SEC. 4. It is further enacted, that in order to carry out the provisions of this act, the President is hereby directed to appoint each native chief or headman as may be recommended by the commissioner for aborigines as assistant collectors of said taxes, which taxes shall be paid in demand notes, palm oil, camwood, or other available produce at native prices, and commissioners for aborigines in the several counties shall be associated with said native chiefs or headmen, as collector of said taxes, in no case exacting of anyone not probably twenty-one years of age or over. Said commissioner shall give bond and security for the faithful discharge of his duty to the amount of two thousand dollars, and for his services his pay as commissioner shall be regulated by the act creating commissioners for aborigines. SEC. 5. And it is further enacted, that out of the taxes thus collected the native chief or headman engaged in collecting the same shall be entitled, as soon as the collection is over with his tribe, to onesixth out of all taxes thus collected, which shall, under the commissioner of education, be converted into the best merchandise and given to said chief or headman for his own use and benefit. SEC. 6. And it is further enacted, that the taxes thus collected shall be placed for safe-keeping in the possession of the treasurer, who may change the same for available money, such as specie, drafts, or greenbacks, or other demand notes styled the currency of this Republic, and the same separately kept from all other moneys in his charge, and in no case shall he pay out any of said money, except by legis lative appropriation; he shall, as well as the commissioner, chiefs, or headmen, make quarterly report of all moneys, oil, or camwood thus collected or secured to the secretary of the interior, who shall report the same to the legislature at its ensuing session. In the leeward counties said reports shall be made to the comissioner of education, who shall forward the same to the secretary of the interior. SEC. 7. It is further enacted, that the moneys thus collected from the natives shall be used for maintaining common schools among them at convenient places and also toward the payment of the commissioner of education. The teachers of public schools shall be appointed by the commissioner of their respective counties. SEC. 8. And it is further enacted, that the native chiefs or headmen who comply with the provisions of this act shall be commissioned by the President as justices of the peace, who shall be associated with the commissioner for aborigines in the settlement of petty oflenses within the jurisdiction of his or their county; they may impose fines, and in fact may try cases of debt where the amount does not exceed two hundred kroos, and do all that a magistrates' court may do otherwise. SEC. 9. And it is further enacted, that every chief or headman and his or their tribe [who] comply with the provisions of this act shall have the fullest protection of Government against any tribe in hostility against him or them, and for their relief the President may at any time when the occasion requires enroll a posse of men, uniting them with said chief or headman and tribe, for the purpose of chastising any hostile tribe herein contemplated, and they shall have the same pay and support given to the militia in actual service as provided for otherwise by law. SEC. 10. And it is further enacted, that said chiefs or headmen may hold meetings of his or their tribe at the close of each year, and may petition the legislature, making known any of their grievances, and the same may be handed to any senator or representative, who shall lay the same before the legislature at the ensuing session. SEC. 11. And it is further enacted, that the President shall cause to be registered the name of every native living in the towns contiguous to each city or town of the Republic, by the commissioner of aborigines, on his first visit, which shall be during the month of March, 1869, the said register shall be lodged with the secretary of the interior or superintendent of the several counties. The pay of schoolteachers shall be regulated in the annual appropriation bill by the legislature, and the pay of each school-teacher shall not exceed three hundred dollars per annum. SEC. 12. It is further enacted, that any native chief or headman obstinately and persistently refusing to comply with the provisions of this act shall not be allowed a hearing before the President nor at the superintendent's department, nor shall they in any way be entitled to Government protection except for manifest injustice. SEC. 13. It is further enacted, that in order to propagate the palm tree in this Republic, it shall be required of every native chief or headman complying with the provisions of this act, as well as AmericoLiberian citizens, to plant, [or] to cause to be planted, in every new farm cultivated by them on the public lands (not abounding in palm trees) palm nuts or palm seeds all over said farms at suitable distances in payment for the use of the public lands, and by so doing they shall have Government protection for the crops cultivated on the same. SEC. 14. And it is further enacted that no school-teacher among the natives shall be allowed to trade with said native tribe where he is appointed as teacher, except for food for his maintenance, but shall devote his time to their elevation and civilization. SEC. 15. It is further enacted that all laws or parts of laws conflicting with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed. Approved January 23rd, 1869. a Statute laws of Liberia, 1848-1874, pp. 166, 12, and 35. EDUCATION IN LIBERIA. Act 4. Resolution providing for the appointment of a general superintendent of public instruction and common schools and for other purposes. It is resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia in legislature assembled: SECTION 1. That the President be, and is hereby, directed to appoint, immediately after the passage of this resolution, an officer to be styled general superintendent of public instruction and conumon schools; said officer shall superintend the operation of public and private schools, and see that the school laws are enforced. He shall issue to the commissioners of education circular letters of instructions and suggestions; he shall collect information concerning the condition and operations of common schools in the different counties and districts; and digest and report upon the same, together with suggestions and recommendations, annually to the legislature; and he shall visit all the schools in each of the counties at least twice a year; and he shall require all the school commissioners to visit the schools in each county at least once a quarter and report their visitation in their quarterly reports. SEC. 2. It is further resolved that the commissioners of education shall make their quarterly reports The superintendent of education shall always prepare and send in writing, with his report, all bills Any law to the contrary notwithstanding.a Approved January 26, 1900. The common schools of Liberia were established by the first act and grew up under the second and third. Under the supervision of the commissioner of education and the school committee the schools had so increased from 1869 to 1900 that the fourth act was passed creating a bureau of education with a general superintendent of public instruction. These four acts set forth clearly the duties of the teachers, school committees, commissioners, and superintendent of public instruction, which need not be repeated. Rules for teachers. In 1901 the first superintendent of public instruction, J. C. Stevens, published for the guidance and help of teachers some rules and regulations. A few of them may be of interest: 1. The school is to be taught four days in each week, and five hours each day. 2. The following will be a good form of opening exercises: (1) Singing; (2) reading a chapter, a psalm, or a part of one, from the Bible; (3) the Lord's Prayer; (4) singing; (5) roll call. The exercises may vary, but should never take more than half an hour. Fifteen or twenty minutes might be sufficient time. 3. Sectarianism and politics are not to be taught in school. Therefore, teachers should avoid commenting on the Scriptures, as well as partisan politics. Teachers are not employed to preach or make political speeches. All the people have the right to send their children to the public school without having their religious or political opinions tampered with by the teacher. 4. It is expected that the teacher in his conduct will be a good moral example to his school. 5. The ancient and erroneous practice of keeping beginners spelling a long time before commencing to read is to be abolished and instead the primer, or first reader, and slate are to be used from the start. 6. All teachers employed in public schools shall be annually examined in the branches to be taught in the schools, and receive at each examination a teacher's certificate, which shall be good for one year. Teachers shall be divided into three grades: Those who pass a satisfactory examination in reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic as far as and including long division, and marking and keeping roll book shall receive a third-grade certificate. Those going further, who shall evince a sufficient knowledge of arithmetic through fractions, primary geography, grammar through parts of speech, shall receive a second-grade certificate; those who still further understand arithmetic through percentage, grammar through syntax, and have a fair knowledge of general history and the history of Liberia and geography, shall receive a first-grade certificate. The standard of excellence will be gradually raised annually. a Public school law of Liberia, 1901, by Superintendent J. C. Stevens. In all grades professional experience shall be counted in the applicant's favor. In grading or making certificates 100 shall be the standard. 7. Applicants of good moral character will be examined and employed as teachers, without regard to religious sect, political affinity, or sex. 8. Teachers of the higher grade shall always be preferred, other things being equal. 9. The annual examination shall be held on the first Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in February, in Montserrado County; the second Tuesday and Wednesday in December, in Grand Bassa; the third Tuesday and Wednesday in November, in Sinoe County; and on the first Tuesday and Wednesday in November in Maryland County. Should the commissioners in the leeward counties find it to be necessary and expedient, three days may be used. 10. The teacher shall each day hear recitations in every study of each class. History and geography may be alternated-or taught twice a week. A lesson in the rudiments of music once a week is desirable where possible. 11. Whenever it is impossible for the general superintendent to be present at the examination of teachers, the commissioner of education will associate with himself one person of the county, male or female, distinguished for educational ability, and of unbiased mind, to assist him in grading the teachers according to merit evinced in the examination, in order to avoid the charge of partiality. 12. The salary of teachers will be fixed according to their grade, the first grade receiving the highest and the third grade the lowest sum. Until otherwise ordered, second-grade teachers shall receive $30 a year more than third-grade teachers, and first-grade $30 more than the second-grade teachers. 13. Any teacher examined and graded by the commissioner alone, feeling that he has not received justice in such marking, may appeal to the general superintendent, and appear before him for further examination, at a stated time, at his own expense. 14. While corporal punishment is allowed, yet it should be the last resort. All means of moral suasion must be exhausted before the rod is taken; and then should be used in moderation, according to the principles of the common law. The ablest teachers use the whip the least. 15. Corporal punishment should not be administered for mere failure to know lessons, but for persistent idleness and mischief making it may be given moderately. 16. Vacations shall be from the 30th day of November to the second Monday in February, and from the 15th of July to the 15th of August. From the superintendent's report to the legislature in 1903 I have been able to secure the few figures here given, which will throw some light upon the common schools maintained by Liberia. For that year there were 100 distinctively Liberian common schools, with 3,221 scholars under 100 teachers. There were 837 Liberian females in school, or 34.6 per cent of all the Americo-Liberians in the strictly Liberian schools. No distinction was made regarding the sex of the native Liberians, of whom there were, male and female, 803, or 24.9 per cent of the public common school pupils. XIV. INFLUENCE OF COMMON SCHOOLS IN LIBERIA ON THE AFRICAN. For the year 1903 in Liberia 50 per cent of the scholars in the Methodist schools were native Africans; 73.5 per cent of those in the Protestant Episcopal schools; 24.9 per cent of those in the public schools; making 42.6 per cent of the entire primary school enrollment in Liberia. Thus a little less than half of the children in school in Liberia in 1903 were native Africans. The Republic of Liberia was educating 337 more native children than the Methodists and 376 less than the Episcopalians. XV. SUPPORT OF COMMON SCHOOLS IN THE LIBERIAN SYSTEM. Although the legislature provided for the support of schools by taxing all males over 21 years of age, by allowing half of the tax on real estate for the school fund and all the tax on spirits and distilleries, yet the method provided did not work well, and the legislature appropriated the support of the common schools from the general treasury of the Republic. In the previous table I have been able to give, through the courtesy of Hon. Daniel Howard, secretary of the treasury, the appropriations for the common schools of the Liberian system since the organization of the bureau of education in 1900. It is to the credit of Liberia that for these four years for her common schools she spent $83,900 for their general support and $4,800 for books, a total of $88,700. And taking the enrollment for 1903, exclusive of Liberia College, the Republic spent $7.17 per child for its education. XVI. HIGHER EDUCATION IN LIBERIA LIBERIA COLLEGE. The great national institution in Liberia for higher learning is Liberia College. It is the pride of the Liberians and commands the patriotic support of the country. Dr. R. B. Richardson is its honored president. For the year ending December 9, ED 1905-VOL 1-12 1904, it had in the college department 13 freshmen, 5 male and 8 female; 9 sophomores, all male; 13 juniors, 6 male and 7 females, and 5 seniors. It is managed by two boards of trustees, one in Liberia and one in the United States of America. It has four departments-preparatory, law, industrial, and collegiate. It has 12 professors and instructors, with a total of 120 students. There is a separate building for the female students, so that there is no higher coeducation of the sexes in Liberia College. Some time in 1848 Rev. John Payne, a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Cape Palmas, wrote to the Hon. Simon Greenleaf, an eminent jurist of Boston, Mass., for aid in establishing a theological school at Cape Palmas. Believing that Liberia needed an institution for liberal culture, Mr. Greenleaf brought the matter to the attention of the Massachusetts Colonization Society in 1849. The final result was the founding of Liberia College under the control of two boards of trustees, one incorporated in 1850 in Massachusetts under the title "The Trustees of Donation for Education in Liberia," and the other in 1851 at the incorporation of Liberia College by the Liberian legislature.a The college building cost $20,000, which was given by the Boston board. Liberia gave "the 20 acres on which the college stands and 1,000 acres of land in each of the four counties in Liberia." The first act of incorporation designated Clay-Ashland as the proposed site. In the matter of a site several suits were filed, with the result that the college was located at Monrovia. Liberia College was opened in 1862 with a president, 2 professors, and 8 students, with 8 more in preparation. The sources of its support until about 1890 were mainly the funds raised by the Boston board. The two boards did not work together in perfect harmony, and the college department of Liberia College, was suspended several times prior to 1890. In 1881-82 the Liberian legislature provided for the establishment of a preparatory school in each of the four counties. About 1890 the Republic assumed the responsibility of supporting the college principally, and since that time it has only closed once, which was about 1893, on account of the Cape Palmas war. Support of Liberia College since 1900. In 1898, when W. D. Coleman was elected president, efforts began for the reopening of Liberia College. He induced the legislature to pass an act providing that one-half of the duty on piassava, one-half of the proceeds of the sales of public lands, and all escheated property be set apart as an endowment fund for the support of Liberia College. Rev. G. W. Gibson, who afterwards became president of the Republic, was elected president of Liberia College in 1900. At Doctor Gibson's inauguration the Rev. E. W. Bylden made an able and scholarly address on "The Liberian Scholar." Since 1900, exclusive of American aid, Liberia has raised for the support of Liberia College from piassava alone $97,188.47. The smallest amount from this source was in 1904, $15,460.33, which is $128.83 per student. Scholarships. One of the best things done by Liberia on the reopening of Liberia College was the establishment of scholarships to perpetuate the names of those rendering distinguished services to the college and the Republic. Among the number • African Repository, vols. 39-41, p. 193. Address of Dr. G. W. Gibson in 1900 on the occasion of his Inauguration as President, p. 25. bAfrican Repository, vols. 39-41, p. 88. |