Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1938, General, Volume I

840.48 Refugees/657: Telegram

The Chargé in the United Kingdom (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

London, August 12, 1938—noon.
[Received 1 p.m.]

749. Personal for the Secretary and Under Secretary from Myron Taylor. In order that you may have full information upon which to base instructions when we enter upon a further active phase with the arrival of the Director next week, I wish to review briefly the present position of the work of the Intergovernmental Committee.

1. With regard to procedure, I shall introduce Rublee to Winterton and other members of the British delegation at a small dinner on August 16. On August 17 Johnson of the Embassy will give a luncheon for Rublee at which he will have various important officials of the Foreign and Home Offices. On August 23 the Chairman and four Vice Chairmen will meet with the Director on which occasion such matters as the approach to Germany, the negotiations with the countries of settlement, the relationship to the League Commission, and the budget of the Director’s office will be discussed. I shall stand by to assist the Director probably until August 26 when I shall leave for Paris. My plan is to remain in Paris for the time being where I would be in close touch with Rublee. Meanwhile Rublee will probably undertake the approach to Germany, and we can then determine upon the need for further meetings at an early date of the officers and Director or of the Intergovernmental Committee as a whole to consider the results of Rublee’s mission and the action taken at the League.

2. The most important matter now before us is the approach to Germany, since the crux of the situation appears to be the necessity to work out with the German Government the orderly departure of involuntary emigrants. I had a most valuable exchange of views with Geist⁹ and he has returned to Berlin. It was agreed with him that until I had an opportunity to review the situation with the Director, our Ambassador at Berlin together with his British and possibly his French associates would merely make use of whatever occasion offered to prepare the atmosphere for the approach to the German Government but would refrain from making a formal move until he had received further word from us. This word will probably be sent immediately after the meeting on the 23rd. I shall of course notify you at once of the decision reached on that occasion. As matters now stand, it will probably take the form of a recommendation that the American Ambassador be requested to inquire of the German Government whether it would be willing to receive the Director, this request to be supported by the British and French Ambassadors at Berlin.

3. You of course realize that it will be of little avail for the Director to approach the German Government unless he has a concrete proposal for settling involuntary emigrants. I am afraid moreover that unless we are prepared to show the way by indicating the extent to which we, as the inviting government, are ready to commit ourselves to take a portion of an annual quota, during a 5-year period, of around 60,000 persons, there will be little possibility of obtaining statements from the governments of the other countries of settlement. You will recall that in my technical statement to the London meeting I estimated the number of potential involuntary emigrants from Germany including Austria on a basis of information which we received [at] Evian at around 600,000. By reducing the age spread, say, to a minimum limit of 15 years and a maximum limit of 45 years, and by making allowances for those who are not suited because of illness or other disabilities for emigration, I should be inclined to place the total for the purposes of our problem at around 300,000 persons who must be evacuated in a relatively short space of time. It is on the basis of this figure that each participating government in the Intergovernmental Committee, including our Government, will be invited to state its position in concrete terms.

4. Brandt¹⁰ advises me that under our present immigration law, we cannot agree to accept a specific number of involuntary emigrants annually from Germany because of the preference provisions, the legal necessity of taking these applicants in turn as they appear and of apportioning quotas according to the demand. He says that it would be necessary to have a change in the 1924 Act¹¹ approved by Congress in order to authorize a preference status for involuntary emigrants in the number agreed upon. He suggests that the only statement which we might properly make would be one to the effect that we in fact are receiving more involuntary emigrants than any other country; that according to late information, the four American consular offices in Germany, including Vienna, are issuing visas at a rate of over 20,000 per annum to persons chargeable to the quotas established for Germany, including Austria, who are in fact involuntary emigrants; that in addition they are issuing a smaller number of immigration visas to such persons who are exempted under the laws from the numerical or quota restrictions; that there is no reason to believe, conditions remaining the same, that this acceptance by the United States of involuntary emigrants, appearing and qualifying for admission into American territory, under the immigration laws, will be discontinued during the next 5 years.

5. I fully recognize that in actual fact the United States is doing more than any other country to alleviate the condition of involuntary emigration. In spite of this however unless we are able to give some concrete indication of the part we will do in the next 5 years, the period in which as a minimum, a negotiation looking to an agreement with Germany would run, other countries of settlement will claim that they are not obligated to commit themselves and we shall have no plan to present to the German Government. I should appreciate it therefore if you would canvass the situation carefully and determine for my use our maximum position within our present practices and laws.

6. In the meantime, Pell and Makins have completed a preliminary digest of the positions in respect of involuntary immigration of the various countries of refuge and settlement, with the exception of that part dealing with settlement in the British Empire which is being “carefully considered.” This information will be immediately available to the Director and will form the basis of his discussions with the representatives of the settlement countries.

7. I have no doubt that [at] the meeting on August 23 the question will be raised once more of the relationship of the Director to the League offices. The British have made it plain to us time and time again that they attach great importance to the maintenance of the League Commission and its renewal in September, strengthened and with its prestige intact. They have said that they would agree to no course which would impair that prestige and are willing to go along with our Committee only because it will deal with an approach to the German Government which is a duty that the League Commissioner for obvious reasons can not perform. They are insistent, however, that the League Commissioner shall have a part, because that is his function, in all negotiations with countries of settlement and with private organizations. It is my understanding that the British together with the refugee section of the League have formulated a detailed plan for presentation to the League Assembly on September 13. Sir Neill Malcolm has said that he may be able to furnish us with a copy of that plan, and I have requested our Consul at Geneva informally to do what he can to obtain this information, since in charting the future of our Committee we must constantly bear in mind its relationship to the League offices. In looking ahead, I believe that you should consider carefully what ultimately this relationship will be. As you know, the original idea of the British, which we scotched at Evian, was to reduce the Intergovernmental Committee to the role of advisory body to League Commission. Should the negotiations with Germany not succeed, I am convinced that the British will return to their original position, and we shall then have to decide whether to go along with them in this idea or to withdraw from the work altogether.

8. In general, I am satisfied that we have made very considerable progress since the opening of the first meeting at Evian. Although from the outset our initiative, prompted by the humanitarian motives of the President and Secretary Hull, met with respect, there was little conviction that anything substantial would be achieved. As we progressed, interest mounted and there is now a general consensus that we have set up a practicable machinery for negotiation with Germany with its small central group of Chairman, four Vice Chairmen and the Director, which will be a useful instrument for intergovernmental discussion of the problems with which we are concerned, particularly so since it is so loosely tied together that it cannot become the subject of criticism, either within or without the Intergovernmental Committee, and at the same time, through meetings held at intervals, can be very helpful to the Chairman and the Director and very useful to the Governments as a vehicle for exchanging views. The main fact is that, despite the original lukewarm reception, the Intergovernmental Committee is now set up and, no matter what the League of Nations may do, it may be maintained as a continuing body for purposes of study, consultation or advice on the questions involved.

9. Upon arrival here I called at once on Ambassador Kennedy and reviewed the events at Paris and Evian, inviting him to accompany us to the first meeting at London. Unfortunately he was leaving for France on the day of our meeting and could not attend. He promised every assistance in our work. [Taylor.]

Johnson

9. Raymond H. Geist, First Secretary of Embassy and Consul at Berlin.
10. George Brandt, member of the American delegation to the intergovernmental meeting at Evian.
11. Approved May 26, 1924; 43 Stat. 153.