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were enormous and he was greatly relieved when the U.S. Receiver
of Customs, appointed under the 1917 Loan, Harry A. McBride,
bought the car, reportedly the first automobile ever seen in
Liberia (5).
However, at that time the country had no roads. Not even a single
street in Monrovia was paved. The only graded street consisted of
a block around McBride's house. Its overall length did not exceed
a few hundred yards. To make better use of his car McBride used
trading goods from a German trading firm which he held in custody
after Liberia had entered the war (1917) to finance a thirteen
mile road, from Monrovia to Paynesville. It was Liberia's first
real automobile road. Eventually, during the Administration of
President King, it was extended to Careysburg, some 27 miles from
the capital (6).
This was the situation when the Firestone Plantations Company
entered Africa's first independent republic. The arrival of the
U.S. rubber company proved to be another incentive for the start
of Liberia's "automobile era". The United States Trading Company
(U.S.T.C), a Firestone subsidiary, sold cars, spare parts, and
tools to the Government of President King for a substantial
amount during the period June 30, 1925 - July 1, 1926, i.e. even
before the signing of the Planting and Loan Agreements (7). With
the assistance of Firestone the Monrovia - Careysburg road was
further extended, to Kakata, near the site of the rubber
plantation of the U.S. company (8). The country now had 44 miles
of roads which could be used by cars. McBride had long been the
proud possessor of the only car in the republic. Now, however,
foreign owners and managers of foreign trading firms as well as
Liberian Government .officials and other leading members of the
settler community started buying cars.
In the 1930's Firestone constructed, be it for its exclusive use,
an "airport", which consisted of two runways crossing each other,
one runway being 2200 ft long, 300 ft wide, and running
approximately N.E.-S.W., the other approximately 2600 ft long,
300 ft wide, and running approximately N.N.W.-S.S.E. (9). The
Second World War stimulated further activities in the air
transportation sector. In 1942 the same Harry A. McBride referred
to above negotiated with the Barclay Administration the Defense
Area Agreement which gave the U.S.A. the right to construct an
international airfield in Liberia which was to serve both
military and economic purposes. As a military base it provided
the U.S. Army with a site which formed an important link in the
transport of military supplies to the battlefields in North
Africa and in the Far East. At one time it even made it possible
to transport planes, which had been assembled in Liberia, to
these regions (10). This casts new light on Liberia's proclaimed
neutrality - which not until 1944 was officially abondoned by
the new Tubman Administration. The airport constructed by the
TJ.SJ Army was located some 35 miles from Monrovia but immediately
adjacent to Firestone's Harbel rubber plantation.