While we were there--as is true indeed much of the time--their payments were behind, and they were expressing some dissatisfaction, but were easily controlled; there is, however, always a danger of mutiny when the Government is behind in meeting its obligations to them; I quote from one who was in Monrovia October 10, 1911; he says: “I heard quite an altercation in the street. Upon going out I saw about 120 men moving through the street in a disorderly mass toward the office of the Secretary of War. Upon arriving at the office, there was quite a demonstration and matters looked serious. After a great deal of persuasion on the part of the Secretary and the one officer from the camp, the men moved away in the direction of Camp Johnson. I was informed that the men were demanding their pay.” There is also great danger of the Frontier Force, when marching through the interior, looting and destroying the fields and villages through which they pass; this is so much in the nature of ordinary native warfare that it must be particularly guarded against; the Frontier Force, however, is necessary, and it seems to be making a promising development. Compare, you say, the present with the past. Where are the schooners and cutters that were used to be built right here in Liberia, when nearly every responsible man had his own? Where are the tons of sugar that used to be shipped to foreign parts by our fathers, and the barrels of molasses, and the tons of camwood? Where are the financial men of the country that looked upon the holding of public offices almost beneath them, who had to be begged to fill the offices? Where are those who when they (had) made their farms lived off the farms? Oh, where are the honest, upright and loyal government officials of 1847? You answer for yourselves. Where are the great Liberian merchants of Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Sinoe, and Cape Palmas? Gone!--S. D. FERGUSON, JR. TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORTATION. Liberia’s very existence depends upon her development of trade. If the Liberians push forward in this direction, her future may be assured. If, however, she neglects it, her neighbors, France and England, can not be expected to permit their opportunity to pass. The area of the Black Republic is far too rich by nature to be overlooked; if its legitimate owners fail to develop it, others will do so. The past of Liberia was built on trade in wild produce; its immediate prosperity must depend upon the same source of wealth. For the moment the trade of Liberia must be in such things as palm nuts, piassava, and rubber.