"Untold Difficulties:" The Indigenous Press and the Economic Effects of the First World War on Africans in the Gold Coast, 1914-1918

Abstract

During the First World War, the British colonial government in the Gold Coast vigorously sought to maximize both human and natural resources in support of the imperial war effort. Consequently, the people of the Gold Coast, like most colonized Africans, suffered from, the wartime policies as well as the direct effects of the war.' The Gold Coast had experienced relative economic prosperity before the outbreak of the war. Exports included cocoa, palm oil, rubber, kola, timber, and minerals.1 Ports, railways, and roads -were developed to exploit these and other commodities. In sum, the Gold Coast, despite the uncertainty of the colonial situation, was following a pathway towards prosperity, exemplified by economic boom and rapid urbanization. Also educational developments had paved the way for social change and social mobility.3 Unfortunately, the harsh wartime economic effects halted the wheels of prosperity: overall, the inhabitants of the Gold Coast experienced untold difficulties adjusting to wartime hardships and dislocation.4Two indigenous newspapers, The Gold Coast Leader and The Gold Coast Nation, which were published in the provincial capital of the Central Province, Cape Coast, became a hub of African intellectual activism and anticolonial protest politics. Patronized by the African intelligentsia, the indigenous press provided vigorous anticolonial commentaries on the prevailing conditions in the Gold Coast.5 Three areas of anticolonial criticism emerged in the press: opposition to Governor Hugh Clifford's vigorous implementation of indirect rule during wartime, colonial labor and military recruitment exercises, and the economic effects of the war. Several studies have examined indirect rule in the wartime, but they deal more with the political economy of indirect rule than the effects of indirect rule on the African population.6 A recent study has filled this gap by using African sources, specifically newspapers, to give voice to African perspectives on indirect rule.7 The subject of wartime colonial labor and military recruitment has attracted extensive study, though the sources used are mainly official reports, and consequently, the extant literature deals more with colonial policies than African agency and responses in wartime. Even in cases where the economic impact of the war is examined, there is still a reliance on official sources that emphasize government expenditures and income.9Through the prism of the indigenous press, the present study shifts the focus from government expenditure and income to the impact of the war on the population of the Gold Coast and African perspectives on the effects of the war on economy and society. Both indigenous newspapers took keen interest in the effects of the wartime economy on the people of the Gold Coast. Economic issues addressed by both newspapers in the course of the war were slackening cocoa prices; lack of shipping facilities and space; fall in revenue; stagnation of wages and salaries; scarcity of staple foods and imported commodities, especially from 1916 onwards; and the demographic effects of the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1917-1919. Increased taxation, freight rates, and customs duties equally attracted critical commentary in the press.10 In discussing these topical issues I show that the African intelligentsia, the opinion leaders in the colonial setting, effectively used the press as a composite political platform to articulate wartime economic problems that affected the African population. Due to the organic connection that existed between the indigenous press and the African intelligentsia, I have used both interchangeably to give voice to the extent and form of anticolonial protest and political action during the war.The first section of the study provides a synoptic view of the colonial government's perceptions of the wartime economy, while the second part briefly reviews the literature on the economic effects of the war. The third portion deals with the history of the two indigenous newspapers that served as the African intelligentsia's political platform for the articulation of the wartime economic problems. …