The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-24

a perfectly good car to rust away in idle ness. So he busted himself with some gasoline and cylinder oil, and a few hours after it's debarkation the car was chug- ging along Monrovia's main street in the most approved fashion, in the direction of President Daniel E. Towards official residence. With the President of the re- public beside him, and a wondering popu- lace watching the strange contraption as it covered the two blocks that could be termed a road Mcbride unfolded the big idea that had ben nesting in the back Of his head for some time, waiting for an opportunity to work it out.
 | McBride's experience in the consular | service had led him into the wilds of the Belgian Congo and beyond. He had made an appraisal of the principal railway lines in Africa, and submitted an exhaustive report on means for putting them on a more profitable basis. He had served with the diplomatic forces in London dur ing the trying days of the war, and now he was loaned to Liberia by the United States as financial adviser, post thal while it did not make him member or the Presidents cabinet, necessitated ms attending all the sessions of that body, and gave him the distinction of being the ouly white man thus honored.
 LIBERIA NEEDS ROADS ~What Liberia needs," he told President Howard. that memorable day, lis roads" " The picture he drew of the commercial possibilities once the country was opened up caused the President to forget every thing else At the next cabinet meet ing the subject was brought up, and the project unanimously approved. McBride was made director of highways, In addl- tion to his other duties, and given carte hlancha in drafting good roads pro- xramme and working it out. All of when looks fine on paper; but as a matter or fact there was no money available TOT the purpoee nor was there any way ln which it could be raised. Nothing daunted, Mcbride set about building a road from MonroVia .o Paynesvfile. . village thirty miles inland. to which the natives brought in the rude niroeues or canoe loads of palm nuts and nias<saya fibre. There the nuts and fibre were unloaded, to be carried on the heads of natives matter of ten miles, then loaded into canoes and sent on to >INfcnrovia for shipment to all parts of Hhe world, the thirty-mile journey oc- Eupying two and one-half days if all Y went well. 4 E Among other things Mcbride was dis pursinK officer for the Liberian army. o1 800 men. He was given authority to draw on this force as much as he liked. Taking 100 soldiers as nucleus, he or ganized in addition labor battalion that was put on a military basis, and took over fifteen political prisoners from the interior, who were perfectly willing to work on the roads as long as they were
 well fed.
 HARDLY FAVORABLE The situation in Liberia was anything but favorable for road building. The prevalence or sleeping sickness makes il impossible to keep horses, oxen or other beasts of burden, all transportation be-
 ing done by the natives. By the same token, there were no vehicles, not even so much as . wheelbarrow being avail able.
 With no money at his command, Me-
 Bride was compelled to resort to his
 wits He called council of the two or three English merchants in Monrovia and unfolded his plah. They agreed to back him to the extent of loaning fif-
 teen shovels and a half-dozen axes, their returns on the venture to be derived from
 any increase of trade that the opening up of the interior might bring.
 With this primitive equipment McBride began the thirty-mile highway that was to be named in his honor by the grateful Liberians, and completed it in record time. The manner in which he over-
 came difficulties that most men would have counted .nsurmountable would make an interesting story in itself. At one point the sand was so deep as to be inlpa@Abls. and there was no other way to go. Ten miles distant was deposit
 Of very coarse gravel-with no means of hauling it. Back and forth the natives
 trudgeds each man carrying on his head
 wooden box that would hold only a few shovels of gravel. One round trip was good days work, but the men kept at it until this became. one of the best strstches of the entire road. At another point . bridge must be built In some unacc0untable manner a half-dozen rail- road ties had reached Monrovia. These were used as foundation for a cement prld9e that when completed represented an investment of seventy-five dollars. tha entire cost of the thirty miles of road way.
 NEVER FALTERED
 It was a gruelling task. but Mcbride and his men never faltered The road was cut through a jungle where onIv
 trail led. and where every foot meant the removal of vegetation so dense that only wild animals could rmakez their way through it. Eventual ly Paynesvifle was reached and the first link in the highway system that was to radiate from Monrovia became a reality
 On the day that the road was Of ficially opened the president of the re- public made the complete trip with kr
 McBride. and was astounded to find that the Journey which formerly re- auired the best part of three days could be negotiated in fifty minutes flat. The amazement of the Paynas- viile Inhabitants knew no bounds. ana ir every village along the line half raked natives hotfooted along the road in pursuit of the swift moving Ford
 If Mcbride had done nothing else for Liberia. his fame would have gone down through the ages as the commer- cial emancipator of the republic The movement he inaugurated was not per nitted to die. On the contrary. the en-. tire country caught the good roads spirit It became the paramount issue. Highways were started to other in- terior points. and to towns along the ccast that hitherto had been accessible only by boat. Today Liberia has more tl:an 200 miles of good highways along which travel passanger cars and heavy loaded trucks. carrying products from the Interior to ocean ports and taking back supplies needed in the develop nsent of the country. Other roads are being constructed as rapidly as pos ssble. and Liberia is na fair way to outstrip all other African countries in the relative amount of improved high wayD. And all because a blundering clerk permitted a Ford to be unloaded at the wrong port. and live young American was on hand to grasp the op- pcrtunity presented.