882.01 Foreign Control/207: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva (Gilbert) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 1—2:40 p.m.]
66. From Reber. The drafting of the Committee’s report12 was concluded at today’s meeting and submitted to the rapporteur.
[Page 699]It is considered as a second progress report and is unsatisfactory in that it voices no definite opinion regarding the nature of the reforms to be adopted or acceptance of the experts’ report but merely gives utterance to certain of the experts’ comments such as the advisability of designating a central administration head for the organization “to be chosen by the League”. It implies no request to Liberia to accept the report but merely notes the advisability of making rapid progress and the promise of Liberia to submit its own plan at the next meeting.
Upon Madariaga’s insistence an amendment was inserted to the effect that certain of the members recognize the existence of a powerful financial organization as constituting one of the difficulties of the problem and recommends that some effort be made to recognize the interests of Liberia with the development of the plantation reducing to a minimum compatible with Liberia’s best interests the over-head of any present or future loan, slowing up the speed of the reforms if necessary for this purpose. To this statement was added a phrase that other members of the Committee did not now desire to express opinion on this but reserved it for the next meeting.
At the private request of the Secretariat and the President I permitted the insertion of a clause stating that the American member “was glad to continue his collaboration in the work of the Committee and expressed the hope that a practical scheme of reform may speedily be devised by the Committee”.
No reference is contained in the report to the alleged oppressive methods of the Liberian Government. I have ascertained confidentially that this was left out in order to gain agreement by all members to the draft of the report but public mention may be made of it at the Council sessions. I have been asked privately by members of the League Secretariat whether I desire that publicity be given to the memorandum of recent events on the Kru Coast which I submitted to the Committee. If no change incident thereto is made of this matter in public session of the Council it might be considered advisable that I allow a certain amount of publicity to be given to that through the Secretariat.
The Committee has adjourned its session to meet again at the call of the president prior to the next session of the Council. [Reber.]
- League of Nations, Official Journal, March 1932, p. 523.↩