The Neue Freie Presse today attacked President Roosevelt’s proposal for international aid to refugees as “ridiculous” and insincere. It was the first reaction in the Austrian press since the announcement last Thursday of the United States Government’s plan.
“America’s immigration laws are not such as entitle her to make political demonstrations,” the newspaper declared. “Only rich people — and these are only received under stringent conditions — are admitted to America. The country so far has been making a good business of immigration.”
The fact that Italy was one of the nations invited to join in an international committee to facilitate emigration was taken by the paper as proof that the proposal was insincere and essentially political, rather than humanitarian. (The Italian Government has declined the invitation.)
The Presse asserted that President Roosevelt really wanted moral isolation of Germany, and that he had invited Italy because he knew that the Rome-Berlin axis was the chief obstacle to the attainment of that objective.
Expressing confidence that no constructive results would come from the proposal, the paper cited the Netherlands as an example of what other countries are likely to do. Referring to Amsterdam’s new restrictions on residence of German and Austrian refugees, the Presse declared: “The precedent set by Holland really shows the experience the country had with former immigrants. Holland is not the only country to have such experiences.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
