Evening star., 1939-06-11

The plight of Europe's refugees with
all its stark. awful tragedy has been re-
peatedly reflected in the news but never
SO forcibly perhaps as when the steamer
st. Louis cruised aimlessly about Cuban
and Floridan waters with some 900
emigres who could find no country to
receive them.
To return to Germany meant to 60
back to living death. Suicide. as the
captain of the st. Louis realized. was
preferable to that. While sympathetic
organizations tried to negotiate with the
Cugan government the 9O7 exiles waited
between hope and despair.
1t is to relieve in some small degree
the desperate refugee situation that the
WagnerRogers bill to admit 10000 Ger
ber of national organizations. Catholic,
Jewish and Protestant. The children
would be carefully selected by repre-
sentatives of the American Friends
Service Committee, the organization of
Quakers that did such remarkable work
World War Homes have already been
assured for them and the entire cost of
bringing them to this country would be
met by private donations.
From the beginning every effort has
been made to keep this a nom partisan
move. Senator Wagner is a Democrat.
Representative Edith Nourse Rogers is a
Republican. A non-sectarian committee
is headed by Cardinal Mundelein of Chi
cago and includes Marshall Field, PreSi-
dent HutchinS of the University of Chi
cago. William Allen White, Dean Helen
Taft Manning of Bryn Mawr College
and others equally distinguished in
variety of fields.
Sponsors of the bill have emphasized
that the refugee problem is not Jew
ish or Catholic problem. Testifying
for the measure on his return from
a stay in Germany, former Gov. Philip
La Toilette of Wisconsin told Sem
ate committee that the entire Ger
man population was affected. He tes-
titled that the Nazi tyranny is so deeply
secret elections could be held at least
IS per cent of the people would vote
against the present regime.
Backgrounds Would Be Reproduced.
About half of the 10000 children
would be Jewish, the balance divided
between Catholics and Protestants, ac-
cording to the present plan. The homes
in which they are placed would repro
duce, in so far as possible, the chill
dren's religious and racial background.
Witness after witness pointed to the
extraordinary fact that mothers and
fathers were willing to surrender their
children if they could know that they
were to find homes in less oppressive
witnesses in opposition. representatives
of patriotic groups with an anti-alien
bias.
Yet. despite all this careful organiza-
ton and the real support the measure
has from organizations representing
wide range of public opinion. there is
a strong possibility that it will not pass.
1t is possible it will never get out of
committee. The real opposition is GEN.
tered in certain Southern members of
Congress, and particularly in Senator
Robert r. Reynolds of North Carolina.
Senator Reynolds. who claims thou
sands of adherents for his new national
organization, the indicators. has in
troduced bills that would bar all i'm
migration. Moreover, Senator Reynolds
has threatened to filibuSter against the
Wagner Rogers bill if and when it comes
auSed sponsors of the measure serious
concern.
The whole issue is, of course, highly
charged with emotionalism. The facts
are simple enough. immigration to the
United States has been all but stopped
during the past 10 years. Under the
national origins laws of 1924, amended
in 1929, only 153,774 immigrants are al
lowed to come to this country annually,
and this quota in recent years has not
been even half filled, for reasons that
will be explained later. Actually more
Europeans have gone back to their native
homes in the depression years than were
admitted to this country
The figures for the six-year period
from July l. 1882. through July l. 1888,
show total of 241 1862 immigrants ad-
mitted into the United States for per-
manent residence. During the same
period 246,44 immigrants previously ad-
mitted for permanent residence moved
away. Thus, as the American Friends
Service Committee points out, 4487 more
aliens left the country than came in
during the period of Hitler's rule.
While only 241 1862 came in in six years,
the total number who could have been
legally admitted was 22,644 The ques-
ton naturally occurs: Why, if so few
come, is it necessary to pass a special bill
to bring in 10000 German children each
year for two years? The answer lies
in the quota law in which it is prescribed
that 1854 of the 153,774 immigrants
allowed in each year shall come from
Great Britain and Ireland. But in the
year ending June 30, 1898, only 455l
British and Irish immigrants came to