The_Open_Door_deel1

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the. Government ever realized such an appreciable increase
in her revenue without the aid of a foreign loan. The
customs receipts as well as the internal revenue have exceeded
the pre-war days of 1912 and 1913," (8)
Indeed, the total revenue for the Fiscal Year 1925 had soared to
almost $ 1 million and Liberia was gradually recovering from the
effects of the 1914 - 1918 War. This improvement in the financial
situation was also reflected by the trend in the Public Debt,
which had decreased in the years preceding the Firestone Loan
Proposal though it still stood at some $ 2 million. In 1926 the
total Public Debt of the Republic had again decreased and
amounted $ 1,873,722.66 of which $ 1,185,200.00 was owed by
European bankers under the Loan of 1912 when Liberia had borrowed
$ 1.7 million. This loan, however, had a maturity of 40 years (9).
In the absence of expenditure data it is not possible to get a
clear picture of the country's financial situation at the time,
but given the amount of Public Debt, its decreasing trend, and the
40 years' maturity of its main component, the 1912 Loan, it is
clear there was no need for a new loan of $ 5 million.
The Attorney-General of the Republic, Louis Arthur Grimes,
vehemently opposed the proposed loan, seriously objected to
certain conditions of the Loan Agreement as proposed by Firestone,
qualified some of its Articles as unconstitutional, and further
stated that "(,,,) the proposal impresses me as exceedingly
singular*" (10).
It became clear that Harvey Firestone wanted more than just a
concession agreement that would satisfy the demand of his
industry: he also wanted to have some control over the Liberian
Government which owed more than one million dollars to mainly
British bankers. The nature of the investment made political
control imperative as he wanted to avoid his investments being
endangered by European powers that sought to expand their colonial
empires. This desire was in line with the practices of European
powers of military occupation and subsequent colonization for the
safeguarding of investments and the guaranteeing of supplies of
raw materials. The independent supply of rubber, a need which had
arisen from the British Stevenson Plan, would indeed be jeopardized
by a European occupation of the territory. In April 1925 the
French colonial army seized ten Liberian villages and added the
Zinta sector to its West African colonies (11). For those reasons
Firestone insisted that Liberia should take a loan from him which
would be used to repay the European creditors. This would amply
serve his two purposes of eliminating a situation that could
become a pretext for European Governments to interfere In Liberian
affairs while at the same time giving him some control over the
Liberian Government. As an independent supply of rubber was in the
interest of the American industry, both the rubber manufacturing
and the automobile industries, he obtained the active support of
the Secretary of Commerce, Hoover.
The U.S. State Department also supported Firestone's plans as it
was particularly interested in a port on the West African coast as
a coaling station for naval use (12). Harvey Firestone knew this