882.51A/3
The Secretary of State to President Coolidge
My Dear Mr. President: Under date of July 14, 1927, I had the honor of recommending to you18 that you designate Mr. Sidney De la Rue as Financial Advisor to the Republic of Liberia under the terms of Article VIII of the Loan Agreement of 1926 between the Republic of Liberia and the Finance Corporation of America. Your approval of my recommendation was notified to me by Mr. Sanders in a letter, dated July 18, 1927,19 upon the basis of which I advised the Liberian Government of Mr. De la Rue’s designation.
Mr. De la Rue was then duly appointed to the office of Financial Advisor to the Republic of Liberia as provided in Article VIII of the Loan Agreement of 1926 and exercised the functions of that office up to the end of January, 1928, when a severe attack of illness necessitated his departure from Liberia on a long sick leave. Mr. De la Rue has been advised that the state of his health will not permit him to return to Liberia and he has accordingly offered his resignation as Financial Advisor to the Liberian Government in a letter, dated July 1,20 which is being transmitted to the Liberian Government through the American Legation at Monrovia.21
It is accordingly necessary that a new Financial Advisor be designated under the terms of the Loan Agreement of 1926, and in this connection I have the honor to recommend that you designate Mr. John Loomis of Strasburg, Virginia, to the post left vacant by Mr. De la Rue’s resignation.
Mr. Loomis was employed in the Philippine Government 1905 to 1916, in the Division of Supply, of which he became Chief, was then appointed to a position in the Customs Receivership of San Domingo and served as Treasurer General of the Republic of San Domingo, 1920 to 1922. He was engaged in the sugar business in Cuba, 1923 to 1925, when he became a member of the American Financial Mission to Persia being assigned as Provincial Director of Finance of the three eastern provinces of Persia. His duties in this capacity terminated in March, 1928, with the withdrawal of the American Financial Mission. He is highly recommended by the Bureau of [Page 248] Insular Affairs and by ranking American naval officers with whom he served in San Domingo and the Department has informally ascertained that his designation as Financial Advisor to Liberia would be welcomed by the Finance Corporation of America, the National City Bank, Fiscal Agents of the 1926 Loan, and the Firestone Plantations Company, all of whom are interested in the successful operation of the Loan Agreement. The inquiries made by the Department regarding Mr. Loomis indicate that he is properly equipped both technically and personally for the position and I therefore feel no hesitancy in recommending that you designate him as Financial Advisor to the Republic of Liberia.
In the event that this recommendation meets with your approval, may I ask that I be advised by telegraph in order that the designation may be notified to the Liberian Government at the earliest possible?
I am [etc.]
- Foreign Relations, 1927, vol. iii, p. 152.↩
- Ibid., p. 156.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Instruction No. 400 of June 12; not printed.↩