840.48 Refugees/1018: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy)
741. Department’s 720, November 23, 6 p.m. A formal reply has been received from the Argentine Government.75 It expresses agreement with the humanitarian principles of the Committee and states that the Argentine will be represented at the December meeting in the same spirit. It then points out that the proportion of Jews to the population of the Argentine is one of the largest to be found in any country. It concludes:
“At present owing to the economic situation of the country and to the conditions of the labor market, only the admission of professional agriculturists would be considered possible, with sufficient elements to assure their settlement and progress on Argentine soil. The Government will admit with good will any requests which may be formulated under these terms, but they must be effected gradually and within the possibilities of assimilation which circumstances may offer and it is therefore not possible for the moment to make a precise declaration as to the number of involuntary emigrants which the country is able to admit.”
- Telegram No. 319, undated, from the Ambassador in Argentina, received November 29, 5:29 p.m., not printed.↩