Speech #770032521

But with our consular officers forbidden. as they are. to marry foreign women lest they succumb to foreign influence. it seems odd that such a large part of the routine work in our offices abroad should be confided to foreign hands. Many Americans feel that this preponderance of native personnel in consular and shipping offices is. in part at least. responsible for the preferential treatment which they claim is accorded at Lisbon to United Statesbound foreigners. In other words. at Lisbon. where today there are certainly hundreds upon hundreds of Americans desiring to secure passage hoi..e. preference in the matter of transportation aboard American ships flying the American flag is given to the foreignborn. to the alien refugees who are flocking to our shores. and who are daily taking the job3 which belong to American citizens. I shall briefly return to comment on that last statement during the course of the observations which I shall be pleased to make. Mr. President. in many ports of the world. particularly in some of the larger Asiatic ports. such as Hong Kong and Shanghaiand I am informed the same situation prevails in Saigon. Indochinathere are today collected thousands upon thousands of refugees. some from Russia but principally from Poland. some from Bessarabia. some from Rumania. and some from parts of the Asiatic continent. who are remaining in those ports for the sole purpose of trying to find an opportunity in some form or manner to reach the United States. where they look for protection during these war days. and where they will seek opportunities which I claim should be preserved for American citizens. We find today in the metropolis of Shanghai many thousand Polish refugees who are crowding every single vessel upon which it is possible to secure passage bound for a port or ports in the United States of America. It was my opportunity only last week to talk with a man from Shanghai. who for many years had been engaged in missionary work in the Republic of China. He told me that the ship upon which his party came home to the United States from China was literally packed and jammed with Polish refugees who were coming to the United States. Naturally he made mention of certain conditions aboard the ship. He made reference to the fact that not one of the whole number of Polish refugees could speak the English language. and he spoke also of the inconveniences occasioned as the result of the crowded and. I might add. unsanitary conditions which existed as a result of the packing in of Polish refugees aboard that ship as though they were sardines. Mr. President. not only do we find this condition existing in the Asiatic ports. but we find it particularly so at Lisbon. for it is my understanding that the only European port frcm which one may gain steamship passage homeward today Is Lisbon. since crossing the Atlantic there now exists but one airship line flying the American flag. Therefore. at Lisbon there has been a concentration of refugees endeavoring to escape from Europe. many of whom have come to the United States only for the duration of the war. to escape any participation In the war. and as a result as I have stated. Americans are left there awaiting the time when all the refugees shall have been brought here. and then Americans may be sufficiently fortunate to secure the passage which they now desire and which they have so long desired.