Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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GCIlOOIflC KS I5 AMERICA’S DUTY TO D. P.’s by LLEWELLYN CHADBOURNE Picture if you will a Displaced Persons ' camp in Europe. Long rows of plain barracks, sheltering thousands of people from all over the continent torn from their homes by man ' s inhumanity to man. Let us take a closer look. We see small flower gardens and rocks bordering the muddy paths. They live from one day to the next. They have no jobs and are dependent entirely upon the United States and other countries for the neces- sities of life. Thus you see how the D. P. ' s in Europe live. No jobs, no real homes, and many have no families. There are hundreds of thousands of them in these camps. Their only assets are steady meals and a roof over their heads. What is our duty towards them? What should be done for them? What can be done? What is being done? These ore questions that people all over the world are asking. First what is our duty to these unfortunates? We are the richest country in the world. We can afford to find homes and jobs for these D. P. ' s. We shall have to. All too many of the other countries are war-torn and wrecked. With a surplus of man-power they can hardly find homes and jobs for thousands of D. P. ' s when the situation is critical enough without them. In spite of this a few countries have taken in some of the D. P. ' s. Sweden has volunteered to care for one- half of the blind D. P. ' s. Lodged in remodeled hotels and resorts, they will do their best to support themselves with handiwork and crafts. Great Britain, France, and Belgium have taken in a number of miners, mechanics, and artisans. But the number taken in compared with those left, is comparatively few. But what of those that are left, the doctors, lawyers, bankers, clerks, accountants? And there are the hard- core D. P. ' s , the cripples, amputees, and those with no useful trade. These are the greatest problems of those who are to decide the fate of the D. P. ' s. Part of this problem was attacked by Congress in 1948 when it passed the Displaced Persons Bill of that year. A quota of 205,000 was set up and a number of other restrictions and provisions were included. The most un- just provision was the so-called cut-off date. This stated that nobody would be eligible for entrance to the United States who hadn ' t entered a D P. camp before December 22, 1945. This meant that hundreds of people who had given up all they had to escape from Russian dominated territory would be denied entrance to the United States. Another unjust restriction was that that required 30% of all entering D. P. ' s to be farmers, and 40% to be from Russian annexed territory. There weren ' t that many in the camps. Thus only a few could enter. While these restrictions were unjust there was one very good section to help both ourselves and the D. P. ' s. This section was in four parts; one, that the D. P. should have a job waiting for him that wouldn ' t deprive anyone here of one; two, that he should also have a home waiting; three, that his transportation be completely arranged for beforehand; and four, that assurance would be forth- coming that the D. P. would not become a public charge. This guards the D. P. by assuring him that he shall have a job and home waiting for him and that he doesn ' t have to worry about his transportation. It guards us by guaranteeing that no one will be deprived of a home or a job by a D. P. and that the latter won ' t become a public burden. Under this quota and these restrictions, well over 40,000 D. P. ' s have entered this country. Then urged on by the support of the people and the desire of Presi- 15

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I I ¥ TOCIOOE OF Evelyn Atkinson, “I Don ' t Want to Set the World on Fire . Sally Atkinson, Frivolous Sal . Ann Barrett, Don ' t Fence Me In . Susan Bear, Sweet Sue . Carmen Benoit, To Each His Own . Cedric Billings, Who ' ll Be the Next One? Thais Bruni, Yodeling Blues . Alice Burke, Take Me out to the Ball Game . John Caloggero, Small Fry . Albert Camplese, I Haven ' t Got a Worry in the World . Marcia Caverly, Sugar ' n Spice . Llewellyn Chadbourne, Seeing My Baby Home . Ruth Clements, Can ' t Help Loving That Man of Mine . Robert Conley, Trombonology . Ruth Coughlin, Simple and Sweet . Ann Czegka, I ' m A Big Girl Now . Chester Davis, Movie Tonight . Constance Erickson, In Her Own Quiet Way . Charlotte Frydrych, Here Comes the Navy . Andrew Galanis, The Best, Things in Life are Free . Theodora Geanakos, Thou Swell . Louise Gianakas, A Little Golden Cross . Evelyn Goodale, Oh, You Beautiful Doll . Lorraine Greenleaf, My Shadow and I . Richard Gwinn, There ' s No Business Like Show Business . Peter Hawkins, The Man Obviously Doesn ' t Believe in Love . Arthur Hills, Saxophone Sam . Margaret Hills, Concerto for Clarinet . Dorothy Jackson, Friendly Feeling . Jean Johnson, Sophisticated Lady . Rose Lee Johnson, Franky and Johnny . Judith Kent, Rumors are Flying . Marcia Killam, Dancing in the Dark . Joseph Kisiel, Fun and Fancy Free . Dorothy Knowles, I Hear a Blue Bird . Ruth Knowles, For You, For Me, For Ever More . Sally Landry, Anchors Away . Wallace Lane, Sonny Boy . Kathleen Lang, Beautiful Dreamer . Jenny Lindberg, Melancholy Baby . Mary Mackenzie, Sweet and Lovely . Phyllis Marcaurelle, Leave the Dishes in the Sink . Stephen Marvin, Fiddle-Faddle . Jane Mulholland, In My Merry Oldsmobile . Edward Murawski, Minding My Business . Ernest Nikas, I Only Want a Buddy . Robert Paquin, Give Me the Simple Life . Dorothy Perley, The Radiance in Your Eyes . Sheila Perley, Humphrey Bogart Rhumba . David Player, Heartbreaker Edward Podmostka, Where Do We Go From Here . Jean Poirier, Cynthia . David Poole, Life ' s Tedious, Ain ' t It? Walter Prisby, What is This Thing Called Love? Philip Publicover, I ' m on Top of the World . Marcia Ready, It Had To Be You . Rodney Ricker, Oh, How I Hate to Get up in the Morning . Anne Robertson, Sentimental Me . Ann Robinson, I ' ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm . Donald Rodger, I ' ve Got No Use for Women . Stella Seakas, Lovely Lady . Ellen Sheehan, My Silent Mood . Jeanne Sheppard, Love Somebody . Christine Sctiropoulos, How Cute Can You Be . Donald Souter, I Can Dream, Can ' t I . Ann Spencer, Personality . William St. Laurent, For Every Man, There ' s a Woman . Charlotte Stone, Oh, Johnny . Alexander Szurpicki, At Your Beck and Call . Harrison Tenney, The Old Master Painter . Alan Turner, Gosh, is My Face Red . Joseph Waz, Laugh, Clown, Laugh . John Willey, Margie .

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dent Truman, legislation was started early in 1950 for a new Displaced Persons Bill to remove restrictions and increase the quota. Early in April the bill was passed. There was a con- siderable amount of debate but only over a few of the minor provisions. All of Congress was for admitting more D. P. ' s and removing some of the restrictions. In this new bill the quota was raised from 205,000 to 359,000. The restriction of 30% farmers and 40% from the Baltic States and Russian annexed territory was dropped. But best of all the cut-off date was changed from Decem- ber 22, 1945 to January 1, 1950. Thousands who have fled the horror of Communism are now eligible to enter the United States. The four provisions requiring assur- ances as to homes, jobs, and transportation etc, are re- tained as they should be. The voting on the passage of the bill shows that the desire to help D. P. ' s is not restricted to one party. The numbers of those for and against the bill were equally divided between Republicans and Democrats. Our belief that freedom is the right of all people regardless of race, creed, or color is again forcefully demonstrated by this act. Freedom and liberty have been the watchwords of our country since its birth one hundred and seventy-four years ago. Our actions in the American Revolution, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Spanish-Ameri- can War are all concrete demonstrations of our love of liberty for ourselves and others. The passage of this bill and the taking in of these unfortunates and helping them back to the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- piness should measure up with our other deeds and for- ever be a milestone on the road to liberty. AS AMERICA SEES D. P.’s by KATHLEEN LANG The first boatload of Displaced Persons and Refugees landed in America on the twenty-first of December, 1620; some one hundred men, women, and children of humble means and simple crafts. They were not the first colonists here, but they are the most venerated in our history, because they were the first persons who had been displaced by political oppression and made fugitives by religious persecution, and thus remain a symbol of the United States of America. America was populated by Europeans who came to the New World in search of freedom: religious, political, and economic freedom. The famine in Ireland in 1840, which caused the death of thousands from privation, led many to leave the Emerald Isle and embark for America. The Irish were ambitious, especially for their children, and today we find many of their heirs filling political offices and other positions of importance. At about the same time as the famine in Ireland the collapse of a revolutionary movement in Germany forced thousands of bold spirits to seek safety in America. These refugees were men and women of lofty ideals. Many of these people from central Europe were university students or graduates, and those who lived from the soil were excellent farmers. Later on we find a surge of immi- grants from the countries of southern Europe; these people brought with them their music and continental customs and have left an indelible impress on our great nation. As we all know, many of these immigrants have be- come famous personalities. Thomas Paine, who was ac- tive in the movement for independence during the Revo- lutionary War, was previously an Englishman. Andrew Jackson, one of our most famous presidents, was born of Irish immigrants. And what would life be like today without the telephone, an invention of Alexander Graham Bell, a native of Scotland. The famous light opera com- poser, Victor Herbert, was an Irish immigrant. Arturo Toscanini, greatest orchestral conductor of this time, is a self-exiled refugee from Italy. Albert Einstein, the famous scientist, fled the fascism in Germany. And George Gershwin, composer of Rhapsody in Blue and many other famous selections, was the son of Russian immigrants. Those I have mentioned are only a few of an amazingly large number of displaced persons who have contributed in various ways to American civilization. Today we see the usual aftermaths of war — the blinded, the maimed, and the bereaved, who are, to a certain extent, remembered through government pro- vision. The forgotten ones are the one and a half million people, who according to most reports, are wandering around homeless in Europe — Displaced Persons and Refugees for whom there is no Plymouth Rock. There are obvious humanitarian reasons, in the American tra- dition, for acting in behalf of these suffering people be- fore hope dies with them. Several months ago a group of such homeless persons got their first glimpse of the first woman of the world; it was not until that moment that they realized they were free. Until then is had been a dream that not even the horrible realities of the concentration camps, the torture, and the hopeless feeling of despair, had been able to kill. And as the ship slid by the huge towery symbol of liberty and freedom, the dream was at last a reality. Only a few children, recognizing the statue, raised happy voices; the others stood at the rail clenching it tightly. Some who were very old wept silently, but the eyes of the young were bright with eagerness. And they uttered a silent prayer to God — these people who had some- how managed to survive. 16