Speech #800199611

The American taxpayer is digging deep into his pocket in order that these countries might share the economic blessings of our people. Yet no word has come from the State Department. or from the President. to suggest that in return for these considerations. the displacedpersons problem should be shouldered by those countries which we recently saved from destruction. and whose rehabilitation we are financing. In the past. we have accepted a larger number of immigrants than any other nation in the history of the world. Certainly that entails no obligation on our part to accept more. While it is true that our country was built by immigrants. and has become known as the melting pot of the world. let us not forget that those who came here earlier found a wilderness. and built a country out of it. Those who desire to come here now that the country is built. are not coming to build. but to tear down. They are. in fact. running out on a building job that needs to be done in their own country. It is significant that every other country in the world has exhibited extreme reluctance to accept these displaced persons as immigrants. Would this be true if they were desirable raw material for citizenship? Many other countries need Immigrantsthey are begging for them. But they very wisely want the right kind of immigrants. otherwise they would be asking for these DPs. In an item which appeared in the New York Herald Tribune on Tuesday. February 24. 1948. it was shown that the American military authorities are very much concerned over the crime rate existent in DP camps.