882.5048/382: Telegram

The Chargé in Liberia (Reber) to the Secretary of State

2. My telegram No. 1, January 2, 8 p.m. The declaration referred to in my recent conversation with Barclay has today been received from the Department of State in the following form.

The note reads in part:

“The Government of the Republic of Liberia accepts in principle the recommendations suggested in the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Slavery and Forced Labor in Liberia and adopts these recommendations as a basis upon which ameliorations in social policy of the Republic will, within the limits of its means, be regulated.

To this end legislation has been suggested and passed by the Legislature of Liberia covering all subjects having relation to these recommendations [Page 654] upon which legislation is necessary. These laws will be broadly interpreted by the administration and will be amended from time to time should experience indicate such a course to be desirable and necessary”.

This hardly seems satisfactorily to fulfill the conditions imposed and can only be interpreted as a further expression of unwillingness to accept and execute in full the Commission’s report and recommendations. I shall so intimate to Barclay unless it should be desired that a more formal acknowledgment be made.

Reber