The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-11-27
PETTIS DRY GOODS CO.
HAD A GREAT SCHEME
Charles Taylor, Minister to b.
livia, Wanted to Rule Liberia.
Now in the City-His Wonderful Scheme
Was Cut Short by the Washing
ton officials.

Charles H. Taylor, of Kansas City, is at
the Occidental Hotel. Mr.. Taylor is a col
ored Democrat, VINO, during President CIeve-
lands first term, was minister to Liberia.
he was recently appointed minister to Bo-
livia. and will start for that country in jan
uary. Mr.. Taylor is not by any means a
pessimist, especially as he has just got a
grip on an office. He made the startling
declaration last night that he had been a
Democrat all his life, and that 1t was at
last beginning to pay. AS minister to LII
IBERIA he received 5000 a year, and on that
paltry allowance managed to worry through
and come out of the tolls with about as
much ~avoirdupois concealed about his per-
son as the gentleman referred to by Liliuo-
kalani as " the ruler of the American peo-
pie" He commented on the death of Mr..
Mccoy, the late minister to Liberia, ap-
pointed from this city by ex-President Har-
rison, and said that his death was the re-
suit of indiscretfpns to which nearly all
American negroes in Liberia are prone. The
night air in Liberia is certain death to the
visitor If he is exposed to it, being full Of
malaria and mihsms. The native Of Liberia
is usually naked. When he gets cold he
jumps into the water and gets warm, eats
once a day just before sleeping and never
reaches a greater height of extravaganza
in dress than a linen buster and a plug hat.
Socially, Liberia is divided into two
worlds. The one is inhabited by the Ameri-
can negro and the other by the native. Mr..
Taylor referred to the importation of Ameri-
can negroes TO Liberia as the curse OF that
country, as they carry all of the vices of
the civilized negro, exclusive of their vir-
tues, 20 that country.
I'VE have" said ne, a law for vagrancy
I'm this country, but in Liberia its operation
IS directly adverse to what 1t Is here. II
the presence of natives he is fined and i'm
prisOned. No man escapes being punished
for having visible means of support. Lii
IBERIA Is composed of four counties, whose
total vote numbers 2,320, and OF these LIB
are oficeholders. There were 81 soldiers,
of whom Isl were officers and the remainder
privates. The natives, he said. are the best
Inhabitants of the land. On the morning Of
Noises 40 Which proved to be the secretary of
the legation announcing the names Of those
who presented themselves to see the new
minister. He was introduced to a tall, lean
negro, who wore the conventional plug hat
and linen duster, and weighed liz pounds,
as the Secretary of the State of Liberia,
and who desired TO be to Mr..
Baayardl; .o,, ,,u rou,ou .1 ,,or,o :. l., j.,
bad way. She has no domesticated animals,
no factories, no SCHOOLS, no stores to speak
of. no anything, and the inhabitants sit
along the shores waiting for the arrival Of
steamers TO brins them supplies. Every
civilized negro In Liberia sixteen years old
is. by virtue of his age. justice of the peace.
Fifty per cent. of the negroes who 20 there
die during the first year of African fever.
No immigrant family perpetuateS itself be-
yond the third generation"
Mr.. Taylor stated that he had proposed
TO give $1,000 each year of his salary as min
lister to Liberia if this government would
return him TO that country with power to
establish a protectorate and to take with
him as many as two hundred negroes from
the low lands of South Carolina, and the
.1ower also to issue a proclamation that
every aole-bodied man in the colony should
go to work within thirty days and assist
him in draining the country and putting it
IN cultivable condition. He had agreed to
turn into the United States treasury each
year afterward 5000 o But, Unfortunately
so he says, 1.-THE Monroe doctrine idea cut
his little scheme short at Washington, an
bv being sent to Bolivia Liberia has lost an
opportunity to become a paying institution
IN this government"