Evening star., 1940-08-16
SimpIified Refugee
Procedure Urged

Required Gosh Deposit Held
Serious Bor to Evacuation
Of War Victims
To the Editor Of The Star:
"A short while ago our family decided
that we would like to share our home
with two refugee children. Our deci-
sion was based not so much on charitable
impulse as it was on our belief that,
if we want democracy and human liberty
to survive lover here" we must make
some effectual contribution to its sur
vival on its present battle front, lover
there" One does not need to be a
physician to realize that q frightfully
virulent disease of pandemic propor-
tions, which has already destroyed and
devastated millions, is not only poten-
tial but an immediate threat to our own
precarious security. It is our common
prayer and hope that our land will be
spared its unabated fury and ruthless
destruction, but even II its aggressive
violence should miss us, the shadow of
its merciless terror is bound to lie heavy
upon our hearts. Therefore, you see,
our offer to share our home and our fu-
ture with innocent and helpless un-
fortunates was in sense the selfish act
Of those who believe that the reservoir
of Gods mercy toward us contains no
more than the service we have done
others. Against that hour when we
should plead for His providence, we
sought to lay up the only negotiable
security His omnipotent justice re-
cOgnizeS.
We made our formal application furn-
ishing as we thought ample surety for
every moral obligation our request i'm
piled. 1t was our understanding that
We not only took these children into
our homes but into our hearts as well
Until l became acquainted in final COM
plete detail with all of the provisos
of procedure necessary to procure one
OF these refugees, I had little UNDER
standing of recent news item to the
effect that very few families of the
Nations Capital were volunteering to
provide homes for these helpless un-
fortunateS. Now that know the COM
plete procedure and all of its intricacies
and exactions, wonder that any have
volunteered. Certainly under the cir
cumstances we feel constrained to with
draw our offer until such time as a simple
practical procedure is developed which
will permit the cooperation of an over
whelming majority of our citizens and
which will benefit all classes of normal
healthy evacuees. 1t is my considered
opinion, so far as the present mechanism
Of finding homes for these children is
concerned, that both benefactor and
an economically privileged group,
whereas the crying need of the hour is
for mass evacuations by simple methods
and procedures which would provide the
greatest number of homes for the
greatest number of evacuees of all
classes of English society. The present
complex method and the present un-
wieldly procedure stand in the way of
prompt and effective aid to those in dire
need of it; and, by our procastination,
we help the aggressor.
In saying that present procedure
limits both benefactor and benefited
to upper classes I am not indulging IN
an argument designed to arouse class
feeling. Rather 1t is my intention to
plead for sensible and practical remedy
Why can't the legislators of the worlds
most powerful democracy give prompt
and effective succor to the children of
those defending democracy in Europe?
When We stand before the bar of Gods
judgment what valid excuse Will we
cite in eXtenuation when We have not
only refused to play the good Samaritan
but helped and abetted the despoilers
as we'll? Why can't our legislators cut
the Gordian knot of official red tape
and permit free and rapid passage
of child refugees from Mars bloody
altar to the sanctuary of hundreds OF
thousands of willing American homes?
Congress is responsible for the COM
mittee being compelled to challenge the
financial solvency of every applicant
4CAAlS a W tllCoC IlllluIC Cll' oy
their refusal to waive hampering restric-
tions and by their insistence that each
refugee be treated as visiting alien
our national legislature leaves despera-
ton but one avenue of escape, namely
to guarantee that both benefited and
benefactor are solvent enough to meet
the uSurious demands of official stupidity.
This the committee has done, fully
cognizant that troublesome and tedious
demands Illustrate their own purpose
AS a direct effect of these dilatory
demands for which the legislature is
responsible, it is necessary for the COM
mittee to require certified check tor
s138, together with authenticated proof
of long-term solvency, before ones re-
quest for refugee is negotiable.
Perhaps there are those who will
flippantly ask-what is $138? But that
amount does stand in the way of the
success of the plan, in fact much
smaller amount would be just as prohibi-
tive. To understand this, just think Of
the magnitude of the problem and the
tremendous resources which must be
made Immediately available to solve 1t