18 Wounded in Polish Resort Excesses

Eighteen Jews were wounded today, two of them seriously, when anti-Semitic students from Lwow attacked Jewish residents at Spa Mikuliczyn, a resort in the province of Stanislawow. One student was arrested.

TEXT OF MR. TAYLOR’S ADDRESS

Following is the text of the address delivered by Myron C. Taylor, chairman of the American delegation, at the opening of the Evian refugee conference:

Mr. Chairman: Some millions of people, as this meeting convenes, are, actually or potentially, without a country, the number is increasing daily. This increase is taking place, moreover, at a time when there is serious unemployment in many countries, when there is a shrinkage of subsistence bases and when the population of the world is at a peak.

Men and women, of every race, creed and economic condition, of every profession and of every trade, are being uprooted from the homes where they have long been established and turned adrift without thought or care as to what will become of them or where they will go. A major forced migration is taking place, and the time has come when governments — I refer specifically to those governments which have had the problem of political refugees thrust upon them by policies of some of their governments — must act and act promptly and effectively N. A long-range program of comprehensive scale.

Mindful of the harrowing urgency of this situation, President Roosevelt took the initiative of calling this meeting at Evian. The response of more than 30 governments which were invited to participate has been generous and encouraging, and the courtesy of the French Government in offering the hospitality of its territory to the meeting and in arranging the technical details of our reception calls for the deepest appreciation and most profound thanks.

At the outset, we must consider that we are dealing with a form of migration which presents peculiar difficulties. The earliest migratory movements of which we have a record consisted in the migration of races which overran western and southern Europe in a concerted hostile movement of whole peoples, advancing as military or political waves on those areas of the world where a high standard of living was already established. Then came colonization movements which were largely migrations by organized groups usually under direct political authorization, essentially for governmental purposes. This was followed by nineteenth and early twentieth century migration which was a movement by individuals and families on an enormous scale, induced by unsatisfactory economic and living conditions in the countries of origin and the promise of a higher standard of living in the countries of settlement. Now, we have a form of compulsory migration, artificially stimulated by governmental practices in some countries which force upon the world at large great bodies of reluctant migrants who must be absorbed in abnormal circumstances, with a disregard of economic conditions at a time of stress.

PROBLEM VAST, COMPLEX

We must admit frankly, indeed, that this problem of political refugees is so vast and so complex that we probably cam do no more at an initial intergovernmental meeting than put in motion machinery, and correlate it with existing machinery, that will, in the long run, contribute to a practicable amelioration of the condition of the unfortunate human beings with whom we are concerned. “While, for example, our ultimate objective should be to establish an organization which would concern Itself with all refugees, wherever governmental intolerance shall have created a refugee problem, we may find that we shall be obliged on this occasion to focus our immediate attention upon the most pressing problem of political refugees from Germany (including Austria). Accordingly, my Government in its invitation referred

specifically to the problem of German (and Austrian) refugees and proposes that, for the purposes of this initial intergovernmental meeting and without wishing to set a precedent for future meetings, persons coming within the scope of the conference shall be

a) Persons who have not already left Germany (including Austria) but who desire to emigrate by reason of treatment to which they are subjected on account of their political opinions, religious beliefs or racial origin, and

b) Persons as defined in (a) who have already left Germany and are in process of migration.

Doubtless some delegates will suggest that there is already established under the general supervision of the league of nations a commission for political emigrants from Germany and that the Council of the League of Nations on May 14, 1938, agreed upon a resolution making recommendations with regard to the reorganization of this commission and with regard to the Nansen office whose distinguished head is a delegate of Norway. It is the firm belief of the American government that the intergovernmental organization which it is proposed to set up at this meeting, the League Commission and the Nansen office should be complementary and should work together towards a solution of the problem of political refugees, in which the fate of so many hapless human beings is at stake.

as evidence of my Government’s intentions in this respect, I should like to propose, before we proceed further, that Sir Neill Malcolm, the League’s Commissioner for Refugees from Germany, should be invited by the intergovernmental committee to assist in to deliberations. Happily, as I have already observed, Judge Michael Hansson, head of the Nansen Office, is officially in attendance and will, I am sure, give us the benefit of his profound knowledge and wide experience.

I shall not at this point dwell at length upon the technical aspects of the problem with which we shall have to deal. May I merely suggest that it will be Advisable for us to exchange, for the strictly confidential information of the committee, details regarding the number and type of immigrants whom each Government is prepared to receive under its existing laws and practices, details regarding these laws and practices and indications regarding those parts of territory of each participating government which may be adopted to the settlement of immigrants. Then, there will be the problem, which must be carefully considered, of documenting the political emigrants who have been obliged to leave the country of their original residence in circumstances which render impossible the production of customary documents. It will also be incumbent upon us to consider the various studies which have been made in the respective countries of the problems of aiding emigration and settling and financing political refugees. I might observe, in this connection, that President Roosevelt has set up in the United States an advisory committee on political refugees whose chairman, Mr. James G. McDonald, is present at this meeting and will, I know, be prepared to furnish you with detailed information regarding his organization.

you will have noted that my government’s invitation to this meeting stated specifically that whatever action was recommended here should take place within the framework of the existing laws and practices of the participating governments. The American Government prides itself upon the liberality of its existing laws and practices both as regards the number of immigrants whom the United States receives each year for assimilation with its population and the treatment of those people when they have arrived. I might point out that the American government has taken steps to consolidate both the German and former Austrian quotas so that now a total of 27,370 immigrants may enter the United States on the German quota in one year.

From the first inception of this present effort in behalf of political refugees, it has been the view of the American government that the meeting at Evian would serve primarily to initiate collaboration of the receiving governments in their assistance to political refugees and that the work would have to be carried forward subsequently in a more permanent form. It is the belief of the American Government that this permanent collaboration might be most effectively maintained by the regular meeting of the diplomatic representatives of the participating governments — or such other representative as a participating government may wish to designate — in a European capital, and we hope that the French Government will agree that these meetings may take place at Paris. It might be useful if a secretariat were to be established to assist the intergovernmental committee in its continued form in caring for administrative details — the expenses of this secretariat to be borne by the participating governments on a basis to be recommended by this initial meeting.

In conclusion, I need not emphasize that discrimination and pressure against minority groups and disregard of elementary human rights are contrary to the principles of what we have come to regard as the accepted standards of civilization. We have heard from time to time of the disruptive consequences of dumping merchandise upon the world’s economy. How much more disturbing is the forced and chaotic dumping of unfortunate peoples in large numbers. Racial and religious problems are, in consequence, rendered more acute in all parts of the world. Economic retaliation against the countries which are responsible for this condition is encouraged. Sentiment of international mistrust and suspicion is heightened and fear, which is an important obstacle to general appeasement between nations, is accentuated.

The problem is no longer one of purely private concern. It is a problem for intergovernmental deliberation. If the present currents of migration are permitted to continue to push anarchically upon receiving states and if some governments are to continue to toss large sections of their populations lightly upon a distressed and unprepared world, then there is catastrophic human suffering ahead which can only result in general unrest and in a general international strain which will not be conducive to the permanent appeasement to which all peoples earnestly aspire.