Senate Adjourns Without Voting on Bills to Aid Jews in Europe

The Senate today adjourned until January 10 without taking any action on the two resolutions approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday recommending the establishment of a special U.S. commission to deal with the question of rescuing the Jews of Europe and urging that the State Department cooperate with the British, Swiss and Swedish Governments in supplying food immediately to the starving populations of occupied territories.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held no hearings on the bill which suggested the Establishment of a U.S. Commission for saving Jews and to which it gave unanimous approval. After discussion, it amended the resolution to urge the creation of a commission to formulated and effectuates “plans,” rather than “a plan” as the original bill suggested, of immediate action to save the surviving Jews of Europe. The House Foreign Affairs Committee has been holding open hearings on identical bills. No action will be taken before Congress convenes.

Sen. Gillette, the “father” of the bill, inserted in the Congressional Record a telegram received by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from seven prominent clergymen supporting the establishment of a “special governmental commission to find ways and means to save the surviving Jewish people of Europe.” They said, “We cannot approach Christmastide without declaring that too many of us have been wanting in the will to rescue these suffering people. ” They urged that ” no possible sanctuary be closed, whether in America or elsewhere, ” Signers of the telegram were Rt. Reverend William T. Manning, Bishop of New York, Protestant Episcopal Church; Archbishop Athenagoras, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America; Dr. Henry Sloan Coffin, Moderator of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church, and President of the Union Theological Seminary, Bishop William J. McConnell, resident Bishop of the Methodist Church; Rt. Reverend Thomas J. Heistand, Protestant Episcopal Theological Church, Cambridge, Mass; and Dr. Russell Stafford, Minister of Old South Church, Boston.

Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes has accepted the honorary chairmanship of the Washington chapter of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, according to an announcement made today. In his letter of acceptance, Mr. Ickes said “As one of the many millions of free Americans who have been infuriated by the savage brutality of the Nazis, I only hope that the Committee may contribute in a real way to the saving of as many as possible from the fury of Hitler and his hosts.”