Van Zeeland, Former Belgian Premier, Endorses New Homelands for Refugees

Interviewed last night at the home of Mrs. Burness B. Cronkhite, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Radcliffe, Paul Van Zeeland, former premier of Belgium, declared that the world should offer German refugees a decent homeland.

Van Zeeland, who enjoys a worldwide reputation as an authority on international economics, advocates that "some place or places be opened to the Jews and that an opportunity be given them to build a home, where the climate is nice and where white men may live comfortably."

Resettlement Would Aid Business

In taking care of the exiles, Van Zeeland foresees two problems: "the status of the Jews' new country" and a slight readjustment of the world's capital. If the civilized countries take heed of the Jews' plight, it "would help general business recovery," the Belgian statesman predicts.

Belgium, in serving as a buffer state between France and Germany, has rendered a great service to the peace of the world, Van Zeeland says. For France, Van Zeeland feels the fullest confidence and does not believe that the Daladier government is "essentially shaken."

Later in the evening Van Zeeland lectured at Ford Hall in Boston. Van Zeeland has received a Master of Arts degree at Princeton, where he studied as a Follow on the exchange scholarship fund founded by the Belgian Relief Commission after the World War. Although he served as premier during the perilous times from 1935 to 1937, Van Zeeland looks incredibly young.