The_Open_Door_deel1

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The arrival of this mission in Liberia, in December 1943,
coincided with the successful conclusion of negotiations which
had also been started by President Barclay whilst in the U.S.A.
in the spring of that year for the construction of a port at
Monrovia. Thus, with the building of a port, a major obstacle to
the development of the Bomi Hills deposits was eliminated. The
Port Agreement, signed in December 1943, provided for the
construction of a port with Lend-Lease funds. Interestingly,
Edward Stettinius had been Lend-Lease Administrator from 1941
till 1943, in which year he was appointed Under-secretary of
State. With the Port Agreement the U.S. Government finally
realised an old dream, i.e. obtaining a naval base in West
Africa (10), and as is pointed out elsewhere the United States'
purpose in constructing this port was more strategic than
economic (11). However, the U.S. access to an important source
of supply of iron ore was also gradually becoming guaranteed.
The importance of this is clear in the light of the increased
output and therefore accelerated depletion of the U.S. ore
reserves during the war. In November 1944 the U.S. Foreign
Economic Administration sent an economic mission to Liberia whose
assignment was described as assisting Liberia "to increase its
production of ... strategic materials ..." (12), A well equipped
port would be indispensable for the export of these products.
It is worth mentioning that the U.S. Department of State was
headed in this year, 1944, by Edward Stettinius whose philosophy
and further activities with respect to Liberia (after the war)
were discussed in Chapter 4, Surprisingly, his role in the
opening up of Liberia for foreign investment capital has not been
sufficiently recognized. This may be explained by the Liberian
Authorities' reluctance openly to admit the role of foreigners in
Liberian public affairs, in combination with the general habit of
making flattering political statements in favour of the ruling
President of the Republic. Stettinius 1 sudden death in 1949 may
be another reason for his role in what is called "Tubman's Open
Door Policy" falling into oblivion in Liberia.
The international supply of iron ore after 1945.
In the U.S.A., the post-war situation was characterized by a
growing disparity between the places of production of iron ore
and the location of the centers of steel consumption. Prior to
the 1939 - 1945 war none of the principal U.S. steel companies
mined iron ore outside the U.S.A. (with the exception of the
Bethlehem Steel Corporation) (13) but the high rate of steel ,
production during the war had seriously depleted the main iron
ore deposits of the Mesabi Range (in the Lake Superior District
which since the early 1900's had been the main source of iron ore
for the American steel industry). At the end of the war a number
of geological, economical, and political factors stimulated the
search for new iron ore deposits by American mining and steel
companies. The predicted declining rate of production of the
Mesabi Range (which produced iron ore with an average Fe-content