11 OCTOBER 1940, Page 12

CHILDREN FROM EUROPE

Sta,—Being so unfortunate as to have to be during this war in the United States instead of in my native land, England, I am in a position to realise how greatly American sympathy has turned towards the British Empire in the last few months, espes.ially since the bom- bardment of London. There is one item, however, in our war effort that distresses many (Cudahy, for example): that the blockade by the British Navy must of necessity make so many children on the Conti- nent go hungry. Would it not now be the moment for the English Government to promise safe passes to any :ships from Holland, Belgium, France and Germany with refugee children on board, if their Governments could arrange for the United States or Canada to take them in for the duration of the war? Sympathy for the oppressed people of Europe is even greater here than for England, and homes for Dutch, Belgian and French children would certainly be fOrthcoming, and in a country as idealistic as the U.S.A. for German children as well. Coming after_ the deaths of those 83 children when the refugee ship was torpedoed, the gesture would assume almost the dignity of turning the other cheek. Of course It would be impossible to take all the children, but if even a small proportion of them went from Germany, it might make a difference to the attitude of the growing generation in Germany to the generosity of democratic Anglo-Saxons.—Yours, &c.,

Orange Hill Farm, Redlands, California. ROSE DE MARCELLDS.

[The Prime Minister has declared specifically that Great Britain will actively help to feed any Nazi-dominated country as soon as it is evacuated by its conquerors.—En., The Spectator.]