882.6176 F 51/145a
The Secretary of State to Mr. Harvey S. Firestone
Sir: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of copies of the three agreements relating to your enterprise in Liberia which you were good enough to forward to Mr. Carter of this Department. In this connection, [Page 487] I desire to refer to conversations which you and your representatives had with officials of this Department last December with reference to the term of the concession.57 At that time it was pointed out to you and your associates that it appeared advisable either that the term of the concession be shortened from ninety-nine years or that some provision be made for revision of the fiscal relations between the Company and the Government in case the longer term were retained. With respect to the question of adjusting fiscal arrangements, mention was made of the possibility of some form of arbitration.
The Department has noted that the text of the agreement recently forwarded to the Department provides for a term of ninety-nine years without provision for review of its terms prior to the end of the period. With reference to this matter, I desire to refer to your telegram of April 28, 1925, to Mr. Castle58 and to a letter of May 26, 1925, from Mr. Harvey S. Firestone, Jr.,58 transmitting (with other documents) copy of a message which you addressed on that date to Mr. W. W. Hoffman of the National City Bank,59 relating to the terms of the arrangement. It appears from these documents that you took up with the Liberian Government the matter of the term of the lease, but that the Government raised objection to an arrangement along the lines indicated in the preceding paragraph. This Department will be glad to receive such further information as you can give on this point.
I beg to refer also to provision in paragraph (j) of Article IV of “Agreement No. 2” to the effect that the lessee shall endeavor to procure a loan “either from the Government of the United States or with the approval of the Secretary of State of the United States from, some other person or persons”. In this connection I desire to call attention to the next to the last paragraph of Mr. Hughes’ letter to you dated December 22, 1924, and also to the enclosed copy of the Department’s statement of March 3, 1922, regarding the flotation of foreign loans.60 It is not the practice of the Department of State to pass upon such loans in the sense of approving or disapproving them.
I am [etc.]
Assistant Secretary