Evening star., 1941-05-26
Haven for More
Foes Of Axis
In U. 5. Urged
Ickes Says We Are
Perfect Prize for
Hitler to Roust'

10 Dflng 10 thlS country EurOpeS
political refugees from the spread
ing Nazi and Fascist domination,
Secretary of the Interior Ickes said
last night at the opening of the
meeting arranged by the Washing
ton Committee of Sponsors of the
Emergency Rescue Committee. Mr..
Ickes was chairman of the meeting
at the Shoreham Hotel, where these
three men and two women spoke:
Count Carlo Sforza, anti-Fascist
italian who fed here from his
asylum in + 'nce after the French
capitulation; Edgar Ansel Mowrer,
formerly foreign correspondent and
now Washington correspondent for
the Chicago Daily News; DR.. Frank
Kingdom, chairman of the Emer-
gency Rescue Committee; Princess
Paul Sapieha. American woman
married to Pole. and Nine.
Genevieve Tabouis, former foreign
editor of the Paris paper, L'Oeuvre,
a refugee from France.
Life is so unbelievable there lin
Italy and in Germany today"
Count Sforza said, that you do not
know how wise, how generous you
will be If you help now to bring
here some of those young Italians
who oppose Fascism."
Fat and Soft and Rich"
The speakers dropped into their
appeals for wider asylum for Eu-
ropean refugees warnings for Amer
lea in what they considered the
threat of dynamic Fascism to our
country. Count Sforza thought we
supported dangerous complacency.
Princess Sapieha observed that be
cause Of our deep-seated sense of
security, we seem to have lost our
instinct for danger" Mr.. Ickes, who
introduced each speaker, accused
many of us Americans" of having
a fear of new ideas.
We are fat and soft and rich"
said Secretary Ickes, "the perfect
prize for Hitler to capture and roast
before slow fire. Oh, yes, we are
for aid to Britain, but we are also
at the same time for 30 per cent
business as usual, and we don't want
to be interrupted by a world revo-
luton while a World Series Is 60
ing on"
The American speakers empha-
sized that the country has a long
tradition as an asylum for political
refugees and argued that the Nation
itself was colonized and built by
political refugees. Mr.. Mowrer re-
lated with regret the steps of the
past 20 years which have served to
narrow the entrance to the Ameri-
can asylum and said:
The political refugees of today
are not aliens. They ask to be
allowed to continue the struggle
against totalitarianism beside us and
in our ranks"
Not Burden to United States.
Nine. Tabouis, whoes articles In
her paper constituted perhaps the
most vigorous and persistent outcry
against the German menace audible
in France before the war be-
gan, said that today among the
best soldiers for democracy are those
persons whom this committee Cthe
Emergency Relief Committee) can
save" She read a letter from
French republican interned in a
German concentration camp in
which he wrote concerning the pris-
oners' treatment:
I'VE daily become more surprised
at the small amount of food the
human being can live on"
The American born princess
stressed the intellectual gains which
the United States can obtain from
the presence of the refugees. She
recited catalogue of IS Polish pro-
lessor refugees who are teaching in
American universities.
They are not a burden to
America" she said, but gift-bear-
ers of most vital sort. The future
of democracy in Europe lies in the
hands of the intellectual refugees
in this country"
Helped ESQ to Escape.
DR.. Kingdom hinted at the diff
ficulties involved in expediting the
escapes of the refugees. He said
that the committee has a man sta
toned in Marseille who aids the in
dividual enemies of Hitler on their
way to America, and he spoke mys-
teriously of French friends of de-
mocracy who show these emigres
what obscure trails to follow across
the Pyranees that will lead them
to the road to Lisbon. where they
can find a ship for the Western
Hemisphere.
The Emergency Rescue Commit
tee, DR.. Kingdom said, has made
possible the escape of $50 refugees
from France and has aided $50 9TH
ers. He appealed for funds from the
audience after saying that the cost
of transporting one refugee to the
United States was $3.50.
I'VE are still able to get them
out" DR.. Kingdom reported. He said
that the State Department is show
ing a more cooperative attitude
toward the work by granting visas
more readily than its practice was
before.
Mrs. Dean Acheson, wife of the
Assistant Secretary of State, was
the chairman of arrangements for
the meeting, which attracted a large
number Of persons.
Rites for Mrs. Best