126 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
plantations fell into ruin. Recently, however, some revival of the industry 
has occurred, and Liberia can produce a very superior grade of coffee. In some 
regions numbers of the Gola tribe are attempting to raise it. However, the 
plantations that we saw were found to be in poor condition, badly kept, poorly 
worked, and neglected. The production of rubber is considered later in the 
Report (page 132). 
The lack of success in agricultural activity in Liberia is due in part to the 
dislike or even contempt of the Americo-Liberians for manual labor, and in 
part to the restrictions which the Liberian Government has placed on commerce 
and particularly on trade with the aboriginal tribes in the interior. At different 
times the hinterland has been closed to all foreigners and at no time can one 
travel in the interior without governmental permission. The natives who 
wished to sell their agricultural products have been obliged to market them 
on the coast; so decided an obstruction to trade, that many natives consider 
it entirely futile to attempt to raise or to harvest crops for profit. 
One of the chief reasons given for the Americo-Liberian dislike for labor is 
the fact that formerly such work was often performed by slaves. As a matter of 
fact the more important cause is the natural desire to avoid work whenever possi- 
ble. Whenever feasible the Americo-Liberians have used aboriginal Africans for 
agricultural labor. Labor of this kind, however, if it is to be successfully em- 
ployed, requires some direction and attention, fair treatment and some re- 
muneration. Liberia should bloom as an agricultural country. It cannot do 
so, however, unless interest in the cultivation of the soil is aroused among the 
native tribes. Laborers must be treated fairly; they must receive pay for 
their service, pay which they may retain and expend upon themselves, and 
which will not be taken away from them by the authorities. If the greatest 
success is to be obtained, a better and more nutritious diet must be furnished 
to the laborers and they must be built up physically and their general health 
eared for. It is also important that they should have sanitary and medical 
supervision, treatment for their ailments, and better protection against con- 
tracting infectious disease. 
Liberia could easily provide the larger part of the food which the inhabi- 
tants require. At the present time, however, much of the food is imported from 
Europe and the United States. In some years twenty-five per cent of the 
total of the imports have been foodstuffs. Thus, in 1924, of the total imports 
of $679,000 at Monrovia, foodstuffs amounting to about $172,000 were entered. 
Of this amount $22,000 was for fish, $5,000 for ham and bacon, $3,700 for 
biscuit, $11,000 for salted beef, $57,000 for rice, and $18,000 for sugar. There 
obviously is no good reason why rice and sugar or salt fish should be imported. 
Industries and Articles Manufactured. The articles manufactured by the 
tribes of Liberia are of simple nature and of little value. The smelting of iron 
has gradually decreased in the interior, owing to the importation from the 
coast of various European iron implements of superior grade. Iron stone, 
however, is sufficiently abundant in some regions, and, as has already been 
said, is still smelted in furnaces, sometimes made of old termites’ nests, which 
