A Liberian Journey

Creator

Richard Pearson Strong

Date

11/8/26

Coverage

Monrovia, Montserrado County, Liberia

Transcription

November 8th – 21st, Monrovia.

From Monrovia I went on November 14th by a steam tug which I chartered to Cape Mount, the most northern part of Liberia. The Episcopal mission has been located there for a number of years. Bishop Campbell of Monrovia gave me a card of introduction to Mr. Donovan in charge of the mission. I took George S. and Dr. Theiler with me as I wished to make a medical survey there. The mission has a school, a hospital, and two nurses at Cape Mount. One of the nurses is from one of our smaller Massachusetts hospitals. There is no physician, however, at the mission or in Cape Mount. Miss Ridgely presides over the girls’ school, to which work she has devoted many years of her life. The work of the mission is pathetic. Much of the educational work is of doubtful value since the country needs people who are not simply Christians who can read and write, but those who can till the soil and farm, etc. Reading and writing is a luxury for them, as is Latin and Greek. Instruction in agriculture at the farm of the mission has been abandoned, as there is no one interested who can teach and take charge of it.

We made a medical survey of the children at the mission schools and examined all for malarial and intestinal parasites. We found as might be expected a high percentage of the children infected. We left instructions with Mr. Donovan regarding the subsequent treatment of the children so that they could be cured. We also found two cases of leprosy at the mission. As soon as the people of the town heard there were doctors at the mission they flocked to us with their complaints, over a hundred of them, so we were kept very busy throughout our stay, diagnosing and treating various illnesses.

I visited several Vai villages in the interior from Cape Mount. The Vais, next to the Mandingos, are the most intelligent of the Liberian tribes. Their houses are usually round, of mud walls with thatched palm roofs, but the walls are higher and the houses larger and of a better type than those of the other tribes. The women work rather nice bead bags, and the men weave a better cloth. The Vais are the only Liberian tribe that has a written language of its own, though but comparatively few of them can write it. On our return to Monrovia we carried out, as our last piece of work there, a survey of the schools, examining the children in a similar manner to those at Cape Mount. We also found a high percentage of them infected, particularly with hookworm and Ascaris lumbricoides.

Prior to going to Cape Mount I also visited the Lutheran Mission known as Muhlenberg Mission. We (George and I) went by motor by the only road into the interior to its end -- about 30 miles -- and then walked the rest of the way. There are only 2 doctors in Liberia outside of Monrovia, one at the Holy Cross Mission near the head of the Sierra Leone railway, and the other at the Muhlenberg Mission. We found no work of any importance going on at the Muhlenberg Mission. The doctor is not at all an intelligent man and two very stout Lutheran nurses do most of the work. There were only about half a dozen women in the hospital as patients. The mission however has fine buildings and a fine situation. Mr. Parsons, Secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions, now visiting Monrovia, tells me that about $300,000 is spent annually in Liberia on the missions. Most of it I think is for salaries of American or black (Liberian) missionaries. About two-thirds of the American force is usually at home on sick or other leave. To what purpose is it spent?

I mentioned the fact that George was arrested with Mr. Cheek for assault and battery on a Liberian chauffeur in the employ of Firestone Company. Mr. Cheek, an official of the company, is the father of “Dolph” Cheek, Captain of the Harvard football team last year. The chauffeur came late and Mr. Cheek struck him several times and Shattuck was also involved in the assault. Several hours later a squad of policemen (eight to ten) came to the house to arrest them. If I could have gotten Shattuck and Cheek out of the house I could have buried the whole matter by going at once to the President and getting him to act, but there was no time as you may see from my letter to Mr. Clark (enclosed with these notes). Of course I did all I could to comfort and reassure George and it was in this way that I came to take part in the matter and walked to the station house with him in order to support him and secured his release as soon as possible, in about an hour and a half. The enclosed letters and affidavits explain the whole affair. Of course it was very unfortunate that George got mixed up in it. As we were guests of the Government, in a way, it was naturally distasteful that the Harvard Expedition was drawn in. George naturally felt he had to help his fellow American Mr. Cheek, who is an excitable man and too highly strung for the tropics. The President first sent his aide, Colonel Davis, to apologize to me, and afterwards asked me to come and see him. He then spent some half an hour apologizing and trying to explain that the whole affair was a demonstration against the Firestone Plantation Co. and the proposed loan by a few people who did not wish the loan to go through. The President was undoubtedly greatly disturbed and troubled that I was drawn into the affair through Dr. Shattuck and that the Harvard Expedition was thus involved. He said quite frankly that he could and would deal with his people and promised full reparation, but that he feared international complications. The Secretary of State Barclay also apologized to me. My cable to the Secretary of State in Washington gives my views. In reply to this and the cables of Mr. Clark of the American Legation, our State Department cabled to Clark to give the Liberian Government opportunity to make full amends and punishments of those involved. If this was not done the American Government would make this demand of the Liberian Government.

I saw a great deal of young Harvey Firestone, Jr. in Monrovia and had many conferences with him about the $5,000,000 loan and his work. I got to like him and his wife very much. They are both very young. He is not yet thirty years old. He is working very hard. I do hope the loan will go through. If the Liberian people have any sense they will certainly accept the terms, which are, I think, far too favorable to the Liberian people. The American Government very unfortunately is not using its opportunities, in connection with this loan, to improve conditions which would lead to improvement in the interior of Liberia and hence the whole country. The whole question is probably mixed up with politics and the American negro vote in the United States. More of this later when I return to the United States.

Before leaving Monrovia I went through the files of the American Legation through the courtesy of Mr. Clark and studied past records relating to Liberian Government conditions in the interior, their courts of justice, etc, so to be familiar with them on my return to the United States. I have also interviewed as many as possible of the important white people who have lived in Liberia for some time, among them, the British Consul, bankers, shipping agents, Bishop Campbell, Mr. de la Rue (Financial Advisor to the Government), and Mr. Bussell, Director of Customs.

We left Monrovia on November 21st on a small German cargo boat (10 days late). She had only accommodation for nine passengers, and there were already seven passengers on her when she touched at Monrovia. So three of our men are in one room. I was put in the first officer’s cabin and George and Harold in the second officer’s cabin. However, every one was very thankful to get away from Liberia. I, too, am greatly relieved that this anxiety is over, that this portion of the work has been successfully performed and that the men are all safe and well.

Type

Diary

Citation