LIBERIA

by an agreement reached in ro10 france obtained some 2,000 sq. m. of hinterland which liberia had claimed but had not administered. vhis reduced the area of the republic to about 10,000 square miles. estimates made up in 1925 put the americo-libcrians at about 20,000, of whom approximately half live in monrovia, the capital. the native population is believed to be decreasing, it numbers probably 1,000,000 to 1,250,0c0. some thousands of negroes in the coast region have adopted the religion (protestant forms of christian- ity) and the standards and language (english) of the americo- liberians, whose authority has become gencrally recognised over the whole country. primitive conditions prevail throughout the interior. history.—the condition of liberia in ro1o-11 was far from satisfactory. it was burdened with debt, it had granted many concessions without being able to control the regions in which the concessionaires were to work, and its authority rarely extended more than 20 m. from the coast. the frontier regions, which adjoined french or british colonies, were in a disturbed condition; the french especially were troubled by the remnants of samory’s army (sce 24.642) and other malcontents who took refuge in the liberian forests and raided across the frontier; hence the annexation by france of part of the border region. it appeared as if the experiment of “ running ” the country by american negroes—as alien to the bulk of the natives as are white men—on the lines of the constitution of the united states would collapse. however the intervention of the united states govt. led to a financial re-organisation which gave the americo-libcrians a new start. there was some trouble with germany in settling the matter. the german govt. ener- getically pressed its claims, the gunboat ‘‘ panther” being anchored for a month off monrovia, with its guns trained on the executive mansion. all difheulties were overcome however by june 1912, when an international joan of $1,700,000 (£340,000) was raised, the bonds to be issued for not fewer than 40 years. the customs duties and certain taxes were pledged as security for the loan, and are administered by an american receiver-general, who is also financial advisor to the liberian government. thus in effect the control of finances is in the hands of the united states and expenditure is kept within the 706 limits of the revenue. a frontier police force was also organised by officers of the united states army, and as a result liberian authority was better maintained. during the world war the germans, deprived by force of arms of their own colonies, found in liberia their last foothold in west africa. but in aug. r917 liberia declared herself in a state of war and expelled the germans. she was a signatory of the treaty of versailles, her representative at the peace conference in paris being mr. c. d. b. king. mr. king was in 1920 chosen as president of liberia and in 1924 was re-elected for a second term. he strove, with some success, to improve conditions in liberia and was the originator of a system of road building which gave a prospect of opening up the intcrior. economic conditions.—the natural resources of liberia are almost untouched; the only cultivated crop of importance for external trade is coffee and the other industries for export are practically confined to the products of the oil-palm and piassava fibre (prepared from the raphae palm). while monrovia has two wireless stations and direct cable communication with europe and new york, there are no harbours and no railways and until means of transport are developed the wealth of the forests and the mineral resources cannot be utilised. the government, however, has no money to spend on reproductive works. in 1925 an american firm obtained a concession of 1,000,000 ac. primarily for the establishment of rubber planta- tions. meanwhile the bulk of the trade was in the hands of british and german firms, the dutch being next in importance. the united states took but an insignificant fraction of the trade. between 1913 and 1923 the volume of trade about doubled. in the last named year imports were valued at £298,000 and exports at £242,000. revenue in 1912-3 was $618,800, accounts being kept in american currency, though the money in circula- tion is british. in 1923-4 revenue was $380,000, expenditur: $371,600. brbltography.—r. c. f. maughan, the republic of liberia (1920); t. h. b. walker, a /tistory of liberia (1921); h. f. reeve, the black republic (1923). see also sir a. sharpe, “ the hinterland of liberia,’ geog. jour. (vol. 55, 1920}; ti. a. mcbride, ‘* the land of the free in africa,” national geog. mag. (1922); r. e. durrant, liberia, a report (1925). f. r. c.) liberty loans, the name given to the four loans floated by the u.s. govt. during the world war. a fifth loan, floated after the armistice, was called officially the victory liberty loan, but is here considered as the fifth liberty loan. between may 14 1917, when the first liberty loan was offered to the public, and may 10 ro19, when the campaign for the fifth loan was brought to a close, the people of the united states subscribed $24,072,111,400. of this amount, $21,432,924,700 was finally accepted by the secretary of the treasury. the fourth liberty loan, concluded oct. 18 1918, was, however, larger than any single loan issued by any of the other belligerents, and realised a total of nearly seven thousand million dollars. the number of subscribers to this loan was more than 21,000,000, or one-fifth of the total population of the united states. moreover, the u.s. govt. was able to dispose of the liberty bonds on very favourable terms; they were issued at par, the rate of interest varying from 34% on the first loan to 43% on the fifth. there were a number of reasons for the favourable terms obtained. ‘the united states was immensely wealthy and had just passed through a period of great prosperity; its record for quick pay- ment was unique; patriotic spirit was at a high pitch; advertising on an unexampled scale was undertaken; and the rate offered, while jower than those of european countries, was high as com- pared with the 3% and 2% paid in recent years on u.s. govt. bonds. when america entered the world war the govt. realised that, in addition to the money necded to prosecute the war by the united states itself, large sums must be raised to relieve the already over- strained credit of the european allies. the total amount of these loans to foreign countries was $9,842,468,566, to which was added later from sales of war material, etc., $736,040,776,making a total of $10,578,500,342. this money, excluding that derived from sales of war material, etc., was part of the amounts raised in the liberty loans. the financial policy of the govt. was to raise from one- liberty loans—libraries fourth to one-third of the necessary funds from taxation, the remain- der from loans. the treasury dept. throughout the war met cur- rent obligations by issuing short-term certificates of indebtedness, which were ae by the federal reserve banks and to some extent by outside banks and private persons, these certificates were retired either by exchange for liberty bonds or by redemption from money obtained through the sale of such bonds. the liberty loans constituted therefore a series of funding operations. these opera- tions were intended not only to extend the debt over a period of years, but to distribute it as widely as possible. the success of the policy is indicated by the facts that 53° of the individual subscrip- tions for the fourth loan were for $50 bonds, and that approximately 25,000,000 persons were, at the end of the war, holders of liberty bonds. before the united states entered the war such a result would have been thought impossible, for it was then estimated that there were only about 350,000 bond investors in the united states. under the act of april 24 1917 the secretary of the treasury was authorised to issue bonds to the extent of $5,000,000,000 at a rate not to exceed 34%, these bonds to be convertible into bonds of a higher rate if such should be issued before the end of the war. the secretary of the treasury made the first issue §2,000,000,000 and proceeded to create a war loan organisation in the treasury department. the 12 federal reserve banks were used as the central agencies in the 12 federal reserve districts, and each of these banks formed liberty loan com- mittees. to each district a “ quota” or proportional part of the whole issue was allotted. the value of advertising in arous- ing the public had been clearly demonstrated in the campaigns for the british war loans, and the treasury dept. made use of every available means of publicity. as a result the first loar was oversubscribed by more than $1,000,000,000. in subsequent campaigns the methods employed in placing the first loan were developed and extended. in each city an organisation known as four-minute men was formed; these men visited places of public resort, including the play- and motion-picture houses, and spoke for four minutes on behalf of the loans. the govt. assisted local authorities in organising street parades in which men from the training camps partici- pated; captured german war material was displayed; distin- guished soldiers and other visitors from great britain, france and the other allied nations were given elaborate receptions. these campaigns were of great value as a means not only ol selling the war bonds but of keeping up the morale of the people. the following are the figures of the number of persons sub- scribing to each of the five liberty loans, the total of the amount asked for, the subscriptions and the final allotments:— loan sub- amount subscrip- allot- oe scribers asked tions ments $ $ $ first (1917)| 4,000,000] 2,000,000,000' 3,035,226,850] 1,989,455,550 second | (1917) 9,400,000! 3,000,000,009 4,617,532,300] 3,807,865,000' hird | (1918) —_|18, 308,325) 3,000,000,000; 4,176,516,850 4,175,650,050: fourth (1918) 22,777,080] 6,000,000,000] 6,992,927,100/ 6,964,581, 100) tory, 1919) [11,803,895] 4, 500,000,000] 5,249,908, 300] 4,495,373,000 (f. h. h.)