“exploratory” Parley on Refugee Plan Held by Roosevelt, Hull, with Notables

President Roosevelt conferred today with prominent persons interested in assisting refugees, with Government officials attending, to consider plans for cooperation with the proposed international commission to facilitate emigration from Austria and Germany.

An “exploratory” session was held for an hour at the White House this morning, with President Roosevelt giving his ideas. The group reconvened in the afternoon in the office of Secretary of State Cordell Hull, after which it was stated that the meeting was entirely of a preliminary nature and no publicity would be given until President Roosevelt appoints the American representative to the international conference.

Attending the conference were Secretary Hull, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, Assistant Secretary of State George Messersmith, Raymond B. Fosdick of the Rockefeller Foundation, Professor Joseph P. Chamberlain, New York; James G. McDonald, chairman of the High Commission for German Refugees in 1933-35; the Rev. Samuel McC. Cavert, Federal Council of Churches; the Right Rev. Michael J. Ready, Catholic Welfare Conference, representing Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel of New Orleans; Louis Kenedy, head of the National Council of Catholic Men; Henry Morgenthau, Sr.; Bernard Baruch and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise.

Meanwhile, B’nai B’rith made public a letter from Pierrepont Moffat, chief of the State Department’s Division of European Affairs declaring: “It is the hope of this Government that efforts to deal with this difficult problem will succeed in emphasizing its humanitarian side as well as ameliorating the lot of many of these unfortunate people.” The letter was in reply to B’nai B’rith’s telegram pledging cooperation with the President’s plan.