The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1938-11-19
IMMIGRATION OF ,
GERMANS WORKS
AGENTS in U. S.
MAKE CHECK OF SUPPORT
AT REFUGEE HEADoUAR.
TIERS BEFORE SENDING
THEM ON THEIR WAY
By LYDIA GRAY SHAW
AP Feature Service Writer


NEW YORK, Nov. 19.-Some
of the saddest people in the
world are finding their way to
the heart of the gay White Way
at the end of a cross-Atlantic
trek in search of security and
happiness.
In the middle of the theater
district is an undistinctive office
building. In that building is the
clearing house for German and
Italian refugees.
There, 80 workers of the Ma
tional Coordinating Committee
for Aid to Refugees and Emil
grants Coming from Germany
(now plans to help Italian refu-
gees, too) daily listen to real life
stories more dramatic than those
enacted on the famous stages of
the neighborhood.
Late Into the Night
Late into the night, the staff
laborers to help bewildered ar
rivals find relatives, jobs, places
to settle. And it advises Ameri-
can relatives how to help their
kin abroad.
Founded in the summer of 1884
by James c.. Mcdonald, League
of Nations refugee commissioner,
the organization, composed of 20
cooperating units, cares for Jew
ish and Protestant refugees. (The
Catholic Committee for Refugees
from Germany, maintaining
separate office, watches over
Catholics from abroad.)
At the office of the cordinating
committee, of which Joseph P.
Chamberlain, Columbia univer-
sity law professor, is acting chair
man, there is bedlam. Every ele-
vator brings a group of German
speaking men and women up to
the large waiting room. Newly
arrived refugees sit alongside
citizens seeking to help relatives
abroad. Phones ring constantly.
The man at the information desk
answers questions all day long,
speaking with a heavy German
accents His patient, encouraging
smile never. wavers.4
Money A Mystery
Most of the refugees have
heard of the committee while still
abroad.
Miss Cecilia Razovsky, execu-
tive director of 4the committee,
explains how they get there:
They come in on the regular
quota, but the American consuls
in the various European cities
have laid down the restriction
that each German and Austrian
applying for a visa, have an af-
fidavit from an American citizen
guaranteeing him support in case
he cannot find work..
There are strict regulations in
the fatherland on the amount of
money the newcomers may bring
with them, but some of them get
around the rules in one way or
another. How? They're not tell
ing.
When the first refugees began
to arrive, the immigration au-
thorities allowed many who had
converted their cash into salable
articles hike cameras and micro
scopes to bring those things in
duty-free. But as the pressure
has become greater, they have
enforced restrictions to the letter,
though it may mean confiscating
the refugees only means of OBJ
tanning money.
Immigration On Increase
The American quota on immi-
grants from Germany, which had
been 25,957 a year. was changed
a few months ago to 27,370 be-
cause Germany took over Aus
tria.
Until this last year. immigra-
ton was considerably under that
figure. But in the IL months end.
ing June 80. 1898, l7,004 German
immigrants were admitted. The
Austrian immigration during the
same period was 864. double that
of the preceding year. And the
Italian figure was 3,42S, an in
crease of 500.
The difficulty of meeting i'm
migration requirements has re-
tarded immigration to some ex-
tent. Difficulties with govern.
rnent regulations abroad also are
believed to have restricted the to-
a. E