852.48/212
The Ambassador in Spain (Bowers), Then in France, to the Secretary of State
[Received July 19.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that I saw Sr. Del Vayo, Minister of State, in Paris, apropos of the exchange of prisoners in which I am acting as intermediary,43 and that he requested me to transmit to the President through the Department a statement regarding refugees in Spain driven from their homes, together with a suggestion as to the amelioration of their condition which involves the United States.
He says that as many as 3,000,000 people, men, women and children, have been forced from their homes by the rebels and have taken refuge in some of the larger cities, such as Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, etc. Of this number, close to a million are children. Everything is being done by the Spanish Government within its power for the care of these refugees, and particularly the children, but the problem is becoming too large, and outside help is needed.
Other nations have proposed taking over the children during the period of the war, notably Belgium and Mexico, but the Spanish Government does not think it humane to separate the children from their mothers, and prefers that they remain in Spain.
The subject recently was the subject for consideration for the Council of Ministers, and it appears that the Ministers unanimously decided to ask outside assistance on humanitarian grounds, and to place absolute control over the direction of relief work for the refugee children and mothers preferably in an American Commission.
Sr. Del Vayo in his conversation made the reason for this preference clear enough by referring to the Hoover relief commission in Belgium, and in Russia, to the relief work in Germany, and to the relief work for the Armenian refugees.
Should an international commission to deal with the problem of the refugees, particularly children, be created, it was the unanimous desire of the Ministers that the chairman and personnel should be named by President Roosevelt, and that the commission should have complete authority, and should deal with the problem wherever found, regardless of the geographical division of the two sides in Spain.
[Page 365]Comment.
The fact that the Minister did not submit the proposal in a formal note but by word of mouth, gave me the impression that it was being thrown out as a feeler. There is no doubt as to the reality of the grave human problem that is involved in the driving of a great population from their homes; and that the Spanish Government is concerned over its capacity to deal adequately with such a problem in the midst of the war; and it is but natural, in view of the work we have done in the past, that the Spanish Government should instantly think of the United States in this connection.
Sr. Del Vayo also explained it on the ground that we, more than any other nation, have been honestly neutral, and can be counted upon to act solely from humanitarian motives and without political considerations.
Asked directly by the Minister of State to convey this message to the President through the Department, I could not do otherwise than promise to do so.
Naturally I expressed no opinion, but called attention to the fact that the President was leaving for a month’s trip across the continent, and that if the plan involved any congressional cooperation Congress has just adjourned and will not reassemble until in January.
Since the proposal was not submitted in writing but by word of mouth, any reply can be made without formality and I can manage that easily enough.
Respectfully yours,