The_Open_Door_deel1

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was exempted from "any and all taxes, whether present or future"
under the 1935 Supplementary Agreement to the Planting Agreement.
Firestone might have been induced by the very favourable rubber
market and extremely high price of rubber on the international
market ("the Korea boom") to decide not to take risks in Africa's
oldest republic, realising at the same time that when times are
changing, it is sometimes better to change with them. Besides, as
the corporate income tax replaced the one per cent export tax on
rubber (if applicable) the extra payment to the Government was
less than would appear at first sight.
One and a half years later another Supplementary Agreement was
signed, extending the period of a tax liability of 20? from 1959
to 1964 and stating at the same time that
"(,.,) the Le.ssee or any subsidiary thereof will pay One
income tax only, irrespective of whether its plantation
operations are conducted by the Lessee, or its subsidiary.
The Lessee: and such corporate subsidiary shall be immune
from any tax upon the declaration, payment Or receipt of
rents, dividends and all payments or transfers made. Ly
such suLsidiary to the Lessee from surplus or net income
as alove defined shall not be subject to any tax, assessment
or deduction of any kind or character." (40)
The problems and disputes arising out of the rightful
interpretation of the Planting Agreement and various Supplementary
Agreements being many, notably with respect to the payment by
Firestone of consular fees (41), with the signing of the second
Supplementary Agreement of 1951 to the Planting Agreement the
rubber company became sujected to the payment of consular fees of
general application (on imports only). (42). In the following year,
President William Tubman made the last repayment to the Finance
Corporation of America under the 1926 Loan and brought an end to
an embarrassing situation. His contemporaries erected a monument
on the foot of which they expressed their gratitude:
"This Monument erected by the people of liberia is dedicated
to the great relief brought to the Country by the
Tubman Administration in the retirement of the 1927 Loan
with its humiliating and strangulating effects on the
economy of the Nation".
Ironically, this monument now (1979) stands in the public garden
in front of the Harvey S. Firestone Building of Science and
Technology of the University of Liberia. Most U.L. students are
not aware of its historical significance, not even its existance.
Relations between the Government of Liberia and the Firestone
Plantations Company deteriorated gradually during the 1950's,
partly because of the influx of other foreign companies. However,
not until the 196O's was there a direct confrontation or a great
threat to Firestone's dominance.