The_Open_Door_deel1

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administrators and supervisors appointed by a Government on the
other side of the Atlantic. Thus, Liberia was put on an equal
footing with other countries (in this context). Several countries
in Latin America had been put under the control of U.S.
administration too (in particular Haiti, and the Dominican
Republic). Among those appointed by the U.S. Government was an
(American) Financial Advisor to the President of Liberia who
controlled the Republic's finance, had to approve the Nation's
budget every year and was entitled to an annual salary of
$ 12,500, to be paid by the Liberian Government. The Liberian
Government was now forbidden to contract new loans without the
written consent of the Finance Corporation of America, i.e.
Firestone.
If the Government of President King had thought that with his
loan of $ 5 million it would have, some money available for
productive use, after repaying its debts, reality soon proved
it wrong. The first tranche amounted to $ 2,253,000 of which the
Government jr_ejieived $ 2,027,700 (90 percent). Most of it was _
used for debtservicing ( in reality a re-financing of the external
debt). A very small portion of the loan was used for
infrastructural improvements: only $ 168,169.73 was used for
development proposes ($ 11,730.39 for "Special Sanitation" and
$ 156,439.34 for Public Works etc.). The rest of this first
tranche was squandered (16). One of the Articles of the Loan
Agreement stipulated that after the refunding of the old debt the
second tranche of the loan, amounting to $ 2.7 million, could be
realized only if the total of the Customs Revenue and Head Taxes
would exceed the amount of $ 800,000 for two consecutive years. At
the time of the signing of the agreement, however, the-Customs
Revenue and Head Taxes were $ 384,881 and $ 20,947 respectively
(16). The revenues of the Government had to be deposited in a bank,
the "United States Trading Company Banking Department", another
Firestone subsidiary. Liberia had to pay ii% commission on its
deposits in this bank (sic!), and ~\% of the amounts transferred to
New York for debt service. The latter arrangement cost the
Liberian Government some $ 10,000 a year (17).
THE FIRESTONE PLANTATIONS COMPANY
Under the first of the three agreements the Firestone Plantations
Company, a company organized and existing under the laws of the
State of Delaware, U.S.A., and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the
Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, for 99 years leased the Mount
Barclay Plantation at a rental of $ 2,000 for the first year and
of | 6,000 per annum thereafter.
The second agreement granted the company the right to lease, also
for a period of 99 years, an area of land of 1 million acres, to
be selected anywhere within the boundaries of the country, for the
production of rubber or other agricultural products or to engage
in any operation other than agricultural upon the lands held under
this agreement (to be called afterwards "the Planting Agreement").
In the third agreement the Firestone Plantations Company obligated