Now that the U. S, House of Representatives has passed and sent to the Senate a Bill authousing United States' ships to enter belligerent waters to evacuate child refugees, it is possible that the Senate will concur and the Proposed measure become law. It will be remembered that when the British Government first adopted the scheme of sending children abroad, it had to be dropped for the time being because the necessity of convoying the vessels threw an extra burden upon the British Navy. Should the United States legislature decide that American vessels may be engaged in this work of mercy it will mean that for this one specific purpose American ships will be allowed to enter belligerent areas. The attitude of Germany towards this development remains to be seen, but it is doubtful whether Hitler would do anything to ensure the safety of vessel engaged in such a humanitarian. work. On the other hand it might prove exceptionally dangerous for him were any U-boat to seek to interfere with American shipping so employed, for nothing would be calculated to enrage the people of the United States than the knowledge that warlike action had been taken against ships performing so merciful a function. It is to be hoped that, if such action makes possible the evacuation of many children from the British Isles, the greatest care will be taken by the British authorities to see that there is no possibility of a repetition of the charge of discrimination which was made in Parliament in connection with the few hundreds of children it was possible to send overseas before the plan had to be discontinued. Be that as it may the fact that it may be possible to remove many children from the danger which threatens them will bring relief to many a parent, especially as the repeated raids on south-west England, where so many children were sent, suggests that they are already the unhappy recipients of the attentions of the German airman.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.