Men Go East

Cheerful, robustious James Henry ("Jim") Thomas whose smoking-car stories seem to help his popularity as Secretary of State for the Dominions, last week portentously announced: "For the first time in modern history more persons are entering the United Kingdom than are leaving it."

This upset to tradition visibly upset Mr. Thomas who has painful memories of his public failure to solve the United Kingdom's unemployment problem (TIME, June 16, 1930 et ante). Today, subjects of King George who have not done well in the Dominions are hastening home, but a good many British Islanders still emigrate. Though Mr. Thomas viewed with some alarm last week his new "migration problem," his figures showed that only 22,030 more people entered the United Kingdom last year than migrated from it.

More spectacular was the Soviet Press's reluctant admission last week that Russia is being "swamped with immigrants," mostly U. S. and German. Theoretically they should be welcome, for Soviet propaganda still insists that "there is no unemployment in Russia."

There were last week several hundred unemployed Americans and Germans in Moscow alone. Some of them said they had spent their last savings to reach Russia. They had taken a chance, entered the Soviet Union on a tourist visa good for only a one-month stay, hoping to find work and be permitted to stay on. Some of the U. S. immigrants were sleeping ten in a Moscow room, many two in a bed.

To the ears of Josef Stalin came reports of this state of affairs. Promptly a new Soviet Immigration Ministry was created. Within 48 hours the Government announced that, while additional immigration would be discouraged and perhaps banned, jobs would be found for every foreign immigrant actually in Russia. Into action went the State Tourist Bureau, "Intourist," provided free food and strove to arrange free shelter adequate to tide the stranded immigrants over until they can be put to work for the Five-Year-Plan.

In Buenos Aires more than 50,000 foreigners, mostly Europeans, were destitute last week and the new Argentine Government of President Augustin Justo was dickering with steamship lines. It might be cheaper. General Justo thought, to pay the cost of shipping these people back to Europe than to dole out charity to them in Buenos Aires. Provisionally the Argentine Federal Government appropriated 100,000 pesos ($25,000) "to furnish shelter for the homeless in Buenos Aires."

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