N.Y. Times Asks Revision of “chilly Formalism” in U.S. Immigration Laws for Refugees

Revision of the “chilly formalism” in the U.S. immigration regulations so as to give Jews escaping from Nazi countries an opportunity to reach the United States is urged in an editorial published in the New York Times today.

Commenting upon the large demonstration held at Madison Square Garden to protest the Nazi massacres of Jews, the editorial says: “We do not know how many Jewish men, women and children can cross the Axis boundaries. Bulgaria has agreed to release 4,000 children and 500 adults. It is possible that other and similar arrangements can be made. The United Nations governments have no right to spare any efforts that will save lives, even though dealings with the German and German-controlled states may be necessary. The bill for the lives that are not spared will be presented later. For those who are released or who escape, sanctuary will be necessary. It would be a crime against humanity if any secondary considerations were to deny the refugees, after their sufferings in the common cause, a place where they can rebuild their shattered lives. It is for the United States to set a good example, revising in the interests of humanity the chilly formalism of its immigration regulations.”

PROPOSAL TO SAVE JEWS FROM NAZIS MUST BE SUPPORTED BY ALL, MCCORMICK SAYS

In the same issue of the New York Times, Anne O’Hare McCormick, noted political columnist, commenting on the Madison Square Garden demonstration, states: “There is not the slightest question that the persecution of the Jews has reached its awful climax in a campaign to wipe them out of Europe. Nor is there any question that if we let Hitler commit this last atrocity, if the Christian community does not support to the utmost the belated proposal worked out to rescue the Jews remaining in Europe from the fate prepared for them, we have accepted the Hitlerian thesis and forever compromised the principles for which we are pouring out blood and wealth and toil.

“To accept it is an act of submission to Hitler,” Miss McCormick continues, “The Jew is the symbol of what this war is about; he is the scape-goat chosen by Hitler to bear the first brunt of the attack on the right of every human being to be himself secure in his person and in his rights under the law. But he is not the last. The first group placed outside the law is never the last. The first group tortured for religion or race or the color of the hair is never the last. The kind of mind that sees a Jewish-Communist plot will see next a Catholic-Fascist plot or a Protestant menace or decide that atheists should be shot. The Jew, in fact, is Everyman, is the vulnerability of Everyman to fanaticism raised to power. The appeal to save him should not be based on emotion but on cold logic and self-interest, as a measure of protection for human rights everywhere.”

The New York Post, in an article by its editorial columnist Samuel Grafton, points out: “The “Jewish issue” is only a kind of plea in avoidance, which permits Hitler both to murder and to hold himself blameless of murder. To establish the “Jewish issue” lets Hitler kill some Frenchmen, frighten other Frenchmen, and also to tell Frenchmen that he has killed no real Frenchmen at all. The method gives him some dead opponents, some terrified opponents, and some chuckle-headed-supporters, and all of these are useful to the great master of suppression. There is only one Europe. If death is unchecked in one street in Europe, it is unchecked in all of Europe. Would-be revolutionaries will understand. Hitler means them to understand. For us to acquiesce in these deaths is for us to acquiesce in Hitler’s mastery. Conversely, to fight back, to contest this ground, to halt even some of these killings, by retaliation from the air, by mobilization of Protestant and Catholic moral condemnation, by agreeing to accept all refugees, is to give heart to all Europe.” The New York Herald Tribune, The New York Sun and P.M. carry similar articles.