An Essay on the Economics of Detribalization in Northern Rhodesia. Part II

In conclusion he finds that Liberia ' definitely fails to justify the modest hopes of strong, sympathetic western friends ' who ' are invariably in the role of defenders ', while its rulers and leading citizens realize that its condition ' is not as they hope and wish it to be '. Yet Dr. Brown believes there is a prospect of better conditions in President Barclay's policy of no more borrowing; returns from future concessions to be used to enrich the areas in which they lie; forming of state-aided agricultural and co-operative societies; development of Native industries, as cloth-making; integration of the tribes-people into the economic and political structure. The President's realization of his ' visions of a united Liberia where neither Africans nor civilized exist, only Liberians; and a country raising itself from amongst the least important nations by its own efforts', and his success in extracting it from its state of economic bondage to other nations, will depend, in the final analysis, on the number of likeminded and spirited men he can find to place in positions of responsibility. They are not over-abundant in the Black Republic. ' In an appendix are a number of political and economic documents, with an evaluation of the credibility of official sources. There is an excellent bibliography. References and footnotes, instead of cluttering the pages, are numbered and follow the bibliography. The index is far from complete. A map, indicating the original extent of territory claimed as belonging to the Republic, its present fixed boundaries, and tracing Dr. Brown's travels in it, would have been a valuable addition. Overlooked may be some statements as ' tin cutlasses ' sold in Monrovia (p. 22); calling the ' driver' ant ' blind termite' (p. 51). There is no Presbyterian church in Monrovia, but one in a town some twenty-five (?) miles in the interior. There is no mention of the mission stations in the far interior which were conducting a very creditable work when I visited them in 1928, though those on or near the coast are mentioned. As for the great African markets of which ' only a few . . . remain, and . . . these are back in the hinterland, well away from . . . Christian influences ', I visited at least two, each of which was near a mission station. In the all too true statement that ' education is inadequate and largely Supported by white philanthropy ' the reader might have been informed that this support came, and still mostly comes, from the several important missions established in Liberia. However, this book should be in the hands of all interested in the economic problems not only of Liberia, but of all colonial Africa as well. GEORGE SCHWAB