November 20,1952
NEWS
PAGE THREE
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE
AND POINT FOUR
Harvey s. FIRESIONE, jr., -was one of the principal speakers on New York Herald Tribune Annual Forum on October 20, talking
on the subject ''Private Enterprise and Point Four.” Subject of the discussions on the three-day Forum was ''New Frontiers for American
Industry.” In his talk, Mr. Firestone showed how the private enterprise system can bring prosperity to underdeveloped countries without American
Government aid, giving the Firestone Plantations in Eiberia as an exctmple of such programs.
Mr. Firestone’s talk tvas heard by an audience of 2,200 in the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and also was broadcast by New York’s
radio station WNYC and rebroadcast October 21 over the NBC nation-wide program.
Also appearing on the program October 20 wer eAmbassador William H. Draper, U. S. Spectal Representative in Europe; William S. Paley,
Chairman of Columbia Broadcasting Systems, Inc.; H. B. Nicholson, President of the Coca-Cola Co.;_ K. Keith Funston, President of the New York
Stock Exchange, and Charles C. Dennis, Published and Editor of The Listener, Monrovia, Libena.
Mr. Dennis praised the Firestone program in Liberia, saying that Liberians have learned to appreciate the part that foreign enterprise plays
in the progress and prosperity of the country. "Firestone’s pioneering job in Liberia has been and still is one of great importance and promise
to my country” he said. "It is probably as satisfactory an arrangement as you will find in the^ history of relationships between a private
company and a sovereign state.
since the end of World War II, there has been a
growing concept that one of the most effective means
combating Communism is to help raise the standards
O'T 1 * *
nving of the peoples of the underdeveloped areas of
e World. Back of this concept is the basic philosophy
at Communism breeds in places where there is poverty,
^^ger, disease, and idleness; and that the best way to
out Communism is to endeavor to eliminate the
conditions which generate it.
„ 1947, General Eisenhower, in his book, “CRU-
IN EUROPE,” made the following statement:
herever popular discontent is founded on group op-
P^^ssion or mass poverty or the hunger of children,
Communism may stage an offensive that arms
ca^nnot counter. The areas in which freedom flourishes
^ continue to shrink unless the supporters of de
mocracy match Communist fanaticism with clear and
‘Common understanding that the freedom of men is at
^ • • • and, above all, annual Communist appeals to
® hungry, the poor, the oppressed, with practical
measures untiringly prosecuted for the elimination of
®®cial and economic evils that set men against men.”
1949, President Truman, in his inaugural address,
sk'n United States should share its technical
ples^' and investment capital with the peo-
'^i^derdeveloped areas, and closed with the words,
fore “Democracy alone can supply the vitalizing
actio peoples of the world into triumphant
also against their human oppressors, but
their ancient enemies, hunger, misery, and
CAME to be known as the Point Four Pro-
1950 ^^ter Congress enacted the plan into law. In
Was' International Development Advisory Board
of by the President to study the problem
Gov backward nations and to recommend to the
ways and means of accomplishing the
havj plan. As a member of that Board, I
and ample opportunity to study both the problem
^ore 11 suggestions for solving it. More and
and come to the conclusion that private industry
Part capital can play an increasingly important
heipij^^ about the benefits to be derived from
countries, providing that the
ttients '^^^niate is improved and certain encourage-
solve &iven. At the same time, they can help to
storages^ future essential raw material
capital investment creates permanent jobs,
involv,,”^^ Productivity and standards of living, and
our n ^ burden on our people. The efforts of
other should be directed toward convincing
of the value of making their countries
Text of Mr. Firestone’s talk follows:
per-
Peciaii attractive places for foreign capital,
sonnei^ ”^^^^can capital, because with it goes the
and know-how so essential to success.
p * * s;s
=^UelJ COUNTRIES, such as Canada and Vene-
iio ^r^at foreign and local capital alike, have
^owgy in obtaining private development funds,
but a investments in foreign fields have been
PririQj^ of the available potential. Some of the
Stated' now blocking the flow of United
Of a^broad are; competition in some countries
state-controlled development cor-
^^*^itta ^ pi’ivately-owned industry; limitations on
^ance profits; multiple exchange rates; remit-
^^^r^ings at the least favorable of multiple
Perc*^ ^ates; currency inconvertibility; limitations on
of foreign equity capital allowed; special
nSU;
er
^Pati applicable only to foreign investors;
^he available exchange for political pui'poses
foreign investors; restrictions on the
foreigners, especially technical and man-
which can be employed; and unwill-
^ateY>5„i allow foreign capital to develop basic raw
I havi
resources.
6 Very sound reasons for my belief that private
capital invested in an underdeveloped country can bring
great benefits to all. As many of you know, The Firestone
Tire & Rubber Company operates x’ubber plantations in
the Republic of Liberia on the West coast of Africa.
The advantages which Liberia and Firestone have gained
from this association are concrete examples in support
of my belief.
In 1926, when we started, Liberia was one of the
most underdeveloped nations on the face of the earth.
It was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was practically
without roads and there were only three automobiles in
the country. It had little means of communication.
Tropical diseases took a high toll among the natives.
There was not one payroll in the entire country. In that
year, exports amounted to only $1,750,000.
Today, the picture is quite different. Last year, ex
ports amounted to more than $50,000,000. There are
now 30,000 Liberians on the Firestone payroll alone.
More than 1,500 motor vehicles are registered and there
are hundreds of miles of good roads, with a new arterial
highway under construction which will run from one
end of the country to the other. We now have 90,000
acres planted and last year we produced nearly 73,000,000
pounds nf rubber. Aside from current obligations, Liberia
began the year 1952 completely free from debt.
Upon our entry into Liberia, we faced four major
tasks. They were to put the Government on its feet
financially, to build roads and establish other means of
communication, to raise the health and living standards
of the people, and to establish our plantations.
* *
IN 1926, the Liberian Government was operating
under a customs receivership established under a 1912
European loan. Our Company solved this basic problem
by lending the Liberian Government $2,500,000 to pay
off its debts and to provide operating capital. I am happy
to tell you that this loan was paid off in 1951, fifteen
years before its maturity.
During the past 26 years, we have built 225 miles of
primary roads within our plantation areas and 200 miles
of primary roads, plus numerous bridges, for the Li
berian Government at less than cost. We erected and
put into operation a hydroelectric plant, set up telephone
lines and built a public service radio station with com
mercial communications to all parts of the world.
Since 1926, our Company has built and equipped two
hospitals and nine dispensaries at a cost more than
half a million dollars and our medical budget is close
to $500,000 a year. We are operating prenatal clinics
and we have a program of child care. A training school
for nurses is maintained and from it we have graduated
scores of native Liberians who are proficient in their
profession.
* * =i=
AT NO TIME have the Company-provided medical
services been limited to employees. About one out of
every four patients treated at the plantation hospitals
and dispensaries have no employment connection with
the Company. The Company has voluntarily put into
effect a system of compensation for injured employees
based on the most liberal practices in the United States.
For many years. The American Foundation for
Tropical Medicine has been studying diseases peculiar
to tropical countries and it has made many valuable
contributions to the prevention and cure of numerous
ailments which once plagued mankind. A majority of
these diseases are found among the natives of Liberia.
We at Firestone provided funds to establish a research
institute in Liberia to study these diseases and, if pos
sible, find preventives and cures. In January, 1952, it
became my privilege to dedicate to the memory of my
father the new Liberian Institute of The American
Foundation for Tropical Medicine. This new research
center will study tropical diseases at their source. We
are sure that its work will result in a substantial in
crease in the health of the people of Liberia and other
tropical nations.
In addition to these measures for the improvement
of the health of the Liberian people, we also took steps
to improve their living standards. We built schools, not
only for the children of our employees, but also for the
training of Liberians in automotive repair, wood-work
ing, carpentry, electrical work and mechanics. We
opened stores where our workers can buy supplies at
the lowest possible prices. And we encouraged them to
go into business for themselves. With the building of
good roads, many small businesses sprang up along
them and areas adjacent to the roads became farms on
which Liberians raised food that could be easily trans
ported to market.
IN THIS CONNECTION, we hoped by our example
to interest native farmers in growing plantation rubber.
To encourage them, we offered them free seedlings and
free technical advice. Today, there are more than 600
independent Liberian rubber planters. Last year, they
produced some 4,500,00 pounds of rubber and within
the next decade their output is expected to increase
many fold. We process the rubber for these independent
growers and purchase it from them at the prevailing
world price, thus providing them with a ready market
for their production.
From the very beginning, we were careful not to
disrupt customs and practices which had existed for
centuries among the native peoples. We employed our
workers in full cooperation with the tribal chiefs. In a
Tetter to President King of Liberia in 1926 I said, and
I quote: “We desire to point out to the Government
again that the success of our development in Liberia is
largely dependent upon the organization of a permanent
and contented labor force. This can only be done through
free and unrestricted employment and upon terms and
conditions which are agreeable to the laborers them
selves.” Although that statement of our labor policy
was made many years ago, we have never deviated from
it in letter or in spirit.
m * *
WE SELECTED the most intelligent natives and
made them leaders. We respected the native languages,
of which there are at least eighteen, and published the
first grammar ever written of a leading Liberian lan
guage, Kpelle. We fostered and encouraged native
dances, music, and other folk arts. We did not try to
change their diet, which is based on the unpolished,
protein-rich rice commonly grown in that area, but as
the years went by we did encourage the growing of
other foods and the raising of cattle to supplement
their rice.
One of the greatest benefits of our Liberian oper
ations became apparent in World War II. With the
principal rubber-producing areas of the Far East cut
off by the Japanese, Liberia remained one of the few
rubber-growing areas still open to the allied nations.
But that was not the only contribution to victory
made by Liberia. Her geographic position in the South
Atlantic was of great strategic importance. During the
war, thousands of planes a month, on their way to the
fighting zones, used Roberts Field, which we had
carved out of the jungle. Today, the planes of four air
lines link Liberia with the principal cities of our con
tinents.
FROM WHAT I have told you, I am sure you will
agree that the investment of private capital in under
developed areas, combined with a sincere and earnest
desire to bring benefits to the peoples of those lands
on a basis which does not limit their national inde
pendence or their personal freedom results in lasting
and valuable benefits to all concerned. Not only do the
investors benefit, but also the governments and peoples
of the nations in which the investments are made. And
■the world benefits, because the ground for breeding
Communism is no longer fertile.
Here, then, is a proven and tested plan which brings
benefits to the investors, which does not cost the tax
payer a single penny, which raises the living standards
of the people of underdeveloped lands and which attacks
at its source one of the greatest forces for evil the
world has ever known.