The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-07

trialist, who has been barred from the United
States since Jan. Is. 1912, has laid before the
State Department a petition that his name be
scratched from the blacklist. In such cases,
money and property belonging to the proscrib-
ed persons in the United States is sequestered
by the government. Thus, in view of Wenner-
Gren's wealth and OF his industrial activities
in this country before he was barred, more
depends on the successful prosecution Of his
petition than moral vindication.
Wenner-Gren's attorneys are Leon, WE'LL
and Maloney, of New York. Another who has
exerted himself on Wenner-Gren's behalf is
Bernard Smith, of New York, usually known
ests here and abroad, including the race track
in Mexico City where Wenner-Gren, the exiled
King Carol, of Roumania, and others, have
sojourned during the war.
immigration agents all have copies OF the
blacklist and must reject persons named in
it should they present themselves requesting
admittance. The law unde, which they act
is wide, permitting the Department of Justice,
which has jurisdiction over immigration, and
the State Department, by recommendation, to
exclude persons who might be considered hos
tile to the American form of government
This would mean communists as we'll as
Nazis. Wenner-Gren certainly is no communist
but it would be reasonable to conclude that he
is suspected of sympathy with the Nazi and
Fascist PHILOSOPHERS and the late regimes of
Hitler and Mussolini.
Thus far, however, Wenner-Gren says, he
does not know why he has been barred and,
in his petition, he assumes that he is suspected
of having acted on behalf of, or in collabora-
ton with, Germany and Italy Therefore, he
undertakes to refute this assumption by point
ing out that, although ne did confer with Her
man Goering, Mussolini and others on the
enemy side he also had conversations with
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Neville Chamberlain,
CordeIl Hull, Herbert Hoover and Paul Nc
Mutt. Mr.. Smith says Wenner-Gren was Roose-
velt's guest at the White House.
The FBI investigated Werner-Gren's activ-
tiles at the request of the State Department
but is forbidden to reveal its findings and
the State Department refuses to give any in
formation, simply ignoring inquiries.
Without judgment on Wenner-Gren's unde-
STABILITY a contrast may be seen in the treat
ment of this man and the cordially of the
American government to a party OF 982 men,
women and children who were imported and
admitted to the United States in August, 1914,
by arbitrary order of President Roosevelt.
These refugees had reached safety in the con-
quered, or liberated, portion of italy and were
selected by some plan that never was publicly
announced. Mr.. Roosevelt specifically said that
when the war was over they would be returned
to their home countries.
IL tAe OultcQ otdtGS lISy WcIC III lie
jurisdiction of the War Relocation Authority
and were housed in a disused army camp,
Fort Ontario, at Oswego, N. Y. Last Decem-
Der, President Truman decided that they
should be admitted for permanent residence
and naturalization by the same devious pro-
cess that was used to permit the wife Of Earl
Browder to become a resident and citizen
after she had been ordered deported. They
Invent to Canada, got visas and came back.
This trick hoe appeo1eS m n onv other refI.
gees meanwhile ard the result will be that
many of the dubious horde of those who fled
to the United States for safety and were ad-
mitted only as refugees, and not as immigrants,
will be with US permanently.
The chief objection here Is that there seems
to be no inquiry into politics which would
mean that communists among them, who GER
tainly are enemies of the American form of
government, thus would be welcomed whereas
Wenner-Gren and, probably, others are black
listed on the mere arbitrary decision of per-
sons unknown that they are Nazis or Fascists.
The temptation to move against the property
Of such as Wenner-Gron in the United States
or to shake them down for visas is apparent
here. There are other objections to the ad-
mission Of thousands Of refugees, among them
the fact that the standard legal requirements
distinguishing the desirable from the undesir-
able are waived ald law is flouted.
Ill. IOOSSNSlI > StdlS.lIcilL tlldI lie OoWCSo
party would consist predominantly of women
and children was correct only in a sly, techni-
cal sense, he obviously intended Congress and
the people to picture these people as a wretch
ed group of women and children attended by
only a few men. However. Dillon S. Meyer,
the director of the War Relocation Authority,
now admits that the 423 adult males out
numbered the women by 81 and the children
under 16 by 235. The women and children
together, outnunbered. or "p~redominated," "
over the men by only 1876.
AS to whether there were Communists
among the adults, men and women, both, Mr..
Never refuses to enter discussion.
Wenner-Gren may be a Nazi or a Fascist
but he submits writings of his to the con-
trary. recalls the thanks that he received from
Roosevelt for r~escuiug survivors of the
"Athenia,'' the first passenger vessel torpe-
doed by the Germans, with his yacht South
ern Cross and claims to have tried first to
keep-peace by intercession in Germany ana
later to make peace. He also claims to have
contributed to the American industrial and
armament program.
1t is a fact, seldom questioned, that their
Communism was tae only reason why many
refugees became refugees in the first place.