840.48 Refugees/2127a
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to President Roosevelt
My Dear Mr. President: Paul Van Zeeland called to see me today to tell me of the progress made in the work of the Refugees Committee.
He told me that in the course of his recent visit to Europe, whence he returned only three days ago, he received formal assurances from the Secretary of the Colonies in England58 and from the Secretary of the Colonies in France59 that the British and French Governments [Page 223] would respectively make available for settlement British Guiana, New Caledonia, and the Marquesas. Mr. Van Zeeland said that with these areas now available for settlement, together with the areas which will be available in the Philippine Islands and the area already under development in the Dominican Republic, the moment had come when he felt it imperative to commence the collection of the initial amount of capital required for the work involved. He added that detailed plans had been prepared for settlement projects in all of the areas mentioned.
He asked me to tell you confidentially that Lessing Rosenwald had given him formal assurances that the Rosenwald family would subscribe several millions of dollars in the purchase of the proposed refugee bonds. He was further assured that if Bernard Baruch and Mr. Ittleson would subscribe equivalent amounts and an announcement could be made to that effect, a very considerable number of other individuals would be willing to subscribe for lesser amounts. He thought that by these means between fifteen and twenty millions of dollars could be obtained as the initial capital investment toward the realization of the various settlement projects.
Finally, he stated that there was no one but yourself who could give the necessary impulse to the attainment of these objectives. His feeling was that if you were willing to suggest to Mr. Baruch that he meet with Mr. Rosenwald and Mr. Ittleson at a confidential meeting at the White House under your auspices, both Mr. Baruch and Mr. Ittleson would equal the subscription already promised by Mr. Rosenwald.
I told Mr. Van Zeeland that I would lay his suggestions before you and that I believed you would let me know for Mr. Van Zeeland’s confidential information what your decision in the matter might be.
In conclusion I may say that Mr. Van Zeeland will attend a meeting of the Migrations Committee of the League in Geneva in July and from what he tells me, he has succeeded in coordinating the work of that committee with the work of the Refugees Committee. He feels very strongly that if through the subscription of the initial amount of capital needed, a concrete demonstration can be given at the meeting of the Migrations Committee this summer that the Refugees Committee is seriously undertaking the work devolving upon it, there should then immediately be held a meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee since he believes that many of the Latin American governments would be willing to take a more active interest in the project if they saw that capital funds really existed for the development of the enterprises involved.
Believe me
Faithfully yours,