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the second half of the 1930's. During these six years (1935 -
1940) over $ 1 million was spent on debt service (of which over
50? was on interest payments) out of a total expenditure
amounting to t 4>9 million in the same period. The largest share
went to the Finance Corporation of America for payments due under
the 1926 Loan ("the Funded Debt").
Thus, Firestone was more a burden than an advantage to the
Treasury in this period. Until 1935 the company's payments to the
Treasury had consisted of import duties, rental, consular fees
and a 1? rubber export tax, a yearly amount of between $ 10,000
and $ 15,000. Payments had been reduced to consular fees and a 1?
export tax with the 1935 Supplementary Agreement and the payment
of $ 650,000 in bonds in 1935. In return for the payment of
$ 250,000 in bonds Firestone had obtained duty exemptions for the
rest of the life of the 1926 Planting Agreement. The company's
duty free privileges were eliminated with the 1976 revision of
the Agreement but by then the Liberian Treasury had in the 1935 -
1976 period lost potential revenue, conservatively estimated at
$15 million because of this 1935 transaction (15), The modest
payments by Firestone in the 193O's constituted the only income
from foreign concessions. A Polish Group which had in 1935
started a cocoa plantation in the Central'Province had given up
Its plans before any income could materialise from this venture.
Besides the general negative impact on Liberia's fiscal affairs
by the Finance Corporation of America and the Firestone
Plantations Company, Firestone influenced the monetary outlook
of this tropical West African country. Traditionally the British
currency had been legal tender. Almost immediately after the
start of its operations in Liberia Firestone had become the
largest enterprise in the country but the country lacked
sufficient money and had no proper currency system of its own and
the rubber company had to import money to pay its labourers.
In 1931 the Barclay Administration legalized the circulation of
the U.S. dollar. During a period of over ten years both British
and American currency circulated freely, supplemented by Liberian
coins. As a result of the Second World War and the arrival of the
U.S. Army in Liberia and with the start of closer economic
cooperation between the Liberian and U.S. Governments President
Barclay changed this confusing monetary situation and in 1943
ordered the withdraiijal of the British currency from circulation
in Liberia. This was to be carried out between December 30, 1943
and June 30, 1944 (16).
Political Independence - Financial Dependence on Firestone
It does not seem to be an exaggeration to speak of Liberia in the
193O's and 194O's as a Firestone Colony or Protectorate. The 1926
Loan Agreement prescribed that without the consent of the owners