The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-05-03
TRADE IN LIBERIA,
Commerce Of Negro Republic With
United States Nearly Vanished.

Trade and commerce between the
United States and Liberia should have
prospered, but they have dwindled
almost to the vanishing point Liberia
has been unprogressive, yet England
and Germany are selling goods there.
Liberia is rich in agricultural re-
sources, and their development with
the low-priced labor available is bound
to come from some source. Consul
General Lyon of Monrovia covers the
situation in Liberia IN the following
report:
The Republic of Liberia contains DIN
area of $4,000 square miles, 1t has
$50 miles of coast line. The popula-
ton is estimated at 100000. one
tenth American negroes, the remain
der natives The history of Liberia
dates back to 1920, when the American
Colonization society, formed in Wash
ington, with Henry Clay as president,
founded the colony of Liberia for
emancipated negroes and gave them
favorable opportunity for self-im-
provement.
The country is well adapted to ag-
rlculture. the principal products being
coffee. cotton. piassava. cocoa, rubber,
p. nuts and fruits. There are magnifi-
cent forests unworked TWENTY-FIVE
different kinds of rubber trees are
found and camwood is plentiful. Gold
and silver exist in paying quantities
and the product is scanty The all,
sence of public highways and the pres
ent unnavigable condition of the rivers
and lakes render travel difficult. The
country needs capital; its introduction
would revolutioniZe existing condi-
lions by creating demand for skilled
labor and conveniences enjoyed by the
inhabitants of other centers. Labor
receives as compensation only "a cents
per day, together with rations, which
consist of quart Of rice and pound
of dried fish. The aborigines are the
only means of transportation and COM
municatiOn to and from the interior
of the country
The trade of Liberia is small and
divided principally between Germany.
England, Holland and the United
States, with the preponderance in fav-
or of Germany. The imports from
Germany for the six months ended
June 80, 1905, were s15S,S75; exports
thither. $2O4,f03. Imports from Eng
land. $141 ,243. and exports thither.
SSS.195. Holland sold Liberia $12,S31
and bought $1,543. The United States
sold her $3,604 and took $2,OOS
Cotton manufacturers and rice are
the chief articles of importation. Over
$4,000 worth of cotton goods were
bought of England, Germany and other
countries in the six months ending
June, 1905. and only $133 worth from
the United States. About the same
amount in value of rice was purchased
OF the same countries, though none
was obtained from the United States.
Lack of transportation facilities to the
United States interferes with trade.
The same crude methods of farming
that were in vogue centuries ago still
exist. The pillow is seldom if ever
used, and the hoe and knife are the
chief implements of agriculture. The
proper cultivation of the rubber tree
would bring great wealth Cotton
grows everywhere in the interior, and
with proper cultivation would yield
enormously. The soil of Liberia is
eminently adapted to the cultivation of
rice. and seven kinds are grown.
The outlook for Liberia from a COM
mercial and industrial viewpoint is
discouraging. The country has been
practically abandoned by its alma
mater, and seems to exist only for the
purpose of being exploited by Euro
pean countries.