The_Open_Door_deel1

-U3-
was wrongly thought in those days that the total population numbered
between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000.
This partly explains why Harvey Firestone secured concession
rights in an area of 1 million acres. He considered the country's
labour potential as "practically inexhaustible" too and foresaw
no problem in employing a labour force of between 300,000 and
350,000 people, the number which a 1 million acre rubber plantation
would require. The Liberian Government should have known
better. The shortage of labour had already, during the 1890's,
greatly contributed to the collapse of the coffee plantations.
But even when accepting the population figure of more than 1.5
million this still would have meant that almost the entire adult
male population of the country would have been employed on the
Firestone plantations. This may explain why Harvey Firestone inserted
a clause in the Planting Agreement obliging the Liberian
Government to assist the Firestone Company in securing an adequate
labour supply since the same Agreement forbade the importation
of unskilled labour.
With respect to the employment of Liberians, Harvey Firestone
wrote to President King on December 2, 1926:
"(...) Such laboun. *o employed *hall be. -(.nee to Han.ga.Ln £on
it* tenm* and condition* o£ employment with. the. Company and
*hall be. f.n.ee to *e.ven it* employment with the. Company at
it* own will and conue.nie.nce.. Ue de*in.e to point out to the
Qove/inment again that the. *ucce.** o/ oun. de.ve.lopme.nt in
Liberia i* la/igely dependent upon the onganization o£ a
permanent and contented laboun. /o/ice, 7hi* can be done
thn.ou.gh -fLn.ee and unne.*in.icted employment and upon tenm* and
condition* which a/ie agn.eeab.le to the labo/ien.* th.e.m*elue*" ,
(51)
Prior to Firestone's arrival in Liberia the employment in the
monetary sector of the economy was practically limited to the
civil service and a small number of trading companies. Firestone
needed thousands of labourers for the clearing of the lands on
which the plantation was to be developed and tens of thousands of
rubber tappers once the rubber trees would mature. The company
envisaged initially to plant 80,000 acres each year with rubber
trees, until one million acres would be used. As these large numbers
of labourers needed would never be attracted voluntarily
from the subsistence sector of the national economy, a recruitment
system was introduced through which the North American rubber
company was supplied with sufficient labour. To realise this,
Firestone had secured the contractual support of the host Government.
Shortly after Firestone had been granted the 1 million acre concession,
political developments in Liberia led to the events compromising
the political top of the country. Twelve days after the
resignation of President King, the recruitment of labourers for
shipment overseas (!) was outlawed. The Act which prohibited recruitment
practices for shipment overseas implicitly recognised
Firestone's growing need for large numbers of labourers where it