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National Iron Ore Company, the Liberian Agricultural Company,
CAIMI B.V., and several logging companies. Individuals within
these companies provided me with valuable information with respect
to the history and actual operations of their respective
companies. I wish to express my sincere gratitude for the
contribution they made to the present study.
I am also indebted to Professor Dr. L.H. Janssen who always
had constructive comments after reading each chapter of the_
draft of this dissertation. Professor Dr. Joh. de Vries was'
very helpful in many instances, particularly with his substantial
contributions to the historic perspective in which
the origin of the Liberian Open Door Policy was considered.
Both have been very patient when the writing sometimes slowed
down a little for personal reasons.
Grateful acknowledgement is also given to Mrs. M.H.Boomsma-
Huisman for assisting with the English grammar in spite of geographical
separation, Ms. Priscilla Hinckley for her help with
the maps and Mrs. Nathalie_Meijs for the many pages of typed
manuscript. I am especially grateful to my wife and Mr. William
Johnstone for the final effort of polishing, correcting and
helping to meet a deadline in spite of a coup d'etat.
My wife, above all, has suffered the most while giving me her
constant support. For her, this dissertation meant having an
abundance of Patience. As for our three children, it might be
called a Problem they could not fully comprehend, since their
father seemed, so often, preoccupied and unable to give the
attention they wanted. Postponement seemed eternal to them.
For me, however, the research and writing were always a Pleasure,
without which it would never have been completed.
Ouagadougou, Upper Volta
August, 1983