[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, —May I reply to
Mr. Reed's letter on the subject of immigrants to this country and his suggestion that they should be compelled to serve in the armed forces?
We already know from Mr. Reed's books that he has no love for the Jews. With that I am not concerned ; most racial generalisations are ethnographically foolish, and when action is based on them may involve such abstract injustice that the second state is worse than the first, and the persecutor sinks to a lower moral level than the persecuted.
What I am concerned with is this: Mr. Reed suggests that " immigrants " will be provided with " cushy jobs " (how easily the 1914 slang comes back) and that they ought, there- fore, to be forced into the army. I wish to tell Mr. Reed (a) that the Home Office regulations are almost unassailable, there are no jobs for refugees, if such jobs are likely to prevent British employment, and (b) that during the last six months I have met many Austrians, Czechs and Germans—Jews and " Aryans "—and that these men, almost without exception, have expressed to me their desire to join the army. They are puzzled that with thousands of men available, trained at the expense of another State, England should not have formed a Foreign Legion. If a Foreign Legion was formed tomorrow conscription might be desirable, in the interests of uniformity and justice, but it would not be necessary.
As a partial solution of both the refugee and the recruiting problem, Mr. Reed's idea is a good one, but there was no need for him to be offensive until it had been put to the test and failed.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully, R. FURNEAUX JORDAN.
To Pembroke Court, Edwardes Square, W.8.
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