882.51/1017
The Secretary of State to the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Davis)
Dear Mr. Davis: I beg to refer to your letter of the 21st instant in which you request to be informed as to just what commitments the Department of State has made in respect to Liberia which would concern England and France, other than the payment of the obligations held by their nationals.
The principal commitments of this character were contained in the memorandum of the Department of State of November 19, 1918, a copy of which is enclosed herewith,41 and were reiterated and reinforced during the protracted negotiations at Paris between the British, French, and American representatives regarding the financial assistance to Liberia. These commitments may be grouped under the following headings:
- 1.
- Improved transportation facilities by land and sea, as well as improved means for the transmission of mail and messages.
- 2.
- Harbor improvements, especially at Monrovia.
- 3.
- Assistance in organizing and maintaining a modern public school system.
- 4.
- Scientific system of intensive agriculture.
- 5.
- System of sanitation and potable water.
- 6.
- Establishment and maintenance of a just and equitable administration of the hinterland.
- 7.
- Maintenance of an effective military force or constabulary under American officers.
- 8.
- The raising of the general level of the native population, and particularly of the uncivilized native tribes of the interior.
For many years the British and French authorities, because of the contiguity to Liberia of their colonies of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast, have been extremely desirous to improve the general moral, educational, economic, and commercial conditions in Liberia and have stood ready to advance, and have even pressingly insisted that Liberia accept financial assistance to this end. It would, however, be very disadvantageous and dangerous to Liberia to accept such proffered assistance, as it would place her in a position of practical servitude to those countries. In order, therefore, to avoid the danger of the virtual annexation of Liberia by peaceful penetration through economic measures on the part of Great Britain and France which would nullify any benefits arising to Liberia out of the American program of financial development, the Department of State felt that it was necessary to provide Liberia with [Page 495] American funds for purposes of economic development. Accordingly all negotiations with Great Britain and France looking to their withdrawal from the International Receivership of 1912, or the purchase of the outstanding bonds of 1912, have always been predicated by the Department of State upon the understanding that the loan credit of $5,000,000 would be available for both the financial and economic rehabilitation and development of Liberia. The Department of State, accordingly, both in its memorandum of November 19, 1918, and in the subsequent lengthy negotiations at Paris, fully and unequivocally committed the Government of the United States to the execution of the program of economic development in Liberia along all the lines enumerated above, out of the funds to be made available from the loan credit of $5,000,000.
I may add that if the British and French Governments should feel that they have been in any measure misled by the positive statements of the Department of State in regard to the financial assistance for economic development which has been promised to Liberia, they can doubtless bring powerful pressure upon Liberia which will very much embarrass both Liberia and the United States and affect the maintenance of a stable and responsible government in that Republic. The consequences might easily become disastrous for Liberia and prove a serious reflection upon our international commitments. I therefore venture to express my anxiety regarding the matter and the hope that a satisfactory solution of the question can promptly be reached.
Very cordially yours,
- For substance, see telegram of Dec. 7, 1918, 4 p.m., to the Chargé in Great Britain, Foreign Relations, 1918, p. 545.↩