Like all people from other lands, natives of India in the United States have shown qualities of cultural adaptation and social assimilation and have proved themselves to be law abiding and loyal to the democratic institutions of the United States. Since these Indian residents have voluntarily given up their former domiciles and cast their lots for better or worse with the land of their adoption, in the name of human justice and American sense of fair play it is only just that they be granted the right to become naturalized and saved from discriminating limitations due to the national-origin clause. We most respectfully bring to your attention the plight of the natives of India residing here and the need for the decent rectification of their situation caused by their disbarment from the naturalization privileges and seek all necessary legislative measures in their behalf. Since arbitrary discriminations are becoming the rule of our times, it is utterly unworthy of American tradition and professions of meltingpot democracy to give them sanction here. These people from India and their families must, in fact, live and die in the United States, and their well being depends upon the action of the American Government. They have already experienced undeserved suffering as aliens and it is time to heed the case of this defenseless minority group in the light of justic, tolerance and expediency. A delegation officially appointed by the India Welfare League, headed by Mubarek Ali Khan, made a tour throughout the country and secured the support of various governors, mayors, and other American citizens in public and private life. We have in our possession a petition signed by them. I have a list of governors and other officials who support this bill, which I would like to leave with you. The CHAIRMAN. It may be incorporated in the record. (The list follows:) Gov. A. Harry Moore, of New Jersey; Gov. Harold A. Hoffman; Mayor Wilson, of Philadelphia; Mayor Reading, of Detroit, Mich.; Governor Dickinson, Lansing, Mich.; Mayor Butler, Omaha, Nebr.; Father Monsignor Flanagan, Boystown, Nebr.; Governor of Nebraska, statehouse, Lincoln, Nebr.; Mayor Kelly, of Chicago; Mayor Don B. Butlar, of Sacramento, Calif.; Mayor of Marysville, Calif.; Mayor of Stockton, Calif.; Mayor Rossi, San Francisco, Calif.; Mayor of Fresno, Calif.; Mayor of Elcentro, Calif.; Gov. Culvert L. Olson, of California; Mayor of Hardville, Calif.; Mayor of Phoenix, Ariz.; secretary of state, Phoenix, Ariz.; Gov. R. T. Jones, Arizona; Secretary of Arizona State Harry M. Moore; Gov. Sidney P. Osborne, of Arizona; Governor Lehman, of New York; Secretary of Agriculture; Mr. Hoffman, of California. Mr. BAJPAI. The question was asked whether the British Government supports this bill. I have a letter from the India Office, from Sir Firoz Khan Noon, Defense Minister of the British Government, to Mubarek Ali Khan, President of the India Welfare League. I cannot leave this letter with the Committee. May I read it? The CHAIRMAN. You may read it into the record. MUBAREK ALI KHAN, Esq., Phoenix, Ariz. INDIA OFFICE, Whitehall, S. W. 1, May 31, 1944. DEAR MR. MUBAREK ALI KHAN: Thank you for your letter of May 17. I was very glad to get all the news from you and to recall my visit to America. I hope I am not divulging any official secrets when I tell you that the Government of India in Delhi are doing all they can to help our countrymen in the United States of America with regard to the matters you mention in your letter. Sir Girja Shankar Bajpai, who is our representative in Washington, is doing his utmost to serve his country and his countrymen. If you ever happen to go there you must call on him-he is an old friend of mine and you will like him. Yours sincerely, FIROZ KHAN NOON. I have a number of comments of prominent people and newspaper excerpts, and also a list of prominent people who support this bill. The CHAIRMAN. Will you list all of the documents you have to offer, and they will be incorporated in the record. Mr. BAJPAI. I have a folder concerning the Watumull Foundation, and a letter from Mrs. G. J. Watumull, chairman of the Distribution Committee of the Watumull Foundation, addressed to me, which I should like to file with the committee. I should like to incorporate in the record letter dated December 26, 1941, from Mubarek Ali Khan, president of the India Welfare League, Inc., to the Secretary of War. The CHAIRMAN. All of the documents which you submit will be incorporated in the record. (The documents follow:) Mr. Walter W. Van Kirk, executive secretary of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, writes that church organizations throughout the country support the legislation for naturalization of nationals of India. NEW YORK TIMES, July 9, 1944. In support of this legislation writes: "The removal of a mark justly offensive to their pride and self-respect will be not merely testimony of our gratitude for their armed aid, but a matter of justice and equality of treatment." BALTIMORE SUN, Feb. 22, 1944: "It is difficult to find any reason for discriminating the nationals of India. Their contribution to war, in money, in material, and fighting men, has been substantial." LOS ANGELES TIMES, March 21, 1944: "It seems worthy of adoption, for much the same reason as in the case of the Chinese-it would remove a discrimination against a people who are fighting hard side by side with American soldiers. Indian troops have already served gallantly in many sectors." KANSAS CITY STAR, March 11, 1944: "To make such a gesture (Chinese) would seem a warranted recognition of the part of the people of India in this war.' Prominent people who support this legislation: 1. Dr. Robert A. Milliken, California Institute of Technology, Nobel prize winner. 2. Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, of Boston. 3. William Benton, University of Chicago, vice chairman of the Committee on Economic Reconstruction. 4. Rev. Henry Smith Leiper, secretary in America, World Council of Churches. 5. John R. Mott, chairman, International Missionary Council. 6. Prof. John Dewey. 7. Rev. John Hayes Holmes, Minister of Community Church, New York. 8. Albert Einstein, and others. THE WATUMULL FOUNDATION Established by Mr. G. J. Watumull, Honolulu, T. H., United States of America, July 1942 For many years Mr. and Mrs. Gobindram J. Watumull, of Honolulu, T. H., have been planning to do something in the interests of better understanding between the peoples of the United States and India, and to promote the cause of cultural and economic cooperation between the two countries. With this as one of its primary objects, Mr. Watumull established the Watumull Foundation in July 1942, to be operated exclusively for charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes, or for exclusive public purposes of the United States or any political subdivision thereof. The present plans of the foundation include the following projects: 1. Provide scholarships for outstanding and deserving students from India, enabling them to carry on advanced studies in the best educational institutions in the United States in order that they may become leaders in their respective fields upon return to India. 2. Provide support for a chair of Indian culture (established July 1942) in the University of Hawaii to be held by an outstanding Indian scholar. This chair may not be able to function until after the end of the war. 3. Provide traveling fellowships for eminent scholars and professional men and women from India to visit American educational and industrial institutions to widen their knowledge and experience, and to promote the cause of cultural and economic cooperation between the United States and India. 4. Provide funds for founding a chair of American history and civilization in a leading university in India, and for traveling fellowships and visiting professorships for eminent American scholars, public men and women as research scholars and visiting professors to Indian universities, in the interests of better understanding between India and the United States. 5. Provide funds for other educational, philanthropic, and charitable work, such as support for the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, famine relief organizations, etc. Mr. Gobindram J. Watumull came to Honolulu in 1917 from India to manage the business already established there by his older brother, Mr. J. Watumull. Throughout the years he has been deeply interested in the problems concerning his country, and feels that the United States has educational resources for Indian students unequaled elsewhere in the world. Since the need in India in the fields of medicine, public health, agriculture, education, technology, and allied subjects is critical, it seems in perative at this time to bring students to the United States to take advantage of these opportunities. This work will need the cooperation of American universities, technological institutes, businessmen, professors, even of governments in arranging travel facilities, visas, research facilities, opportunities to experience the best in American life, etc. We have recently received a letter from the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue in Washington stating that, based upon the evidence presented, if the foundation is operated strictly in accordance with its stated purposes, it will be entitled to exemption from Federal income tax under the provisions of section 101 (6) of the Internal Revenue Code as an organization organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. And, further, that contributions made to the foundation will be deductible by the donors in arriving at their net income in the manner and to the extent provided by section 23 (o and q) of the Internal Revenue Code. Generous contributions to the foundation have been made by Mr. J. Watumull, Mr. Ramchand Watumull, and Mrs. G. J. Watumull. Mr. Ernest R. Cameron, certified public accountant, and Mr. Milton Cades, attorney at law, both of Honolulu, are the trustees of the foundation. Mrs. G. J. Watumull is the chairman of the distribution committee. The scholarship division, which constitutes the most important phase of the foundation's work, was organized under the able direction of a committee of recommendations. Successful candidates for scholarships will be selected according to their ability to meet rigid requirements, among which are: 1. Scholastic and professional qualifications in the required fields. 2. Health standards. 3. Personal recommendations, both from their universities and from people in public and private life. The scholarships offered are generous, permitting the students: (1) To attend the best institutions in the United States; (2) to maintain an excellent standard of living while in this country; and (3) to travel from India to America and return to India if they are unable to pay for such travel themselves. The object of this scholarship division is to develop the highest type of leadership in professional, industrial, and educational fields in India. All inquiries and communications in regard to scholarships should be addressed to: Mrs. G. J. Watumull, Chairman, Distribution Committee, Watumull Foundation, 937 Malcolm Avenue, Los Angeles 24, Calif. WATUMULL FOUNDATION, Mr. R. B. BAJPAI, Washington 9, D. C. DEAR MR. BAJPAI: Your letter of February 27 has just arrived. As you requested, I am sending you a few of the Watumull Foundation circulars. I wish our annual report for 1944 were off the press as it gives a concise but comprehensive account of the foundation's activities during 1944. For your information, if you care to present it during the hearings, the foundation has accomplished the following: 1. Arranged to send Prof. Merle Curti, of the University of Wisconsin, as visiting professor to the leading universities of India to lecture on American history, culture, and civilization. 2. Arranged, through the American Historical Association, to award a prize of $500 every 3 years for the best book on India published in the United States. The first prize will be awarded at the end of 1945. 3. Granted $2,500 to the east and west association for their educational work in this country on behalf of India. 4. Gave $2,100 to the United Races of America for their inter-racial work in the Los Angeles area. 5. Established the following fellowships and lectureships: (a) Research fellowship in the Columbia University held by Dr. Shridharani. (b) Lectureship in the American University for a course on contemporary India given by Mr. O. Rahman. (c) Special lectureship in the graduate school of the Catholic University of America for two courses given by Dr. Taraknath Das. 6. Granted $800 to Mahesh Chandra Jugran for study in Temple University of Philadelphia. 7. Granted purchase prizes to the Honolulu Association of Artists and the Honolulu Printmakers with the purchases given to the Honolulu Academy of Arts. 8. Granted $500 to the Honoluly Symphony Society for the purchase of modern music for the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. The foundation expects shortly to announce the award of scholarships to 13 Indian students and a fellowship to an outstanding Indina scholar. In addition to this, the foundation expects to give special aid to a number of Indian students already in this country who could not otherwise complete their studies. I hope this gives you a brief picture of what the foundation has been doing and you are at liberty to present these facts if you think it will help at the hearings on the bills you mentioned. We have also built up a splendid advisory board for the foundation consisting of about 40 members in this country including such prominent men as Dr. Karl Taylor Compton of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Edmund Day, of Cornell University; Dr. Paul Douglas, of the American University; Dean Harry Carman, of Columbia University; Prof. Merle Curti, of the University of Wisconsin; Dr. Clarence Dykstra, former president of the University of Wisconsin and now provost of University of California, Los Angeles. I do hope that you have fully recovered from your cold. You are always so kind and self-sacrificing that even when you are ill you are thinking of others and placing the importance of the cause before your own personal feelings. Mr. Watumull joins me in best wishes. Sincerely, Mrs. G. J. Watumull, Chairman, Distribution Committee. SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington, D. C. INDIA WELFARE LEAGUE, INC., DEAR MR. SECRETARY: In these critical times, when the American Government calls upon all people to do their part for national defense, we Indians demand the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with our American brothers. We ask that we be given a chance to do our part in this hour of great emergency-in this hour of destiny for democracy. We natives of India-like so many others from Europe and from other parts of the world-came to the America of Lincoln and of Washington with only one desire: We wanted to call that America, that land, Mother America, as we had been used to think of India. We wanted to settle here, to work here, to live here, and die here. We wanted to mingle our sweat with the sweat of our fellow workers of other races and, together with them, to build a still greater and a still freer country that would stand as a beacon light of progress for days to come. Although we who are here have little of these rights that we sought-have none of those duties that we prayed for—we ask now the Government at Washington to give us a chance to serve with the armed forces of the United States. We have asked for citizenship in times of peace; we now ask for the citizenship conferred by our fighting for the common cause-for the victory of democracy in our day-for the triumph of democracy on all oceans. We submit a list of names of sons of Mother India who wish to defend America in her hour of need, in order that this Government for, by, and of the people shall not perish from this earth. Very respectfully yours, MUBAREK ALI KHAN, President. We, the undersigned, members of the India Welfare League, Inc., hereby pledge out utmost support to the Government of the United States of America and to give all aid and assistance of which we are capable which may be requested of us in the present crisis. Mubarek Ali Khan, 113 Broome Street, New York City; Abdul T. Abid, Mr. BAJPAI. Mubarek Ali Khan's letter to the Secretary of War shows that we volunteered our services in the United States armed forces. The CHAIRMAN. In the United States armed forces. Mr. BAJPAI. In the United States armed forces. We were the first ones in New York to buy War bonds. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Bajpai. You may call your next witness, Mr. Lynch. Mr. LYNCH. I want to submit a statement by Mr. Abraham Choudry, secretary of the India Association for American Citizenship, president of the India Benevolent Association, and secretary of the Moslem Brotherhood of the United States of America, and ask that it be incorporated in the record. The CHAIRMAN. Without objection it may be incorporated. |