The_Open_Door_deel1

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The'vicious circle started with the Liberian Government's need
for money. This need had led to the founding of the republic,
since foreign traders had refused to pay duties imposed by a
Colonial Council - before 1847. However, after that year they
continued to evade taxes and for various reasons they encouraged
and helped the tribal population of the region claimed by the
Liberian Government to rebel against the settler Government.
The reaction of the Government was eventually the enactment of
the Ports of Entry Law which was meant to facilitate the
collecting of duties from foreign traders. This law, however,
deprived the tribal people along the coast from a considerable
portion of their (traditional) trade with European traders -
and dissatisfaction with this law contributed to aji increased
armed resistance against the Government. The Government found
itself obliged to spend considerable sums of money to suppress
these tribal revolts. These expenditures, combined with the
payment of indemnities to foreign traders and governments,
weakened the position of the Liberian Treasury. To solve these
financial problems the Government resorted to borrowing abroad
but improper management of these funds and embezzlement of these
and other funds prevented any improvement of the situation.
The introduction of new taxes (to repay the loans as well as to
run the Government) met with increased tribal resistance
resulting in a new wave of armed conflicts between the tribal
population and the settler Government. The introduction of the
Hut Tax in 1910 set off a series of uprisings of tribal people
in the following decade., and even in the 193O's the (last)
tribal revolt was due to the resentment against this additional
burden.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century colonial
imperialism (Great-Britain, France, Germany, Spain) necessitated
even more expenditures by the Liberian Government. Being forced
to create a "Frontier Force" (1908) the Treasury could not
regularly pay the expenditures involved. Against this background
it is hardly surprising that the foreign loans (1871, 1906, 1912,
1917, 1926) were never used for productive purposes. The
conditions on which these loans were obtained only aggravated an
already precarious financial situation.
Both the threats from within (the tribal people who not until the
Administration of President Arthur Barclay, 1904 - 1912, were
granted citizenship - though only in name and not resulting in
their participation in the political and administrative affairs
of the country) and from outside (the imperialistic European
Powers) inspired the Liberian Government on more than one
occasion to ask for American protection. Twice it asked the
Government of the U.S.A. to establish a Protectorate over Liberia
(1893; 1908). Certainly influenced by the "Open Door Policy" of
the U.S. tandem McKinley - Hay (President McKinley and his
Secretary of State Hay) the leading Liberian politicians of the
beginning of the present century pleaded for a (political) Open
Door Policy which would guarantee the country's political