Evening star., 1941-11-24
We||es Pledges U. ).
Aid in Finding Home!
For War Refugees
Jewish Conference Is
Told Thut 10 Million
Will Need Assistance
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press
BALTIMORE. Nov. 24.-Under-
secretary of State Sumner Welles
yesterday pledged that after the
war the United States would join
with other governments to find per-
manent homes in new lands for mil
lions made homeless by oppression
and conquest.
In the meantime, Mr.. Welles said
in a broadcast address carried by
short wave to Latin American re-
publics, the United States will do
everything possible to provide
havens for individuals and families
in countries of refuge.
Solution of the greater problem
Of mass resettlement cannot be un-
dertaken. however. until the war is
over and the world has seen the
final and utter defeat Of those re-
sponsible for this cruel tragedy
which shames our modern world"
Mr.. Welles said.
He spoke at the opening session
Of the first Inter- American Jewish
Conference, sponsored by the Amer
ican Jewish Congress and at ended
by delegates from Is Central anc
South American countries and Can
ada.
Many More Refugees.
when the war ends there may
be not one million, but 10 millions
or more, men, women and children
belonging to many races and reli-
gions. living in many countries and
possibly in several continents. who
will enter into the problem of the
human refugee" Mr. Welles said
Those Of us who have faith ir
democracy and confidence in the
inherent humanity Of our western
civilization cannot, and I am sure
will not. rest until an equitable and
practicable solution of this problem
which challenges us so funda-
mentally is found.
The problem is not new. It has
been with us on an ever-increasine
scale since the accursed thing
termed Hitlerism came into being
eight and half years ago. - :
Written in terms of open persecu-
tions. concentration camps, broken
homes. of lines of pitiful people
swelling into thousands, then tens
OF thousands and hundreds of thou
sands Of whom a few have been
enabled to flee abroad. It spells
a chapter of unmitigated horror
which our children's children may
not hope to forget"
Sponsored Refugee Aid.
1t was the United States, Mr..
Welles said. which sponsored the
Intergovernmental Committee on
Refugees before the war, through
which representatives of 80 govern
ments outlined a program for
orderly refugee emigration and re-
settlement.
While the war has had a marked
effect on the work and progress of
this committee. Mr.. Welles said, its
work has not been abandoned.
You and I know that even were
that day (peace) to come tomorrow
and would to God that it might be
so-the economic and social pros
tration Of Central Europe and the
occupied countries will be such that
immediate measures must be taker
by international concert to relieve
distress on scale never before
conceived.
That is why I so greatly vel.
come the efforts being made by thi.
congress. The work you accom-.
plish here in devising new plans
will be invaluable. You represent
those groups most deeply concerned
in every section of our new worlo
and you can speak with final au.
thoritv in the sister republics from
which you come"
DR.. Stephen S. Wise, president o.
the American Jewish Congress, sale
The conference represented in it.
self a tangible expression of adher'
ence to the Roosevelt good neigh
Dor pOllcy.
Revolutionary Peace.
Discussing the problem of the re-
construction OF Jewish life, DR.. Ma
hum Goldman, chairman of th'
Administrative Committee of th'
World Jewish Conference, predicted
that at the end of the war, six II
seven million Jews who may sur
vive will have absolutely no mean'
of existence.
Gov. O'Conor of Maryland ane
Mayor Howard w. Jackson of Bal.
timore also addressed the delegates
The women delegates were to 81
to Washington today for q recep'
ton by Mrs. Roosevelt at the White
House.