The_Open_Door_deel1

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in 1947, but also entrusted him - upon the other's initiative -
with the drawing up of three important documents. One provided for
the legal frame-work for Liberia's Maritime Program, the Liberian
Maritime Law, the second was the Liberian Corporation Law which
allowed for foreign companies, operating outside Liberia, to
register under Liberian laws for tax purposes, and the third was
the Charter of the International Trust Company of Liberia, a North
American company whose two main functions were those of Maritime
Administrator for the Republic of Liberia, and of Statutory Agent
for foreign businesses that were incorporated under Liberian laws.
In 1948 The International Trust Company was organized as part of
The Liberia Company though later its ownership was fully
transferred to the World Development Corporation of Washington
(11). The Liberian Legislature enacted the three laws in December
1948 thereby laying another cornerstone for the country's post-war
Open Door Policy.
Upon the death of Stettinius his company, Stettinius Associates-
Liberia, Inc., was bought by the Liberian Development Corporation,
a company in which Stettinius' son-in-law had probably
a majority shareholding and whose President he became.
The Liberia Company, originally created by Stettinius Associates-
Liberia, Inc., had now become a subsidiary of the Liberian
Development Corporation which participated directly for 65? in the
capital of its subsidiary and indirectly for another 10? through
the wholly-owned Liberian Educational Foundation whose official
purpose was the furtherance and support of charitable, religious,
and educational institutions in Liberia,
Until 1962 when it sold its share to the Liberian Development
Corporation, the Government of Liberia had a 25? interest in The
Liberia Company.
Besides its previous mentioned involvement in the International
Trust Company, The Liberia Company in the late 1940"s bought a 8?
equity interest in the country's first iron ore company, the
Liberia Mining Company, and acquired a share in the Monrovia Free
Port Management Company after the first modern port of the country
had been completed. It build and operated in the 1950's a coldstorage
plant on Bushrod Island, not far from the Port, as well as
a small but at that time modern hotel situated nearby. The company
created its own trading company, the Liberia Trading Company,
which in turn was linked to another trading company, the Inter-
Continental Trading Company. Presumably the latter company had
been created for the purpose of acting as the purchasing agent of
the Liberian Government, in accordance with the Revised Statement
of Understanding, a function which became redundant with the
creation of the Bureau of General Supplies in 1953. The Liberia
Company furthermore provided in this period management services
for the Department of Public Works and Utilities (within the
Division of Light and Power, and the Division~of Water and
S ewerage).
The Liberia Company represented Raymond International (Liberia/
Ltd.), which had constructed the Free Port of Monrovia. The company
was also general agent for seven air transportation companies
(Pan American World Airways, SABENA, B.O.A.C., Ethiopian