File No. 811.7111/51.
Ambassador Page to the Secretary of State.
London, February 21, 1914.
152. Sir E. Grey informs me that a negro named Sam has been spreading propaganda among the population of Boggs, Oklahoma, and selling shares in an “African Trading Company” with a view to inducing negroes to emigrate to the Gold Coast Colony. The British Government has convincing information that Sam’s transactions are not genuine nor the company for which he acts reliable and the Gold Coast Government have denied that they have any authorized [Page 322] immigration agent. The British Ambassador at Washington reports that five hundred negro emigrants purpose to leave the United States for the Gold Coast about the 26th instant on the representations of Sam, and Sir Edward Grey earnestly requests that you will do all in your power to prevent the departure of these emigrants since he is morally certain that the entire scheme is fraudulent and that the intending emigrants are foredoomed to disappointment.