The_Open_Door_deel1

-Un-
stated that
*(.**) and whejtea* in the inten.e*i o-f. the national e.con~
omy it i* un.ge.ntly ne.aui*ite. that Auch fiecn.uiting He
prohibited (...)* (52).
The country's economic and employment situation of those days was
nearly self explanatory. A few hundred people were employed by
the Government, virtually all recruited from the ranks of the
Americo-Liberians. Further, there was some employment provided
by some foreign trading firms operating in the country. But the
only employer of significance in the country was Firestone.
This company employed more than 10,000 labourers on its plantations
in 1930. As early as 1928, however, more than 8,500 had not
come to.workvfor Firestone voluntarily (53). The forcible character
of the recruitment was also mentioned by an old Liberian
man who was interviewed by the present author. According to his
own words, he was
"a *mall boy when Tin.e*tone came to LibeJiia."
During the interview he stated that during the King Administration
soldiers of the Liberian Frontier Force would come to the villages
and compel people to leave for the Firestone plantations to work
there {5k).
In general, the recruiting system worked as follows; each Chiefdom
of the Hinterland had to supply a fixed number of men for
work on the Firestone Plantations. This quota system was:'established
by the Secretary of the Interior and the Firestone management.
The men were actually recruited, however, by the Department
of the Interior through the tribal chiefs who received a commission
for their cooperation. If fewer workers than the prescribed
quota were sent to the Firestone plantations, these chiefs would
get nothing.
Once the recruited men had left their tribal villages, on their
way to their new work site and employer, the chiefs' responsibility
for supplying labour ended. The numberous cases of desertion
- workers who refused to accept this involuntary employment at
the Firestone plantations and who subsequently left the plantations
after some time - could not release Firestone from its obligation
to pay these chiefs their commission fees. Liberian law,
however, prohibited tribal people from residing without authorisation
in an area belonging to tribal people other than their own
clan. Thus these "drop outs" had no legal alternative but to return
to the'i ancestral villages.from where they came. Then they
could be accused of disobeying orders from their Clan Chief which
is considered a serious offense in a traditional society.
In the late 1920's Firestone paid these tribal chiefs one cent
a day for each worker and the same to the Interior Department/the
Liberian Treasury. The U.S. rubber company paid its workers one
shilling (equal to 2U cents) a day, supplementing the wages with
a supply of food (rice, fish and oil). A noticeable characteristic
was, further, that if on a very rainy day the abundant precipitation
would prevent any work, the. labourers would not get any
pay since they were hired on a daily basis (55).
The principles of this recruiting system remained unchanged until