Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-04-15

would be acquired by any one who
entered such a reserved area, except
the right to sit down, which is q
rare right at the present moment in
civilizations majestic march. BY an
easy legal fiction, entrance into a
"free port" would not constitute
legal entrance into the country and
stay in the "free port" would not
constitute residence in the country
We have used this same legal
fiction to establish free ports for
goods. For reasons much too dull to
tell you about here, these are OF
great advantage to our foreign trade
in time of peace.
Free Port in New York.
There is functioning free port in
the New York City area, into which
foreign merchandise and alien corn
can be brought without payment of
customs duties, parked for a while,
then transshipped elsewhere. The
stuff can stay here for year with
out ever being considered to be in
the country, and If we can use a
legal fiction to make a dollar, we
ought to be able to use a similar
legal fiction to save life.
There are practical difficulties in
the way of such scheme, because
storage facilities for living women
and children have 10 be a bit more
complex than storage facilities for
wine and corsets.
Yet these difficulties are hardly
great enough to stun the human
imagination. Any Army camp sched-
uled for early abandonment might
do, or a fence could be put around
some of the excess housing facilities
we have built in Eastern industrial
areas.
As to what agency would rl-.l the
"free port" for refugees, the answer
Is, of course, the new War Refugee
Board. With such a 'free port" in
its pocket, the War Refugee Board
would be in a position to go to other
members of the United Nations and
ask them to establish similar facin-
ties, and 1t could not be turned
down. The burden would thus be
distributed around the world.
Pot and Kettle Remarks.
But II we ask other nations to set
UP facilities while we do not, the
answer is going to be a low, leering
laugh, accompanied by remarks
about the pot and the kettle, etc.
There are legal difficulties, too.
But we are entertaining 1000 Nazi
prisoners of war at the moment in
this country, and not one has en-
tered under the quota. It is true
that prisoners of war have certain
established rights, including the
right to safe haven, where nobody
shall make funny" with them. But
can We really argue, with shabby
earnestness, that the innocent VIC
Tins Of these Nazis are not entitled
to equal rights with their deadly and
malicious enemies?
Il We cannot give our friends at
least the same rights we give our
enemies, then host Of questions are
raised, including whittier are we
drifting and what is wrong with
our heads.
Could Be Picked Over.
The refugees could be visited by
consular and other officials of their
own nations in these free ports, +"
they could be investigated, picked
over and perhaps, in time, QUILTED
with papers and thus gradually
raised to the lofty level of legal ex-
istence, as distinguished from the
tnconsequential level of mere physi-
Cal existence.
Meanwhile, those Americans who
do not want refugees here could
have the assurance that they were
not legally here at all; while Ameri-
cans Of more humanitarian turn
OF mind and heart could have the
assurance that refugees were being
cared for and this is, therefore, q
democratic solution, in harmony