882.20/502a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Liberia (Walton)
50. It now appears that owing to conditions created by the war in Europe, a delay may be encountered in shipping the machine guns ordered by the Liberian Government. In the light of actual hostilities and the declared position of Great Britain and France with respect to Liberia, it is possible that President Barclay may wish to take advantage of the interval in order to re-examine the needs of the Frontier Force both as to the precise number of machine guns which could advantageously be employed and as to the strategic disposition of the weapons, which, we understand, require a crew of 8 or 10 men each.
The Liberian Consul General in New York states that he has been authorized to spend $4,000 on this order, that with deductions for freight and insurance he will be able to acquire 19 machine guns, but that he has no instructions to purchase ammunition. It may be, therefore, that a review of the situation would lead the Liberian Government to make a different allocation of the funds earmarked for this purpose.
We believe it would be well to ascertain from Major Nabors in this connection (1) whether any plan has been worked out to guard against the possibility of internal attack or sabotage at Monrovia, or elsewhere in the country; (2) the extent to which he may regard it feasible to train an adequate portion of the Frontier Force to operate machine guns; and (3) whether it might be advisable to substitute a [Page 613] number of automatic rifles or submachine guns for part of the order for machine guns.
We should of course be glad to seek the views of our War Department experts on any subject which the Liberian Government might desire.