882.5048/316: Telegram
The Chargé in Liberia (Reber) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:14 p.m.]
140. Department’s 87, October 3, noon. Yesterday I delivered the note to President King and took occasion to explain the views of the Department in regard to the necessity of enforcement means being provided for corrective measures.
As to the program of reform, the President appeared reluctant to discuss it in any save very general terms; but he promised to inform me of its details. He appeared hesitant particularly in regard to opening the interior; this would have to be done, he said, purely area by area by Presidential proclamations, in accordance with the law of 1923. In expressing the hope that this method would not cause too great a delay, I pointed out that the Commission had stressed the importance of opening the interior as providing a point of departure for any reform program. President King then inquired if the United States would, upon request, nominate a man who would be appointed senior district commissioner to work out a [Page 358] reorganization plan before the remaining four commissioners were appointed.
The President spoke of a proclamation to be issued to prohibit the shipment of recruited laborers, of extending the sanitation memorandum agreement, and of reorganizing the frontier force under Colonel Lewis—he appears, in fact, to feel he has no further authority other than that of preparing a plan for improvements.