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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



whose tiny crop no longer brings him 

 those excellent prices which once re- 

 warded his industry. He has grown 

 listless and careless. He has not studied 

 to adapt him-self to the new conditions, 

 and continues to cultivate and harvest the 

 old crop in the old way. 



The situation of coffee-growing outside 

 of Brazil is far from hopeless, but plant- 

 ers elsewhere must be content with 

 smaller profits than before and must 

 meet the Brazilian competition by plac- 

 ing their product on the market in the 

 best possible shape. Crude and anti- 

 quated processes prevail in Liberia, and 

 it has done little to meet these conditions. 



Liberia has little more than scratched 

 the surface of its soil in a very small 

 portion of its area. While not an exten- 

 sive country, it is very inaccessible for 

 lack of proper means of communication. 

 Rivers are navigable for a short distance 

 from the coast only before rapids are 

 reached ; rough roads in the civilized 

 settlements and forest trails and paths 

 in the interior country are the only ave- 

 nues of communication. Wheeled vehi- 

 cles are almost unknown, and, except for 

 some water transport as the coast is 

 neared, all the trade which flows from 

 the interior comes upon the backs and 

 heads of native carriers. 



This woeful absence of means of com- 

 munication restricts greatly the area in 

 which trade can originate, as well as 

 minimizes the influence of Monrovia in 

 the interior and presents great obstacles 

 to the effective control of interior points. 



The difficulties of communication in 

 the interior do not result from the topo- 

 graphical configuration of the country, 

 but rather from the absence of highways 

 through the forest country. As a result, 

 the interior of Liberia is as little known 

 to the Liberians themselves as to the 

 world at large. What its extensive for- 

 ests may be able to produce, what stores 

 of wealth lie hidden in them, what value 

 the cleared land w^ould have for agricul- 

 tural purposes they simply do not know. 



A still further difliculty in the way 

 of Liberian commerce is the want of 

 harbors and the consequent difficulties of 



shipping goods. When produce has with 

 great labor been brought to the coast 

 towns, there still remains the' task of 

 shipment. This, on account of the shal- 

 low water on the bars at the mouths of 

 the rivers, is a costly and often danger- 

 ous task. 



There is every reason to believe from 

 the natural fertility of the soil and the 

 luxuriance of its vegetation that the 

 country has great possibilities. But a 

 more accurate knowledge must be had 

 before they can be developed into fruit- 

 ful sources of national wealth. 



To the difficulties here enumerated 

 must be added the lack of interest in 

 industrial pursuits. The people are 

 largely engaged in governmental and 

 commercial pursuits. Trades and indus- 

 tries languish. Most of the skilled work- 

 ers in Liberia are said to be from Sierra 

 Leone. Nearly all manufactured articles 

 are imported. While Liberia will never 

 perhaps become a manufacturing coun- 

 try, greater attention will be necessary to 

 the development of trades and industries 

 before a high order of national thrift 

 can be secured. 



In the present economic condition of 

 Liberia the commission is quite unable 

 to recommend to the American negro any 

 extensive emigration to that country. It 

 believes that there is a field there for a 

 large body of civilized negroes, but is 

 equall}^ certain that under existing con- 

 ditions the emigrant who carries thither 

 little beside his physical strength and his 

 willingness to work out his own salvation 

 would encounter little but hardship at the 

 outset, and but a slim prospect of found- 

 ing a comfortable economic existence for 

 himself and his family. Liberia has 

 much to do before it can offer tempting 

 prospects to the would-be settler. 



Its laws concerning immigration are 

 fairly liberal and fairly intelligent. But 

 its execution of the laws has fallen into 

 disuse. One can imagine no greater em- 

 barrassment for the Liberian authorities 

 than the unannounced arrival on their 

 shores of a company of 200 or 300 im- 

 migrant laborers. If we can trust the 

 statute books, land they have in abun- 



