PARCELS FROM GREECE TO U.S.A. ARE GIFTS OF APPRECIATION

Evening Star, Issue 26136, 25 June 1947, Page 5

PARCELS FROM GREECE TO U.S.A. ARE GIFTS OF APPRECIATION

(Rec. 9.30 a.m,) NEW YORK., June 24. The Customs to-day banned the puzzling flow of food packages from Greece and other Mediterranean countries. M. John Kalergis, the Greek Consul-Gene-ral, expressed the opinion that the influx was the result of a kind of “ Thank America ” campaign sponsored by New York commercial /firms. In Washington Mr Mark Ethridge, the United States representative on the United Nations Balkan Commission, said : “ It sounds like a first-class racket,” . The president of the Greek American Chamber of Commerce, M. Homes Booras. said to-night that the parcels from Greece contained only Small portions of non-essential sweetmeats, and were sent bv the Greek people in appreciation of the huge shipments of ; goods and clothing received front America in their hour of need. M. Booras, who is ageht for the Greek Railway Express Company, which handled most of the packages, said that no more than 50 or GO of the estimated 40,000 parcels contained meat, and these were “ token gifts " of Greek ’saUsage, a native delicacy. The packages were addressed to relatives and friends in the United States from whom the Greeks had received food and clothing

[According to a New York message published yesterday, the Customs authorities said that scores of food parcels have been reaching the United States from the Mediterranean area—mostly from Greece—in recent months. Officials investigating the shipments believe that the Greek senders are Victims either of a cruel commercial enterprise or Of an unfriendly ideology whose followers are spreading the belief that Americans are in need. A total of 16.009 parcels at one time awaited Cpstoms clearance in NeW York, which is indicative, of the magnitude of the hoax being perpetrated on the hungrv Greeks.]