882.20/458
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Henry S. Villard of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs
Mr. Firestone telephoned from Akron in reply to Mr. Murray’s letter of May 2525 regarding the possible financing of a moderate increase in the Liberian Frontier Force, with the purchase of perhaps 20 machine guns at a total cost of approximately $10,000. This would be part of an alternate plan to be suggested to the Liberian Government in lieu of the French proposal for a standing army of 5,000 men.
Mr. Firestone said that he saw no reason whatever why funds should not be made available for such a moderate program. He pointed out that the present Road Fund of $50,000 could, for instance, be reduced to $40,000, thus freeing the amount necessary for the purchase of the machine guns, which would take precedence over road building as a measure of national defense. Payment for the guns, as well as for other equipment necessary to an increase in the Frontier Force, could probably be extended over a term of years, thus further lightening the burden.
Mr. Firestone also said that Mr. Gabriel Dennis, the Liberian Secretary of the Treasury, had cabled the Finance Corporation of America (the Firestone fiscal agents) asking for certain modifications in the arrears of amortization on the current bond issue, and that by arranging to afford the requested relief in this connection, there would be a release of funds which could be employed elsewhere.
Complete sympathy was expressed by Mr. Firestone with the projected alternate plan, and he promised that the company would cooperate fully in any proposal made to the Liberian Government for increasing its armed forces on a modest scale. He felt strongly that the French proposal was unworkable as well as unnecessary. Mr. Firestone also suggested that one method of defending Liberia’s coastline would be for Great Britain and France to make a joint declaration to the effect that any attack on Liberian territory would be regarded as an attack against the adjacent colonies of Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast.
- Not printed.↩