882.74/39
The Minister in Liberia (Francis) to
the Secretary of State
Monrovia, February 24,
1928.
[Received April 5.]
No. 40
Diplomatic
Sir: I have the honor to confirm this Mission’s
cablegram No. 8, February 29, 11 A.M., in response to Department’s
cablegram No. 6, February 25, 5 P.M.,40 in the matter of the establishment of a
transatlantic wireless station in Liberia by the Firestone Plantations
Company, and to report that Mr. Harvey S. Firestone, Jr., had a
conference on that subject, February 22, 1928, with a Commission
appointed by the Liberian Government consisting of Mr. Edwin Barclay,
Secretary of State, Mr. Louis A. Grimes, Attorney General and Mr. Samuel
A. Ross, Postmaster General. I am informed that at this conference a
tentative verbal agreement was reached and it was understood that Mr.
Firestone would write a letter to Postmaster General Ross formally
setting forth his desires in accordance with that agreement. On the same
day (February 22) and subsequent to the conference Mr. Firestone wrote
Postmaster General Ross stating that he desired to establish wireless
stations at various locations on his developments in Liberia for
communication between those stations and the head office at Akron to
facilitate the operation of his business, and requesting that the
following wave-lengths be allocated to his Company for that purpose:
| 75 |
to |
54 |
meters |
| 105 |
” |
85 |
” |
| 109 |
” |
105 |
” |
| 45 |
” |
42.8 |
” |
| 31.2 |
” |
27.3 |
” |
| 25.2 |
” |
24.4 |
” |
| 20.8 |
” |
19.85 |
” |
| 16.85 |
” |
14 |
” |
On February 25, Postmaster General Ross replied to Mr. Firestone saying,
“you are here-by advised that the Government allocates the following
wave-lengths to your company, namely:
| 1. |
20.8 |
Meters |
| 2. |
43 |
” |
| 3. |
105 |
” |
| 4. |
106 |
” |
subject, however, to the ‘Act Regulating the Operation
of Radio or Wireless, Telegraph, Telephone or Broadcasting Stations in
the Republic of Liberia’, and under the following conditions:
[Page 259]
- a)
- Messages to be transmitted shall be only such as refer to the
business of the company and not to the private affairs of their
employees;
- b)
- The Government reserves to itself the right to take over and
use the station, or to suspend the operation of same in case of
war or other public emergency;
- c)
- The trans-Oceanic communication shall be confined solely to
the station established at the headquarters of the Company in
Monrovia;
- d)
- The Government reserves to itself the right unconditionally to
close the station in the event of any violations of the ‘Act
Regulating the Operation of Radio or Wireless Telegraph,
Telephone or Broadcasting Stations in the Republic of
Liberia’.”
Attached to this letter was a copy of the Radio Act passed on the last
day of the last session of the Legislature which adjourned February 17,
1928.
On February 29, Mr. Firestone replied to Postmaster General Ross’ letter
saying:
“We will commence as soon as possible to determine whether these
wave-lengths are suitable for the above purpose. If it should be
found after experimentation that certain other wave-lengths are
more practical and satisfactory for successful communication, we
understand that you will allocate to us such wave-lengths,
providing no interference with the Liberian Government’s
Wireless Station would result by so doing.
In Paragraph (c) on page two of your
letter, you mention ‘the Station established at the headquarters
of the Company in Monrovia’. We understand that by ‘Monrovia’
you mean ‘Monrovia District’ and that the station referred to is
the station we are constructing at our Du River
Development.”
Mr. Firestone says he does not understand why the Government seeks to
restrict him to the four wave-lengths named and to but one station; that
he will try the wave-lengths allocated at the station at the Du
Plantation and if they prove satisfactory he will be content, but if not
he will request such further and sufficient wave-lengths as are
necessary for successful operation.41
The station call suggested by Mr. Firestone is “ELFP”.
For the Department’s information copies in duplicate of the following
papers are enclosed:42
Mr. Firestone’s letter of February 22, 1928, to Postmaster General Ross;
Postmaster General Ross’ letter of February 25, 1928, to Mr. Firestone,
with copies of the Radio Act referred to therein, and
[Page 260]
Mr. Firestone’s letter to Postmaster
General Ross of February 29, 1928.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure]
An Act Passed by the Liberian Legislature,
February 17, 1928, Regulating the Operation of Radio or Wireless
Telegraph, Telephone or Broadcasting Stations in the Republic of
Liberia
It is enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Republic of Liberia in Legislature Assembled:
Section 1
That from and after the passage of this Act it shall be unlawful for
any person, company, association or corporation to use any apparatus
for radio communication or experimentation within the Republic of
Liberia when such apparatus radiates energy at any frequency from
60,000 kilocycles to 1,000 kilocycles; and also when such apparatus
as may be used as above radiates energy at any frequency from 600
kilocycles to 429 kilocycles.
Section 2
It is further enacted that it shall be unlawful to use any apparatus
to receive radio telegraph or radio telephone signals within the
frequency specified in the foregoing paragraph; and provided further
that it shall be unlawful to import into the Republic of Liberia or
to have and maintain any apparatus which may be used to receive
radio telegraph or radio telephone signals within the frequencies
specified in the foregoing paragraph, provided, however, that the
Government may permit the importation of such apparatus and may
formally license such apparatus in its discretion when such
apparatus is for some specific necessity and the receiving apparatus
so permitted will not be used for the purpose of violating the
secrecy of the Government Station messages.
Section 3
It shall be unlawful to import in to the Republic of Liberia, or to
have in one’s possession any apparatus for radio communication or
experimentation which may be used to violate the provisions of
Paragraph One; provided, however, that the Government may permit the
importation and may license specially such apparatus when it appears
that to the satisfaction of the Government that said apparatus will
not be used in violation of Paragraph One.
[Page 261]
Section 4
It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, company, association
or corporation to establish any station for radio communication or
experimentation within a radius of five nautical miles of any
Government radio station, even though said station uses apparatus
which does not conflict within the provisions of Paragraph 1.
Section 5
It shall be unlawful for any person to use any static machine, X-ray
apparatus and/or any machine or device which may cause interference
with the Government radio telegraph and telephone stations, within
any radius of said stations within which such interference becomes
manifest. Upon proof of such interference, the Postmaster General is
hereby authorized to subject the use of such machine or apparatus to
the penalty hereinafter provided for the violation of this Act.
Section 6
Any patent which may be hereafter applied for under the general law
of the Republic or under any special law which patent includes
devices, machines, systems or the use of chemical or electrical
energy or any other energy, or which may be used for the reception
or transmission of power or for the reception or transmission of
messages, pictures, photographs, speech or which may be used now or
hereinafter in connection with any machine, apparatus or devices
which may be used by the Government of the Republic of Liberia, or
in the radio telegraph and telephone stations of the Government of
the Republic of Liberia or any power station of the Government of
the Republic of Liberia, shall be held subject to the right of the
Government to use without charge or claim on the part of the
patentee. Any patent which shall be granted hereafter shall be
subject to the conditions hereinabove specified.
Section 7
No person or persons engaged in or having knowledge of the operation
of any station or stations for radio telephone or telegraph operated
by the Government of the Republic of Liberia, shall divulge or
publish the contents of any message transmitted or received by such
station or stations except to the person or persons to whom the same
may be directed, or their authorized agent, or to another station
employed to forward such message to its destination, unless legally
required so to do by the Court of competent jurisdiction or other
competent authority. Any person guilty of divulging or publishing
any such message except as herein provided, shall on conviction
thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $250.00 or
imprisonment for a
[Page 262]
period
not exceeding three months, or both fine and imprisonment in the
discretion of the Court of competent jurisdiction.
Section 8
For the violation of any of these Regulations, except Paragraph 9,
for which a special penalty is provided, the owner or operator of
the apparatus or both, shall be liable to a penalty of $100.00 and
shall forfeit the apparatus, provided, however, that said fine may
be reduced or remitted by the President; and provided further that
in case of a second violation of these regulations by any person,
company, association or corporation holding a license from the
Government, the said license shall be revoked and the said person,
company, association or corporation shall not be again licensed for
a period of five years thereafter.
Section 9
It shall be unlawful for any person, company, association or
corporation to use or operate any apparatus for radio communication
on a foreign ship in the territorial waters of the Republic of
Liberia when such ship is at any Port of Entry of the Republic of
Liberia, at which port of Entry, the Liberian Government shall
operate a radio station, except that such messages be directed to or
through said Government’s radio Station.
Section 10
Any person, company, association or corporation within the
jurisdiction of the Republic of Liberia shall not knowingly utter or
transmit or cause to be uttered or transmitted any false or
fraudulent call or radiogram of any kind. The penalty for so
uttering or transmitting any false or fraudulent signal or call
shall be a fine not more than $2,000 or imprisonment for not more
than five years in the discretion of the Court of competent
jurisdiction.
Section 11
The trial of any offense under this Act shall be in the country in
which it is committed, or if the offense is committed on the high
seas, or out of the jurisdiction of any particular country, the
trial shall be in the country where the offender may be found or
into which he shall be first brought.
Section 12
The Postmaster General, with the approval of the President, shall
make and publish such regulations and rates for the transmission and
reception of messages and for the conduct of the business of the
Government Radio Telephone and Telegraph Stations as he shall from
[Page 263]
time to time in his
discretion deem necessary, and when such Regulations are issued and
published, they shall be of full force and effect.
