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the Legislature authorized him to contract long-term (!) loans
to execute the development program (48). Tubman's deviation from
this authorization by contracting short-term loans and its
financial consequences were dealt with before.
The composition of the Joint Commission changed in 1955 with the
signing of a new memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and
Liberian Governments. Membership was reduced to 4 Liberians and 3
Americans.
The absence of detailed information with respect to expenditures
made under these two Development Plans in the 19 5O's - even their
aggregate total is not available in Liberia - do not allow for
conclusions concerning the effectiveness of the money thus spent.
U.S. financial support to the country's development efforts was
substantial especially when compared to the total domestic
revenues of the recipient, the Government of Liberia. These
revenues totalled $ 20.2 million in the years 1944 through
1951. In the 1944 - 1950 period the U.S. Government alone spent
about $ 27 million in Liberia. Nearly all money was spent on
infrastructural works: an international airfield, interior roads
and the Free Port.
Table 35 presents the U.S. assistance to Liberia during the years
1946 through 1961. It is noteworthy that these amounts are
exclusive of the commitments and disbursements made during the
Second World War. The bulk of the money was channelled through
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and its
predecessor, the International Cooperation Agency (I.C.A.).
From 1951 until March 1962 they spent some $ 22 million. Total
domestic revenues of the Liberian Treasury in this period
totalled $ 204.8 million. Education and agriculture each
accounted for approximately 20 per cent of this assistance.
They were followed by transportation (15%), and health and
sanitation (10%). However, personnel costs accounted for a large
share of the American expenditures. Of USAID's expenditures of
$ 21.6 million, 42 per cent was used for the paying of American
technicians. The Northwestern University team severely
criticized the U.S. aid mission's inability to select priority
projects and the reluctance of some of its members to realize
that certain American practices did not always provide a
solution or relief to Liberia's special problems (49).
,Prior to 1951 the U.S. Government had formed the only external
source of supplementary funds for the Tubman Administration.
But with the creation of the United Nations Expanded Programme
of Technical Assistance (EPTA) in 1950 new opportunities were
offered. Liberia was a member of the U.N.0. as a result of its
signing of the United Nations Declaration in 1944, making it the
thirty-fifth signatory (50).