W arming Up The Melting Pot
NEW CITIZENS, a few such as these, to be welcomed again.
By BRACK G. CURRY
WASHINGTON — War-imposed
restraints on immigration soon
will be eliminated. In a short time
a trickle of war refugees and dis
placed persons, pushed or yanked
from their homes by the Nazis,
will start entering the United
States from European refugee
camps.
Orphaned children probably
will predominate.
Acting under President Tru
man’s December 22 immigration
directive, a government commit
tee will give on-the-scene assist
ance to help speed the movement
to this country of European refu
gees and displaced persons. The
refugees will come in under ex
isting immigration laws.
Headed by Ugo Carusi, commis
sioner of naturalization and im
migration of the Justice depart
ment, the committee will set up
five or six offices in the American
zone in Germany.
Staffed by representatives of
the Justice and State departments 1
and the U. S. Public Health Serv-j
ice, these offices will pass on the
qualifications of refugees and dis
placed persons seeking to enter
the United States.
I
Why They Stopped
During the war very few per
sons came to the United States
from Europe. The reasons: trans-1
portation shortages, closing of
American consular offices and ob
stacles imposed by enemy nations, j
In 1942, for example, about 10
per cent of the immigration quo- j
tas were used. In 1943 the figure j
ROSEMARY’S
HAND LAUNDRY
In Paterson Hotel
will open
MONDAY, FEB. 11th
MOVING
HEAVY HAULING •• FREIGHTING
Done by
JACK BULLOCK and CHARLES O’LEARY
Our Equipment Is Available
Call RED 41
slumped to five per cent. It rose to
six per cent in 1944 and to seven
per cent in 1945.
Now President Truman says the
United States “shares the respon
sibility to relieve the suffering”
result’ng from the “appalling dis
location of populations in Europe.” j
In his directive Mr. Truman ]
said:
“To the extent that our present
immigration laws permit, every
thing possible should be done at
once to facilitate the entrance of
some of these displaced persons
and refugees into the United i
States.”
The President’s directive prin-1
cipally affects two groups:
1. —Natives of Central and East-'
ern Europe and the Balkans, since i
most of the refugees and displaced I
persons are from these areas.
2. —Persons at the Oswego, N.
Y., war relocation camp.
The total annual immigration
quota for the countries of Central!
and Eastern Europe and the Bal- j
kans is about 39,000, says the Im- i
migration and Naturaliz a t i o n
Service.
Under the law, no more than 10
per cent of the annual quota can
be admitted in any month. This
limits the number of persons who
can be plucked from camps in Eu
rope and moved to this country to
about 3,900 a month.
The Immigration and Natural
ization Service is uncertain what
nationality will be chiefly affected
by the President’s directive.
Some of the Quotas
A quota of about 25,900 of the
39,000 annual quota for the coun
tries of this area is allotted to Ger
many. Poland has an annual quota
of 6,524, Austria 1,413, Yugoslavia
845, Czechoslavakia 2,874, Bulgar
ia 100, Hungary 869, and Rou
mania 377.
Visas issued to refugees and dis
placed persons will be charged to
the country of birth. For example,
a visa issued to a Pole in Ger
many will be charged to the Pol
ish immigration quota. Immigra- \
tion quotas do not accumulate in1
years when countries fail to meet
their quotas, as during the war.
The Immigration and Naturali
zation Service says all persons ac
cepted must pass the physical and
mental tests set out in the immi
gration laws. This means that per
sons guilty of crimes or moral
turpitude or those who can’t pass
physical and mental tests will be
rejected.
i
Refugees Need Sponsors
'
Each refugee must be supported
by a sponsor. This includes guar
anteeing travel cost and visa fees.
What about the Oswego refu
gees?
Originally numbering about
1,000, they were moved there tem
porarily from refugee camps in
Italy by the late President Roose
velt. They are described by the
Immigration Service as anti-Fas
cists and anti-Nazis.
Many have relatives in this
country. The State Department
and the Immigration Service have
decided most of them would be
eligible to enter the country, if,
they were applying under the im-1
migration laws. j
So, instead of sending them back
to Europe to apply for immigra
tion visas to this cuontry, they’ll
be allowed to become permanent
U. S. residents (1) if they wish and
(2) if they can qualify under the
immigration laws.
QUEEN MARY — Queen Mary, mother of King George of
England, watches a tennis tournament at Wimbledon, England.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE
IN LISBON FALLS
LISBON FALLS, Me.—(/PI—“It
isn’t always smart to write a
book,” asserted John Gould, edi-.
tor of the weekly Lisbon Enter
prise. Author of “The Farmer
Takes A Wife,” Gould blamed
“foreigners” for most of the trou-!
bles springing from his literary
career.
Identifying the foreigners as
“folks who live outside Lisbon
Falls,” he said; “They expect an
author to neglect his work and
start on a speaking tour.” The edi
tor, though, is “getting a large list
of subscribers from all over the
United States who had never
heard of Lisbon Falls.”
These “foreigners,” he explain
ed, had to pay twice the normal
rate— because they are beyond
the normal territory.
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