Frederick Starr
Liberia
Description, History, Problems
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066124212
Table of Contents
TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORTATION.
THE FOREIGN DEBT OF THE REPUBLIC.
THE APPEAL TO THE UNITED STATES.
THE LIBERIAN CRISIS. (Unity. March 25, 1909.)
THE NEEDS OF LIBERIA. (The Open Court. March, 1913.)
A SOJOURNER IN LIBERIA. (The Spirit of Missions. April, 1913.)
LIBERIA, THE HOPE OF THE DARK CONTINENT. (Unity. March 20, 1913.)
WHAT LIBERIA NEEDS. (The Independent. April 3, 1913.)
SHOULD THE AFRICAN MISSION BE ABANDONED. (The Spirit of Missions. August, 1913.)
THE PEOPLE OF LIBERIA. (The Independent. August 14, 1913.)
LEADING EVENTS IN LIBERIAN HISTORY
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN CONVENTION
CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA
SUGGESTIONS Made by the Liberian Government to the American Commission in 1909
PREFACE
Africa has been partitioned among the nations. The little kingdom of Abyssinia, in the north, and the Republic of Liberia, upon the west coast, are all of the continent that remain in the hands of Africans. Liberia alone is in the hands of negroes. Will it remain so, or is it destined to disappear? Is it a failure? The reports which have so frequently been printed in books of travel and elementary treatises of ethnology appear almost unanimous in the assertion that it is. Yet there are those who believe that the Black Republic is far indeed from being a failure. We are not willing to admit that its history and conditions warrant the assumption that the black man is incapable of conducting an independent government. A successful Liberia would be a star of hope to the Dark Continent. In Liberian success there lies African Redemption; redemption, not only in the religious sense, but redemption economic, social, governmental. If the black men can stand alone in Liberia, he can stand alone elsewhere; if the negro is able to organize and maintain a government on the west coast, he can do the same on the east coast, and in the southern part of Africa. Africa is restless under the white man; it makes no difference whether the ruler be Portuguese, French, German, Spanish, Belgian, or English, the native is dissatisfied under the present regime. It is recognized that a spark may cause a conflagration through negro Africa. On the other hand, the colonial burden of the European governments grows heavy; the trade advantages of holding Africa might be equally gained without the expense and trouble of administration; it is mutual jealousy, not great success, which holds the European powers in Africa. Were each convinced that withdrawal would not give advantage to other powers, that abdication would not be recognized as weakness, that free trade with black men might not result in individual national advantage, they would be quite ready to withdraw from the Dark Continent. In every colony the native is advancing; education becomes more general; it must continue to diffuse itself,