Office of the Historian

882.124/36

Memorandum by Mr. Ellis O. Briggs of the Division of Western European Affairs

[Washington,] June 21, 1932.

Liberia—German Interest in Health Situation

Doctor Leitner, Counselor of the German Embassy, called this afternoon with an instruction from his Foreign Office for the Embassy to endeavor to enlist the support of the Department of State toward using its good offices with the Finance Corporation to the end that the latter might consent to advancing certain funds for the specific purpose of carrying on sanitary work in Liberia. The Foreign Office enclosed a copy of a despatch on the subject from the German Consul at Monrovia, describing joint discussions with his British, American and French colleagues.

In carrying out his instructions, Doctor Leitner said that while he himself was not particularly familiar with the Liberian situation, he knew in a general way of the work of the International Committee of the League and he felt that the German Government was very much concerned over the health menace provided by Liberia at the present time.

In reply, I outlined in considerable detail the history of sanitation since the outbreak in 1929,58 which resulted in the death of our Minister at Monrovia.59 I described the unfortunate experiences of Doctor Smith60 and pointed out that, while I was not speaking for the Finance Corporation, nevertheless I had the distinct impression that they had never been unsympathetic to the importance of sanitation or to requests for funds. On the contrary, the Finance Corporation had expressed a willingness to cooperate, contingent only upon the supplying by Liberia of adequate authority, without which it felt that no sanitary campaign could be effective. I added that, as far as the Department was concerned, we also believed that the crux of the matter was authority. Unless and until Liberia is willing to [Page 742] provide this authority, we feel that it would largely be a waste of money for anyone to advance funds for this purpose.

Doctor Leitner took copious and methodical notes and said that he would report the substance of my remarks to his Government.

I subsequently called up Mr. Howe and told him about the conversation. Mr. Howe said that he had written several letters regarding sanitation to the Firestones since the end of the International Committee meetings on May 20th. He has not yet received a reply. Mr. Howe stated that he felt that it would be very desirable for the Firestones to be in a position to make a prompt decision as to whether or not they cared to advance further funds, and if so, in what circumstances, for the reason that he agrees that further manoeuvres on the part of other governments may shortly be made.

E[llis] O. B[riggs]
  1. The outbreak of yellow fever. For correspondence on the general subject of American interest in Liberian sanitation, see Foreign Relations, 1929, vol. iii, pp. 316 ff.↩
  2. William T. Francis; he died of yellow fever July 15, 1929.↩
  3. See Foreign Relations, 1930, vol. iii, pp. 415 ff.↩