206 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
in the financial problems of that country, in her boundary disputes and internal 
disturbances, and in many other problems. Secretary of State Root,’ in 1910, 
frankly referred to Liberia as an American colony. However, although our atti- 
tude toward the European countries with reference to Liberian problems has 
been one of “hands off,” we have not, at least in some respects, accepted any 
definite responsibility. Perhaps the chief criticism to which our attitude is open 
is that in recent years we have on the whole left Liberia too much alone, and not 
given the country needed guidance and cooperation in many of her internal 
affairs. In view of the other governmental problems that faced the Americo- 
Liberians, it was apparently too much to expect that they should much concern 
themselves about the welfare of the indigenous natives. Indeed, the temptation 
to exploit the natives has at times evidently been too great to be resisted. 
On the other hand, in judging the attitude of the United States toward this 
problem, it should be borne in mind that the actual conditions in the interior 
have not been well or widely known, and that there have been almost no Ameri- 
can travellers who have observed the interior and described the conditions exist- 
ing there. Reference has been made to the fact that during President Taft’s 
administration a commission was sent to Liberia to investigate certain govern- 
mental conditions, but this commission did not personally investigate the state 
of affairs in the interior of the country. 
Since our return from Liberia to the United States, we have naturally felt 
it incumbent on us to bring to the attention of those in authority and interested 
in the welfare of the people of that country, certain unfortunate conditions 
which exist, with the hope that something might be done to improve them. 
The governing classes in Monrovia have realized that the expenses of the govern- 
ment of Liberia, in excess of the customs receipts, internal and unassigned reve- 
nues, will in time have to be met with the increased taxes which can come only 
from increased industrial activity. 
Many suggestions have been made in the remote past as well as recently by 
Monrovian politicians as to how the natives can be forced to supply greater 
and greater revenue. But, no one has stressed the responsibility of the Americo- 
Liberians toward the indigenous people. Clearly, the most important source of 
internal revenue for the Government lies, as we have seen, in the labor that the 
natives of the interior can furnish and the taxes that they can pay, but they 
receive from the state practically nothing in return for their taxes. We have 
emphasized the fact that many of them are forced to work for the Govern- 
ment for nothing, particularly on the farms and roads, or as porters, and that 
others are held as pawns. 
The situation has recently become more complicated for the governing class 
because many of the laborers who have hitherto been compelled to work free, 
now realize that an opportunity is offered them by the Firestone Plantations 
Company to escape from the servitude in which they have been held, and to 
receive protection from abuse, as well as just remuneration for their services. 
When these laborers arrive at the Firestone plantations they are either given an 
‘ Root: Foreign Relations of the United States (1910), p. 700. 
