Speech #610087453

I went to Venice. and was there a day and a half. and then went up into the only seaport of AustriaFlumeand then went back with Mr. Wheeler amongst the Croatians and Hungarians. and from there to Trieste. and took ship and went directly to Greece. I remained in Greece about a week. investigating that particularly important emigration. and from there went down to Syria. a place the interior of which was never visited before by any person who was sent out by the United States in relation to immigration. a particularly important place. because I found that onethird of the people Ughat come from Syria are afflicted with an eye disease known as trachoma. and that is in the official report of this commission. From there. without loss of time. I went into Roumania. an extremely interesting country. from which 55.000 immigrants have come to this country since IS99. Jewish immigrants. concerning whom Secretary Hay thought it important enough to write an official note addressed to all the European governments. signatory powers to the treaty of Berlin. I made an exhaustive investigation at Bukharest. "Frumos. Botosani.