the men themselves may think. The last steamer brought intelligence that an agent of Major Cadell’s company, the Cavalla River Co., Limited, is now in Sierra Leone, with 630 natives of that colony who are to be brought to Cape Palmas soon to serve this company. It is very strange that this company finds it necessary to employ natives from the colony of Sierra Leone, when in Liberia is the largest market for unskilled laborers in Western Africa, supplying, as it does, most, if not all, of that class of labor employed in the various enterprises in British, French, and German African colonies. We hope this is no new coup.”
The Frontier Force has continued in its development. The present plans involve the organization of a battalion of 600 men under a major; each of the two companies of 300 soldiers will be under a captain; and each company will have three Liberian lieutenants; the three chief officers will be Americans loaned to the Liberian Government by the United States. The general duties of the force will be those of a constabulary for the maintenance of law and order throughout the Republic and for the prevention and the detection of crime; it will also be used as a customs guard in such numbers and at such places as may be agreed upon by the Secretary of War and the general receiver of customs. Its estimated cost for the year 1913 was $86,159.60. The American officers arrived in the Republic in the spring of 1912. They were Major Ballard and Captains Brown and Newton. In entering upon their new duties of developing and organizing the Frontier Force, they had the great advantage of the advice and interest of Major Charles Young of the United States Army, who was in Monrovia as military attaché of our legation. We had ample opportunity of investigating this Frontier Force. It is composed for the most part of natives fresh from the interior; two hundred of them passed through our hands for examination and measurement; they were fine fellows, well built and in good physical condition; few of them understood English, and among them several languages were represented; they were proud of their position and anxious to improve; they were easily led, particularly by officers who treated them with kindness; we saw two parties of these soldiers started off for service; they made a good appearance. While we were there—as is true indeed much of the time—their payments were behind, and they were expressing some dissatisfaction, but were easily controlled; there is, however, always a danger of mutiny when the Government is behind in meeting its obligations to them; I quote from one who was in Monrovia October 10, 1911; he says: “I heard quite an altercation in the street. Upon going out I saw about 120 men moving through the street in a disorderly mass toward the office of the Secretary of War. Upon arriving at the office, there was quite a demonstration and matters looked serious. After a great deal of persuasion on the part of the Secretary and the one officer from the camp, the men moved away in the direction of Camp Johnson. I was informed that the men were demanding their pay.” There is also great danger of the Frontier Force, when marching through the interior, looting and destroying the fields and villages through which they pass; this is so much in the nature of ordinary native warfare that it must be particularly guarded against; the Frontier Force, however, is necessary, and it seems to be making a promising development.
Compare, you say, the present with the past. Where are the schooners and cutters that were used to be built right here in Liberia, when nearly every responsible man had his own? Where are the tons of sugar that used to be shipped to foreign parts by our fathers, and the barrels of molasses, and the tons of camwood? Where are the financial men of the country that looked upon the holding of public offices almost beneath them, who had to be begged to fill the offices? Where are those who when they (had) made their farms lived off the farms? Oh, where are the honest, upright and loyal government officials of 1847? You answer for yourselves. Where are the great Liberian merchants of Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Sinoe, and Cape Palmas? Gone!—S. D. Ferguson, Jr.
TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORTATION.
Liberia’s very existence depends upon her development of trade. If the Liberians push forward in this direction, her future may be assured. If, however, she neglects it, her neighbors, France and England, can not be expected to permit their opportunity to pass. The area of the Black Republic is far too rich by nature to be overlooked; if its legitimate owners fail to develop it, others will do so.
The past of Liberia was built on trade in wild produce; its immediate prosperity must depend upon the same source of wealth. For the moment the trade of Liberia must be in such things as palm nuts, piassava, and rubber.
The oil palm has been the most important source of wealth Liberia has. The tree produces great quantities of nuts, growing in large clusters, from which an oil is easily extracted, which finds enormous use in soap- and candle-making. This oil is derived from the stringy, fleshy coating of the nut; the nuts are thrown into pits dug in the ground, where they are allowed to ferment for some time; the mass of fermented nuts is then squeezed in a sort of press run by hand, and the oil is extracted. This is the primitive, native style of production. The oil may also be produced by boiling and pounding the nuts and then stone-boiling the mass in wooden troughs, the oil being skimmed off from the surface of the water. In Liberia palm oil is chiefly produced in the counties of Bassa and Sinoe. Liberian oil is not the best quality on the market, as carelessness in preparation leaves considerable dirt and impurities in it; it has, however, brought good prices—up to £24.10.0 a ton. Inside the palm nut is a hard kernel which remains after the oil has been extracted; this kernel at first was wasted; to-day it is known to yield a finer oil than the pulp; the idea of exporting palm nut kernels originated with a Liberian, and the first shipment was made in 1850; to-day there is a large demand for palm kernels which sell at prices ranging from $60 to $68 per ton, the oil derived from them selling at $130 to $133 per ton.