42 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
directly or indirectly, the government controls every printing press in Monrovia 
except the one belonging to the Methodist Mission. It frequently exercises 
censorship. He reports! that during the 1923 campaign, in which the President 
was being vigorously opposed for reelection by candidates of the People’s party, 
his opponent wrote a letter to the United States describing conditions in Liberia. 
The administration removed this letter from the post office, and the President 
read extracts from it during the election campaign. After the election, the 
author of the campaign letter sued for its recovery. The circuit judge, unfamiliar 
with the fact that the President was not amenable to judicial process, issued a 
mandamus ordering the President to deliver it up. When the President heard 
of the summons he is said to have called the judge, the attorneys involved, and 
the sheriff to the White House, and after lecturing them upon the omnipotence 
of the President, fined the judge $150, and the other offenders similar sums. 
There is a government post office in Monrovia, and the Postmaster-General 
is a member of the cabinet. However, it is generally not considered safe to mail 
foreign letters in this post office, since the stamps are sometimes removed and 
resold, and the letters themselves have a way of disappearing. Foreigners 
usually prefer to carry their letters out on surf boats and to mail them on the 
steamers which ply up and down the coast. 
The only bank in the country is the Bank of British West Africa at Monrovia. 
English currency is used. There are between one hundred to one hundred and 
fifty white people residing in Monrovia — Americans, English, and Germans pre- 
dominating. Their numbers fluctuate from time to time. The great majority 
of them are members of American or European business firms, and it is said that 
only about one per cent of the business of Monrovia is in the hands of the Americo- 
Liberians, almost all of whom occupy government positions. The diplomatic and 
consular representatives also reside in Monrovia. 
There are some half dozen good-sized churches in the town, for the Americo- 
Liberians are excessively religious. Almost without exception they belong either 
to some branch of the Protestant Church, or to the Roman Catholic Church, 
and the Sabbath is well observed by large attendance at the churches. Un- 
fortunately, the standards of life in the towns are generally not high or ennobling 
or apparently governed by high ideals, although there are some people of fine 
character. 
Unfortunately there is no book store in Monrovia. Nevertheless, some of 
the people are very well educated and a few are especially able. The Americo- 
Liberians, as a class, do not take much physical exercise, and do not engage 
to any extent in sport or do much gardening. 
In addition to the Americo-Liberians, there are residing in Monrovia and 
other coastal towns, a number of negroes from British possessions in West 
Africa, such as Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, and Nigeria, and there are a few 
also from the West Indies and British Guiana. 
In other towns on the coast, such as Cape Mount, Marshall, Grand Bassa, 
and Sino, conditions prevail similar to those which prevail in Monrovia, though 
+ Buell: Loc, ct. p. Cll, 
