882.5048/36
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain (Hammond)
Sir: The Department desires to inform you that in accordance with its instructions the American Minister Resident in Monrovia, Liberia, on June 10 presented a formal note to the Liberian Government (copy of which is enclosed)9 calling the attention of the Liberian Government to abuses which are reported to have arisen in connection with the export of laborers from Liberia to Fernando Po and to have resulted in the development of conditions of forced labor closely analogous to organized slave trade.
Upon receipt of this note, the Liberian Secretary of State made the following verbal statement to the American Minister Resident:
“This is an old story. The Department does not say if the charges are true but assumes that they are true. They are serious and we will investigate but there being no specific instance charged investigation may be difficult.”
The Department then on June 14 [15] instructed the American Minister Resident by telegraph to present to the Liberian Government a note (copy of which is enclosed)10 suggesting the appointment by the Liberian Government of an impartial committee of investigation consisting both of Liberians and of non-nationals of Liberia. As yet no formal reply to either note has been received from the Liberian Government.11
It must be observed at once that this Government has no thought of suggesting that the Spanish Government or the Spanish authorities in Fernando Po have had any knowledge of the conditions in Liberia which have been made the subject of this correspondence. On the contrary, this Government believes that had such knowledge been in their possession the Spanish authorities would have declined to receive labor from Liberia recruited and exported under conditions such as have been reported and it is confident that the Spanish Government [Page 283] and its officials once they are apprised of the state of affairs believed to exist in Liberia would be desirous of cooperating with this Government in such manner as might seem appropriate in preventing the continuance of any conditions such as have been reported to the Department in connection with the export of labor from Liberia to Fernando Po.
It is desired that you bring the contents of this instruction informally and in the strictest confidence to the attention of the Spanish Foreign Office not only as a matter of courtesy but also with a view to obtaining the cooperation of the Spanish Government in this matter.
I am [etc.]