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The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

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its willingness to participate in the <strong>Evian</strong> <strong>Conference</strong>. Paraguay possessed an “immense<br />

territory <strong>of</strong> extraordinary fertility” but was “too thinly populated” and needed the<br />

absorption <strong>of</strong> “industrious individuals” that could develop and exploit its natural<br />

resources. Nevertheless, the Decree-Law <strong>of</strong> March 20, 1937, limited admission to<br />

agriculturists and related crafts; a restriction that essentially eliminated from<br />

consideration the bulk <strong>of</strong> <strong>Jewish</strong> refugees who were urban based and middle-class. 4<br />

<strong>The</strong> Irish envoy and Permanent Delegate to the League <strong>of</strong> Nations, Francis<br />

Thomas Cremins, expressed the gratitude <strong>of</strong> his Government for being able to <strong>of</strong>ficially<br />

<strong>of</strong>fer its heartfelt <strong>com</strong>passion for the refugees and hoped that significant out<strong>com</strong>es would<br />

be achieved. Cremins and the Irish mission had been directed to avoid any financial<br />

obligation without the express approval <strong>of</strong> the Minister <strong>of</strong> External Affairs Eamon de<br />

Valera. Consequently, Cremins declared that the Irish were content to have been invited<br />

but were not able to make a bona fide contribution to the problem at hand due to its small<br />

geographic size, a population numbering less than three million and an economy<br />

primarily based on agriculture. Since it was necessary for so many young Irish people to<br />

emigrate each year in search <strong>of</strong> employment (due to the lack <strong>of</strong> available land to settle<br />

and the slow expansion <strong>of</strong> domestic manufacturing) it was not possible to absorb<br />

stateless, unemployed and <strong>of</strong>ten destitute refugees. In addition, there was an<br />

overabundance <strong>of</strong> medical and other pr<strong>of</strong>essionals which barred entry <strong>of</strong> aliens with<br />

similar intellectual and pr<strong>of</strong>essional backgrounds. Cremins also believed that barely a<br />

fraction <strong>of</strong> the stateless refugees could be assimilated into the more highly industrialized<br />

nations. Thus, he argued, only sparsely settled and underdeveloped territories were<br />

4 “Proceedings,” July 11, 1938, 36.<br />

228

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