File No. 882.51/60.
Informal statement for the guidance of Mr. Falkner and the American banking group (not dated)
memorandum.
After the most exhaustive and deliberate study, the Department of State reached the conclusion that it could support the bankers’ agreement with Liberia as now drafted. In deference to the interests of Great Britain and France and to the commercial interests of Germany, the Department was glad to have the American group admit associates of those three nationalities, as well as of the Netherlands. The Department of State informed the German ambassador that it would probably be possible to have a German subject employed in some capacity under the receivership. It was afterwards thought appropriate that one person of each of the nationalities supplying most of the remainder of the loan should also be so employed. The inclusion of non-American capital and of a French, a German, and a British assistant is known to be the maximum non-American participation which would be acceptable to Liberia. Any plan more complicated or more costly than that embodied in the draft agreement would be quite out of proportion to the transaction and unnecessarily burdensome on Liberia and would seem unlikely to work well.
These and other considerations make it impossible for the Department of State to favor any material departure from the agreement as now drafted.