882.01 Foreign Control/461b: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul at Geneva (Gilbert)
5. For Reber. The preliminary step to further participation by the Firestone interests is the repeal of the joint resolution of December 17 enacted December 23 and other legislation and governmental orders which contravene the loan agreement of September 1, 1926. The support of the League Committee on Liberia against such unilateral action on Liberia’s part is assumed and we feel that circumstances have reached a point where the Committee should so inform the Liberian Government. The time element enters into this picture as the Liberian legislature will probably adjourn toward the end of January. You may therefore inform the League Secretariat or the League Committee that representative [Page 880] of Finance Corporation cannot attend a meeting of the Committee until this repeal has taken place, and that this Government has advised the company that it would be useless for it to pursue negotiations with a Government which has repudiated its contractual obligations.