The belief that refugees deprive native citizens of jobs was termed fallacious tonight by Dr. Henry Smith Leiper, secretary of the American Committee for Christian (Protestant) German Refugees, addressing about 1,000 persons at a refugee-aid dinner at the Hotel Astor. Other speakers were the Rev. Joseph D. Ostermann, executive director of the Committee for Catholic Refugees from Germany, and Louis Nizer.
Dr. Leiper, who recently returned from a survey of refugee conditions in Europe, said: “Let none of us fall into the habit of thinking that the world contains a strictly limited number of jobs so that every refugee employed would mean one citizen shut out of work. There is no greater fallacy. I could tell you from my own experience of men and women in this and other lands who have reestablished themselves, building up business and professional activities which contribute to the welfare of their adopted country. Among these are some of the finest minds Europe has produced — creative, dynamic, gifted with inventive genius and a passionate love of freedom. Such men and women can in the future make to the life of our own and other nations affording them a new home the same kind of contributions that men like the Serbian Michael Pupin or the German Carl Schurz have made in days past.”
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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.
