TRUMAN’S CHARGE OF PERSECUTION

Grey River Argus, 14 November 1949, Page 5

TRUMAN’S CHARGE OF PERSECUTION

WASHINGTON. November 11. “In various parts of the world today human rights and freedom are being deliberately violated and suppressed”, said President Truman, in an address at a luncheon of the National Conference rf Christians and Jews. He obviously referred to the Iron Curtain countries, although he did not mention them by name. He said: “Men and women are being systematically persecuted for their religious beliefs. Campaigns are being waged to turn religion into a tool of the State. These things are not only morally wrong, but they threaten to undo the slow, hard-won achievements of civilisation. They represent a new barbarism more terrible than that of ancient times. “These are the acts of men who conceive of other men as sieves, not as brothers”. The United States has sent Russia a Note expressing “grave concern” over the welfare of two American E.C.A. officials who are missing in North Korea. It also has asked for Soviet assistance in freeing an American merchant ship, the “Kimball R. Smith.” The officials were aboard the shin when her Korean crew mutinied and sailed into North Korea last month. Russia rejected an earlier Note, and told the United States to take up the problem with the North Korean Government, which Hie United States refuses to recognise. The latest Rote was delivered by the American Ambassador at Moscow.