Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-15
Liberia as Ex-Minister Smyth Found
1t Is Hardly an FL Dorado.
AN EX-SLAvE MISSIONARIES TALE.
The Climate as Hard on American Negroes
as on White People.
NO PLACE FOR A PENNILEss SETTLER

saws will be of interest to those of his race
who are desirous of leaving the States for
home in the negro's fatherland He said to
Post reporter yesterday:
While everv portion of West, North,
South and East Africa affords place of
residence for the American negro in which
life, liberty and property are secure under
the several governments of these sections
for the black in common with the white,
and as good, aye better prospect for social
and political success than in the United
States vet am of the opinion that very few
American negroes are fitted for residence
in any of the coast settlements of Africa
The soil surrounding Africa is alluvial for
from two to ten miles interior on all sides
The temperature, Fahrenheit, varies between
65o and $50 between AKIN, south of Liberia
on the west coast, to Freetown. Sierra
Leone, north at least 900 miles coastwise.
This temperature is always humid, both in
the dry and rainy seasons.
The Terrors of Acclimatization.
All immigrants and all natives, as a
condition'of being on the coast, suffer from
a fever, known here and in Europe as the
African fever, which takes on two forms,
the intermittent and remittent. The
effect of this fever is to enervate the pa
tient totally uniting him for physical ex-
ertlon while on, and incapacitating him for
any mental effort. If the patient is of a
sanguine temperament and an inherited
disease, is temperate in the use of intoxi-
cants and water, and in eating of fruits
during acciimatization, the prospect of life
is as fair as in the malarial portion of the
Gulf States of the United States.
If, on the other hand, the patient is of
bilious temperament, the best medical care,
the greatest abstemiousness as to food and
drink and the greatest precaution from
drafts of air are obligatory and indispensa-
be for carrying one through the acclimat-
ing period, and should be observed If fair
health is to be expected. The condition of
the liver determines the continuity of life
in West Africa 1t is literally true that
the fit in body and soul alone survive in
West Africa.
No foreign company, individual or society
owns in his or its own right a foot of
ground in fee in Liberia, not even the
Rubber Company, limited, which has had
a franchise given it to farm rubber
within three years last past No man of
African descent even can hold in fee foot
of ground in Liberia unless he be citizen,
and citizenship depends upon race blood.
The Constitution Regulates Ownership
The Constitution of the Republic of
Liberia regulates and limits by its provis-
ions ownership of the soil Information
confirmatory of this should be obtainable
at the Department Of State of the United
States.
The Constitution of Liberia guarantees
to the head of the family of every
bona fide immigrant 25 acres of the |
public domain. worth in 1886 80 |
cents to 81 per acre, and ten acres to
each single person a bona fde immigrant.
The condition attached to the grant is the |
placing of the land under cultivation in a |
limited time, or the same reverts to the
grantor, the Republic.
Iabor-farm labor-the only labor that |
is extensive, embracing many persons, is |
cheap, being worth from 50 so, United |
States or Liberian money (currency), to S4 |
per month.
Native labor is the best in every way that
can be obtained by auy possibility. The |
agricultural industry, which in Liberia |
offers the most certain and most profitable |
and continuous return, needs from without |
only intelligent, experienced, and mcneyed |
proprietorship. So far as personal benefit |
to the individual usefulness to the State |
goes, a poor, ignorant. and unskilled man |
in any calling needed in Liberia should be |
by enactment here and law in Liberia pre-
vented going thither, and denied there the
right of citizenship.
have resided IN Liberia for nearly nine
years, and enjoyed an extensive acquaint-
ance from Govee and Dakar to the Gaboon for
about seven years of that time, and am con-
stantly being advised on African affairs by |
Africans at home.
The Testimony of a Lady Traveller.
A IL
Amanda Smith, widely known as an evan
gelist and an earnest worker in the cause of
temperance, is guest of Mr. w. D. Col
well, No. $50 Oakwood boulevard. In her
particular field of labor Mrs Smith is
known in many lands, and her story is an
illustration of what courageous and self
reliant woman NAV do
''My history?" said she to an Inter- Oced,
reporter. so, well, L was born a slave, and
my parents were slaves on Maryland
plantation. My master died when nv
father was 81 years old, and he bought his
freedom. He was a mighty hard-working
man; he worked day and night and was al
lowed to keep all that he earned bv work
ing over hours In this way, by paving the
money in installments, he bought my
mother and his five children. After this
We moved to York county, Pa, between
York and Baltimore. My father had a
brother who ran away, and he went to see
him"
GLOW did you happen to get into the
evangelistic ield?"
"Well, 1 was working hard to support
myself and child, and didn't think much
about anything else. was finally converted
on the 18th of March, 1856. In 1865 I first
heard Of the doctrine of sanctifcation, and
afterward attended q number of camp
meetings. The first was at Darlington, Md,
not far from Havre de Grace. Then the
Lord seemed 1. bless me and open up the
way. was afraid at first, and 1 said: 4
haven't any education and no grammar
When would use a word 1 would say,
Now that isn't good grammar and in this
way the devil kept tempting me and hold
ing me back, but I persevered, with the
Lords help.
Mrs. Smiths Mission to Liberia.
December "A I left England for Liberia,
and landed at Monrovia, the capital, JAM
uary 10, 1882"
Mrs. Smith talked most Interestingly of
the people of the colony, their occupation
and prospects, but she did not approve the
emigration of poor and ignorant
negroes from the United States.
mo one should go to that country" she
said emphatically, "who has not means, edu-
cation and salvation. All others are a bur-
len, and simply have to be taken care of
"What is the general condition of the
oeople?"
'Thev are doing pretty well. They raise
coffee principally; some of them have fine
,offee plantations which they cultivate
oroftebiy. Then they buy and sell palm
wood and palm OIL When was there the
white population was made up of Belgians,
Dutch and Germans They have large