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but had not declared any profits (which would have resulted in an
additional income for its parent company, L.M.C., to be taxed at
the rate of 50? after 1965). Thus, over the years T.T.C. had
accumulated its earnings which amounted to $ 1,4 million at the
end of 1976. Part of these earnings had been derived from logging
and sawmill operations, which were based upon a "Timber Sales
Contract" concluded between the Ministry of Agriculture and
T.T.C, entitling it to approximately 20,000 acres of timberland
within the Yoma District of the Gola National Forest, and upon
an addendum to this agreement granting T.T.C. permission to
conduct timbering operations on forest land of the tribal
authority situated in the Bopulu District, covering approximately
6,000 acres. This arrangement had become necessary as L.M.C.'s
1945 mining concession agreement restricted the timberland to the
mining concession area. But although T.T.C. held the timber
contracts, L.M.C. owned the sawmill facilities as well as all the
equipment used in the timber and logging operations, and all
operations were conducted under L.M.C management, all of T.T.C.ts
employees being directly employed by L.M.C All charges connected
with timbering and sawmill operations were also included in
L.M.C.'s accounts as part of the costs of the mining operations
(most of T.T.C's production being railroad ties for use on the
Bomi Hills - Monrovia railroad) (60).
The Liberians had become aware - though (too) late that the
lion's share of the proceeds of the sales of the Bomi Hills ore
had been given away. It is not surprising therefore to discover
that when the number of Liberians that had completed specialized
studies abroad increased relations between the Liberian
Government and L.M.C-. deteriorated. All possibilities of
obtaining more revenue^from the enterprise were exploited - even
when (in some cases) the amount of the additional assessments
were relatively small when compared with the money which had -
almost literally - been shipped abroad. The same tendency
characterized the relations between the Government of Liberia and
Firestone in the 1970's - as we have seen in Chapter 3.
In 1971 the U.S. Accounting Principles Board had declared that
investments in subsidiaries which were both under the direct
control of its parent company and had a minimum of 20? of its
shares held by this parent company should be accounted for on the
equity basis of accounting instead of on a cost basis (61). Given
the general orientation in Liberia (especially of the governing
group of people) on the U.S.A. and considering the origin of the
investors behind L.M.C. it seems logical that the Liberian
Government demanded that L.M.C changed its practice of using
costs as a basis for accounting for its investments in T.T.C.
which the mining company had still not done by March 31, 1977
(when it closed down) despite its commitment under the Collateral
Agreement to adhere to generally accepted accounting practices.
Evidently in this case, the Government wanted to share in the
accumulated earnings of the Tropical Trading Company though
initially it only claimed an amount of nearly I 52,000.00 which
would have accrued to the Treasury in the period 1971 - 1977 if