The_Open_Door_deel1

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coffee plants, notably to Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica and
Jamaica in the Western Hemisphere, to Sri Lanka and to Java
in Asia, to Australia, as well as to other African countries
(Gabon, Sierra Leone) (15).
The emergence of these profitable coffee plantations coincided
with the arrival of a large number of recaptives many
of whom were apprenticed to Americo-Liberian families (16).
An economic recession characterised the last decade of the
nineteenth century. Among the causes were poor marketing
methods with respect to the trade in the main agricultural
export products, coffee and sugar, backward production methods,
stronger competition of coffee producers in Venezuela
and Brazil, and a domestic labour shortage. The last mentioned
problem plays a crucial role throughout Liberia's
economic history. The Liberian historian Abayomi Karnga
already commented that
"(...) One of the main reasons which may have
accounted for the instaLility of agriculture and
other pursuits in LiLeria is the fact of their
Leing started On cheap labour, and in some instances
even on ill-directed free labour. (...) (17).
The former includes the cheap labour supplied by both recaptives
and Liberian tribal people whereas the latter is nothing
else but forced labour.
On various occasions members of the dominant elite illtreated
local labour. The descendants of ex-slaves in many
instances treated the Liberian tribal people like slaves,
thus providing free labour. On one occasion in Liberia's history
the country's President and Vice-President even resigned
in order to avoid impeachment because of their involvement in
a Slavery Scandal (18).
As a result, when the nineteenth gave way to the present century
the Liberian economy was in serious difficulties. The
economy was characterised by an imbalanced structure, most
people (the tribal people) participating in a subsistance
economy. The productive capacity of the Liberian economy was
extremely low due to the lack of infrastructure in the country
and the lack of trained and educated people. The Liberian Government
lacked the means to change this as the Treasury was
nearly always empty. The use of an alternative source of financing
of these badly needed changes - foreign financing -
was prevented by a disagreement which sharply divided the settler
community. This conflict coincided with another- one, the
"colour-conflict" between mulattoes and blacks. The death of
one of Liberia's nineteenth century's Presidents resulted directly
from these conflicts (19).