882.01 Foreign Control/422: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul at Geneva (Gilbert)
175. For Reber. The substance of your telegram No. 321 November 11 4 pm was communicated to the Finance Corporation, which has submitted the following statement supplementing its letter quoted in our No. 172 November 10, 5 pm.90
“With further reference to our letter of October 26, 1932 we wish to advise that Mr. Lyle, Vice President of Finance Corporation of America, is proceeding to Liberia within a few days and will arrive there on December 11, 1932.
Finance Corporation of America has in no way changed its position as expressed last January and is now, as it was then, prepared to carefully examine in a sympathetic spirit any proposal designed for the betterment of the people of Liberia.
It is therefore with this in mind that Mr. Lyle is proceeding at once to Liberia to obtain at first hand an intelligent and comprehensive knowledge of the current situation in Liberia which is an indispensable requisite to a satisfactory discussion of the financial aspects of any program of assistance to Liberia.
Furthermore, the necessity of such a course is emphasized by the submission to Finance Corporation of America on October 18, 1932 of a proposal signed by J. F. Dunbar, Acting Secretary of the Treasury of Liberia,91 and approved by Edwin Barclay, President of Liberia, in which the Liberian Government outlines a plan for stabilizing the financial structure of the Republic of Liberia, which includes suggestions for the modification of the Loan Agreement of 1926.
The views of the Liberian Government as contained in this proposal are of such a nature that it would be impossible for Finance Corporation of America to adequately express an opinion with regard to them without a thorough knowledge and understanding of the existing conditions in Liberia through personal observation.
It is natural to conclude that any representative of the Liberian Government at Geneva could do no more than to reiterate the suggestions of the Liberian Government for financial readjustments as submitted to Finance Corporation of America on October 18, 1932, and it therefore appears to Finance Corporation of America that the discussions between a representative of Liberia and a representative of Finance Corporation of America at Geneva at this time could in no way be expected to result in conclusive action and that the course which Finance Corporation of America has determined upon will serve to hasten rather than to delay the ultimate results hoped to be obtained.”
You may send to the League and/or the Committee the text quoted in our telegram No. 172, together with the foregoing text, or make [Page 780] them available in any manner you see fit, making however no comment thereon and of course no reference to your telegram No. 321.