Speech #800198391

Chairman. constituted a new class of displaced persons. and our Nation participated in creating it. It is estimated that about 3.000.000 of these people have since the end of the war been driven into the American zone of Germany alone. These 10.000.000 people were displaced pursuant to the Potsdam agreement and are expressly excluded by the Constitution of the UN. from the care and assistance of the International Refugee Organization. They are not looked upon today as displaced persons. when as a matter of fact there are no people more displaced than these who are left out of the definition. But these are not all of the displaced persons. even In Europe. Hundreds of thousands are lodged in the Scandinavian countries of Norway. Denmark. and Sweden. and are beyond the purview of the International Refugee Organization. and it is reported periodically that great numbers of these people are being deported to Russia as slave laborers. Then there are those men. estimated at 200.000. who were members of the Anders Polish Army. who cannot return to Poland. -They are scattered in the various areas of Europe and are excluded from XCIV489 the jurisdiction of the IRO. We know from our officials In Germany that hundreds of thousands since the end of the war have been leaving countries behind the iron curtain and entering Into Germany and Austria. and it is estimated. I believe. that there are approximately 200.000 of these who are eligible under IRO who have gone into the camps of Germany. This is still only a small part of the displaced persons around this world. We can go on and on. and the problem insofar as today is concerned Is insurmountable. but we can assist as we are doing now. to care for these people who are in need of assistance. and I think the report of investigating committees in Europe last year indicates that a fairly good job is being done. even though the International Refugee Organization is not in actual operation. You will recall that it has not come into being because of the 54 nations which are members of the UN only 14 have accepted participation in IRO as of this date. and the Constitution requires that .15 nations must sign before it becomes effective. The organization is working under the name of the Preparatory Commission for International Refugee Organization. an interim agency operating under agreement of the governments which have already signed. Up to the present time the United States has contributed approximately 79 percent of the total contributions. We have placed at the disposal of IRO $73.000.000. but our agreement when we entered into the organization was to pay 39 percent of the operation cost and 45 percent of the relief. I repeat that it occurs to me that it would have been considerably wiser to have left the care of refugees with the United States Army. rather than create a successor to UNRRA with all its miserable failures. Mr. Chairman. it is not denied that there are many Communists in the displaced persons camps. and among those people coming within the definition of refugees. The records indicate that 40 percent of the applications for visas filed by displaced persons in Germany and Austria were fraudulent and that the number is increasing. This information Is from our consular officers. and they admit that it is a most serious matter and one which will be most difficult to overcome. Of course. they are not all Communistsnobody would contend that to be truebut many of them are and will fit into the Communist scheme directed from Moscow if they are permitted to come into this country. as surely as round pegs go into round holes and square pegs go into square holes. I cannot be a party to bringing one single potential saboteur Into this country. when we now hav6 an estimated 100.000 already here. Rather I should make the proposition in reverse. that those who believe there is something better than what we have here and wish to destroy it. should be retured to those places where their philosophies are accepted as perfect. Aside from the proposition of bringing disloyal persons into this country. it has always been the general purpose that immigrants should be assimilated with those Americans who have already been indoctrinated into our philosophies and our way of living. You know very well what will happen when displaced persons are brought into this country. They talk of farmers and farm help. Most of them will be farming in the heart of New York and Chicago. and will probably never cultivate anything larger than a windowbox. I understand thereare something like 32.000 deportation cases now on the docket in New York. but we insist on bringing in another 200.000 to house. feed. and clothe. to educate and assimilate into the people of this country. In 1940 approximately 5.000.000 aliens registered under the Alien Registration Act. Almost 70 percent of them were concentrated in urban areas of 50.000 population. whereas only 34 percent of the total population of the United States. including the aliens. were in such urban centers.