CONSCIENTIOUS SUPPORTER

To the Editor of the Crimson:

The humanitarian spirit behind the activities of the Harvard Refugee Committee is splendid. Indeed, the spirit behind all the present nationwide agitation to raise money to get the Jews out of Germany is splendid.... It is a spirit all too easy to yield to. But I can't. I find myself looking beyond into the possible consequences of this movement to get the Jews out of Germany.

The moment you begin helping the Jews out of that country, you are aiding and abetting a policy of the Hitler government.... You are paying the kidnapper the ransom he demands, for you will be contributing to the Von Rath "fine" or to a "leaving-the-country" tax.... And if the Nazi government succeeds in getting this ransom money, it at once establishes a precedent to be followed by other European Have-Not countries, such as Italy, Poland, and Hungary, where Anti-Semitism smolders, awaiting a real test of its usefulness as an instrument of economic policy. Hence, the welfare of all the Jews in Central Europe may be at stake, and you might then face the problem of having to remove all the Jews from central Europe....

Another objection is that the minute you begin bringing these Jewish refugees into the United States (or into almost any other country, for that matter), you will have Anti-Semitism breaking out like malaria (And God knows the anti-Jewish feeling is prevalent enough here now). There are far too many people jobless or economically insecure to view an influx of job competitors calmly. That the situation might get pretty nasty, goes without saying....

What I'd like to see is all this energy and money going into some method of getting our government to find a way to get the Nazi government to throw out this much anyway of its present policy, its Jewish persecution. That is the way to the answer. Austin MacC. Fox.