X 
FINANCIAL CONDITIONS 
Ir has been obvious not only to such foreigners as have carefully studied 
the situation, but also to the President and the legislature of Liberia, that the 
Liberian people have lacked the necessary capital, financial experience, and 
business ability to develop their country most successfully and advantageously, 
and that in these respects, they need foreign assistance and advice. The history 
of the country for the past seventy-five years has indeed demonstrated this 
need. Owing especially to scant production and to lack of education, experi- 
ence and wealth among the inhabitants, and to laxness of financial adminis- 
tration, Liberia has led an impoverished existence. Today the per capita 
revenue of the Government is said to be the lowest of any territory in Africa.! 
Records of financial difficulties and scandals in public finance in Liberia have 
been frequent since 1864, and in 1871 it was necessary to authorize a foreign 
loan of £100,000. In 1906 a second loan of equal amount was necessary. By 
no means all of this money, however, found its way into the Liberian treasury 
and in spite of the two loans the country gradually became more and more 
involved in debt. In 1909 on the invitation of the Liberian Government, an 
American Commission appointed by the President of the United States visited 
the country to report on the general situation, with a view to extending assis- 
tance to Liberia, and enabling her to rearrange her disordered finances. After 
an extended investigation and much discussion, an arrangement for a new loan 
of about $1,700,000 was made with certain banking establishments in the 
United States, England, France, and Germany, and in connection with this 
loan an international receivership was established with an American as General 
Receiver, assisted by French, German, and British receivers. The loan was 
secured on the Liberian customs revenue. ‘The General Receiver was also 
entrusted with the duties of Financial Advisor to the Liberian Government. 
The receipts of the Department of Customs, and the rubber taxes, together 
with one or two less important sources of revenue, were assigned to this re- 
ceivership for the payment of the interest on the loan and for the establish- 
ment of a sinking fund for the ultimate extinction of the debt. The residue of 
the receipts was to go to the Republic. The Liberian Government agreed to 
maintain a ‘‘frontier force’ (a military organization), and to request the Presi- 
dent of the United States to designate trained military officers so to organize 
it as to secure order in the community. 
This loan, however, only temporarily placed Liberia in a favorable financial 
position. In 1915 the country, largely on account of conditions brought about 
1 Buell: Loc. cit., vol. II, p. 795. 
135 
