The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1914-04-11
the Supreme Court.

Daniel G. Howard is the present
President of Liberia and s. G. Harmon
is the viee-President. The flag Of
Liberia, which was among the many
interesting exhibits, has six red stripes
with five white stripes alternately dis
played, and in the upper angle of the
flag a square field of blue with a single
white star in the center.
"To understand the Liberian situa-
ton it is necessary to know something
Of the elements that make up its popu-
lation. Liberia has a coast line Of $50
miles and an area Of $1,000 square
miles, a little larger than the state
of Ohio. There are three elements in
the population. The Americo-Lberians,
the descendants of American freed
Negroes, number from 1900 to $4,000.
They speak English, conduct the gov
eminent and are the civilized portion
Of the population. For the most part
they live in small settlements along the
coast or on the banks of the rivers,
few miles inland. Then there are
about 10000 coast natives, who, al
though not descended from the original
American blacks, speak English, and
come in frequent contact with the out
side world. Back of these are more
than a million natives. They speak no
English, but only their native tongues.
They consist of a score or more of
different tribes, although they can be
divided linguistically into three or four
great groups-the Kru, Mandingo, Cola
and Gbele.
"The natives live in little villages,
with independent chiefs, and maintain
their own tribal customs. Many of the
tribes still practice eannibalism, all Of
them are polygamous, and domestic
slavery exists among them. In the
western half of Liberia Mohammedan-
ism has taken hold of the Mandingo
and Val tribes. We can understand
what it means to govern this diverse
population if we took the town of Bel
laire, Ohio, divided its population into
about a dozen towns along the Ohio
river, and then dotted the whole state
with villages of Indians, numbering
l,OOO, 700, each village under an indie
pendent chief and speaking its own
language. Then add to this that the
population of Bellaire has the burdens
and responsibilities Of a nation among
nations, and some idea of the difficulties
under which Liberia labors may be as
eertained.
1t will be recalled that Prof. Starr
made his last visit to Liberia, accom-
panied by Campbell Marvin, also of
the University of Chicago, in September
and October, 1912, that he spent 81
days of that time in. travelling through
its interior on foot, where with few
exceptions, he was royalty received by
the natives-many of whom he found
living in a modern or advanced state
of civilization.
They, the natives, gave him every
opportunity to carry on his investiga-
tions, to gather in all kinds of very
valuable historical objects and to col
leet data and other material for his
new book on Liberia and its people,
which he published few months ago.
One of the most interesting objects
which Prof. Starr brought with him
from Liberia, which attracted much
attention during the exhibition, was a
dark blue robe, richly and deliberately
embroidered in intricate designs; near
it is an engraved card with the official
shield of Liberia at the top, which
reads:
"The President and Mrs. Howard
cordially invite you to be present at
the Executive Mansion on Wednesday
evening, October twenty-third, nine
teen hundred twelve, at seven thirty
O'Clock, to meet Professor Frederick
Starr of Chicago University" After
the reception President Howard wanted
to present some piece of native work
to Professor Starr, and so he gave him
the robe Viee-President Harmon wore
on the second day of the Inauguration,
Jan. 2, 1912, the day set aside for the
officials of Liberia to dress in native
costume to meet the chiefs gathered
from all parts of the country, and thus
cement the friendship with the tribes
in the interior.
In concluding his highly instructive
lecture on Liberia he stated that che
started on his tour through the interior
of that country in the rainy season;
that for q, days he and his IS COM