News Clippings from the Past
Part 1
A collection of news clippings from West Coast newspapers during 1942. Courtesy of Yoriko Watanabe Sasaki; in printed form by James Watanabe, M.D.JAPANESE PACK THEIR OWN FIREWOOD
:
JAP-AMERICAN LOYALTY
Somewhere in China: I have just read a magazine piece reporting that some Americans are urging persecution of Japanese war prisoners and of Japanese civilians interned in the United States. Such rabble-rousing by professional patriots makes my blood boil, and when we veterans of this war get home we are going to puncture some of these windbags. We don't want to lose in our own country what we are fighting for elsewhere. I have known a lot of Japanese-American soldiers, and let me assure you that there is no more loyal group in any country. They are giving their lives for our country, especially on the Italian fronts, and could anybody ask for more? SERGT. JOE.IN THE NEWS
When the Portuguese and the Jesuits had been driven out of Japan, the Dutch and English sought to take their places as traders.The means adopted by these rivals of the Portuguese were not very creditable to Western civilization and seemed to explain, if not to justify, the desire of the Japanese to get rid of all these Western "barbarians."
The Japanese government had firmly conceived the idea that the sole object of these Western adventurers was to exploit and enslave the people of Japan.
It was not a "new order" that the Japanese government desired at that time, but rather the old order of "Japan for the Japanese."
The plans and processes of the Japanese to accomplish their design, and crystallize their old order into a homogeneous whole, were drastic and violent in the extreme.
The government not only expelled the traders and persecuted the Christians to the point of extinction, but for a couple of centuries went to the length of shutting itself off from the rest of the world by a policy of almost complete exclusion.
This policy of the "closed door" was announced by Iyemitzu by special edict in 1689.
It read:
"For the future let none SO LONG AS THE SUN ILLUMINATES THE WORLD presume to sail to Japan -- not even in the quality of ambassadors. And this declaration is never to be revoked on pain of death."
The next step towards extinguishing all foreign influences was to eradicate the new Christian religion completely.
Then began "the great martyrdom of Nagasaki" which added enormously to the "noble army of martyrs."
Mr. Gubbins in "The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan" says:
"We read of Christians being executed in a barbarous manner in sight of each other--
"Of their being hurled from the top of precipices--
"Of their being buried alive--
"Of their being torn asunder by oxen--
"Of their being tied up in rice bags which were heaped up together, and of the pile thus formed being set on fire.
"Others were tortured before death by the insertion of sharp spikes under the nails of their hands and feet.
"An examination of the Japanese records will show that the case is not overstated."
Fresh edicts against the Christians were continually issued, and the Japanese inquisitors carried out their iniquitous provisions with frightful efficiency.
It is reported that more than a quarter of a million Japanese converts to Christianity suffered death or else torture to compel recantation.
The inmates of every dwelling were forced publicly to trample upon pictures of Christ and the Virgin Mary.
The persecution was so thorough and the penalties so dreadful that Mr. Lecky cites this attempt to exterminate the faith as at least one instance which apparently achieved its end.
A rebellion of Christians arose in Shimabara.
Thirty-three thousand people, including 13,000 women and children, shut themselves up in the castle of that place.
Here they long withstood a violent siege.
When the armies of the Japanese inquisitors found that their own artillery was unequal to the task of reducing the castle, they asked the assistance of Koeckerbocker, head of the Dutch traders and fleets in the Orient.
He came promptly and gladly to the scene, and says Mr. Langford:
"To his eternal infamy and to the everlasting dishonor of his country he not only sent his most powerfully armed ships to Shimabara, which lay on the sea safe against any ships that the Japanese possessed, but WENT IN COMMAND HIMSELF."
The despicable excuse of this brutal and greedy Hollander (for greed was at the bottom of his brutality) was that he had been instructed by his government "to save at any price the commerce with Japan."
Thus the castle of Shimabara fell and the 33,000 Christians and the 13,000 women and children were bloodily massacred to save the Dutch trade in the Indies -- a profitable trade of Christian lives for heathen gold."
The leaders of the revolutionists were not merely killed, but crucified.
Along the Gulf of Shimabara there drift sometimes at nightfall on the surface of sea, pale red globes like great iridescent bubbles.
They are in reality the phosphorescent lights from countless animalculae of the sea groups in glowing globes.
But they are known as the "souls of Christian martyrs" -- of men, women and children crucified, to use the Bryan metaphor, upon a cross of gold.
Not all Dutchmen approved of the help given the Japanese executioners by the brutal Dutch Koeckerbocker -- Judas to his creed and to his Christ.
Dr. Kaempfer, the Dutch historian, says:
"By this submissive readiness to assist the emperor, in the execution of his designs with regard to the final execution of Christianity, 'tis true, indeed, that we stood our ground so far as to maintain ourselves in the country, and to be permitted to carry on our trade."
"But many generous and noble persons at court and in the empire. judge quite otherwise of our conduct and not too favorably."
The Dutch profited but little by their base behavior.
They were compelled to reside on a little island in the harbor of Nagasaki -- an Alcatraz -- a "rock" only 200 yards long by eighty yards wide.
In this constricted spot were the Dutchmen confined.
But as Kaempfer says: "So great was the alluring power of Japanese gold that rather than quit their advantage of trade they willingly underwent an almost perpetual imprisonment and chose... to be remiss in performing Divine service on Sundays and to leave off praying and singing Psalms in publick and entirely to avoid the sign of the cross or the calling upon Christ in the presence of natives, and all outward marks of Christianity."
The English behaved better than the Dutch, but received no greater consideration.
Half a century later King Charles II of England endeavored to reopen intercourse with Japan, but all English ships were ordered away when the Japanese learned that the English monarch had married a Portuguese princess.
It was not until the American, Perry, came in his black ships that the Japanese regained some confidence in the honesty and sincerity of foreigners and opened up their ports to the flag of the American republic.
Now trade has brought distrust again -- and war.
WAR RELOCATION
AUTHORITY
CASH RECEIPTS FOR MEALS
Colorado Willing To Take Aliens
DENVER, Feb. 28.-- (I.N.S.) -- As its contribution to the war effort, Colorado-will accept Japanese and other Axis aliens being evacuated from the West Coast, it was announced tonight by Gov. Ralph L. Carr. He made his announcement in face of vigorous protests from farm, labor and civic groups throughout the state.Governor Carr termed the evacuees as "unwelcome guests" but added that Colorado could control them, saying:
"We announce to the world that 1,118,000 red-blooded citizens of this state are able to take care of 3,500 or any number of enemies, if that be the task which is allotted to us."
Governor Carr was the first chief executive in the Mountain States to formally open the way for the acceptance of the aliens. Governors of other states in the region indicated to Representative John T. Tolan, Democrat, of California, chairman of the congressional committee now in Seattle investigating the alien enemy problem, that they did not want the evacuees.
MILLIKIN ASKS JAP OUSTER AT HEARING HERE
Mayor Cain Opposed; Langlie Avoids Stand
on Issue,
but Cites East Side Opposition
By Dan B. Markel
By Dan B. Markel
Evacuation of Japanese residents from the Puget Sound area was urged by Seattle's Mayor, Earl Millikin, and opposed by Tacoma's Mayor Harry P. Cain, at opening hearings of the powerful Tolan committee here yesterday.
Gov. Arthur B. Langlie voiced no direct opinion on the question of whether evacuation should he undertaken, but said that public safety should be the first consideration commented on the concentration of war industries here, and spoke of fire hazards in the state's timbered and farm areas.
Congressman John H. Tolan of California, chairman of the committee, requested by the war, navy and justice departments to investigate alien problems on the Pacific Coast with respect to probable large-scale movements, presided.
JAPANESE
ATTEND
Congressmen Carl T. Curtis of Nebraska and Laurence F. Arnold of Illinois participated 1n the brisk questioning throughout the hearing, which was attended by many younger generation Japanese.
Langlie at the outset of his testimony declared public sentiment is opposed to locating any evacuated Japanese in Eastern Washington.
"In that part of the state there are irrigation systems, orchards, pea and beet fields which can be fire hazards, large timber stands, dams," he explained.
SAYS PROBLEM SAME
"Those sections of the state feel they have as much, in their way, to protect from sabotage as does the West Side, where our industries are mainly located. The problems on the East Side is about the same as the West Side."
"What responsibility do you feel the state has?" Arnold inquired.
"Our responsibility is to go along on what the government outlines," Langlie replied. "We are concerned primarily with safety of operation. Safety to our airplane plants, shipyards, aluminum, yes, and food industries, must be our first consideration.
CIVILIAN PROBLEM
"Being closest to the enemy and a possible point of first attack, we have a responsibility also to our civilian population.
"It is pretty necessary for us to keep some reserve in Eastern Washington for the care of our own loyal citizens, in the event they may have to be moved or evacuated in the case of attack. We have to keep channels open so that in the event of a civilian evacuation people would a place to go in the Eastern part of the state."
Red Cross Told Captives Well Treated by Japs
The American Red Cross has received direct assurance that American prisoners of war and interned civilians are receiving "good treatment," John N. Zydeman, Red Cross state representative, said here yesterday.They are allowed the following daily rations, according to a report from the prisoners of war bureau of the Japanese government in Tokyo: meat (beef, pork, ham and liver), fish, 350 grams each; fresh fruits and vegetables; tea with cream and sugar; 690 grams of bread and jam, and on Sundays one egg and coffee. Only requests are for more tobacco and toilet articles.
Zydeman said the American Red Cross, in conjunction with the British, Canadian and Australian Red Cross Societies, hopes soon to be able to ship supplementary food and clothing from Australia to prisoners of war and interned civilians held by the Japanese. Negotiations are under way with the Japanese government to clear the way for this.
No packages may be sent by individuals to prisoners of war, Zydeman stressed. As soon as the Red Cross completes the arrangements now under way with Japan, details will be announced, he said.
'Everybody
Gone...'
Little Tokyo Lifeless as 'Movie' Set
L. A. Japs Solve Evacuation Problem
L. A. Japs Solve Evacuation Problem
By GLADWIN HILL
LOS ANGELES, March 11.-(Wide World Service) -- "Everybody gone..."
The wrinkled old Japanese storekeeper down in Little Tokyo shrugged his shoulders and peered helplessly up and down the empty street.
A few days ago this was the teeming heart of the biggest Japanese community in the world outside Japan. Today it stood almost as lifeless and ghostly as a "movie" set.
"Everybody gone..."
Little Tokyo had solved its own evacuation problem, a few days ahead of the United States Army, by decamping en masse for the hinterland. to live with compatriots on farms or start carving a new life out of the public domain.
Little Left to Keep Them
There was little left in Little Tokyo to keep them there. One establishment after another -- banks, restaurants, "movie" theatres still postered with fading Japanese Gables and Grables -- sealed by the ubiquitous placard: "This property is under the control of the United States government. All persons are hereby prohibited from entering the premises under penalty of law. H. Morgenthau, Jr."
A few Oriental figures shuffled up and down the lonely streets, looking aimless, dazed. A young Japanese-American girl, in jitterbug saddle shoes and socks, and her small, wrinkled mother inspecting an open-air fish stall ......An aged Japanese, meeting a young fellow on the sidewalk, pausing for a farewell handshake and words of advice in the harsh consonants of the Orient...
Many establishments had been closed voluntarily, their show-windows still displaying placards:
"God bless America. This place of business owned and operated by 100 per cent Americans"... "We are 100 per cent for the U. S...."
Oriental bustle had been supplanted by a tense atmosphere of martial authority. A brown-uniformed Treasury guard watched a warehouse... That elderly American in blue dungarees -- he looked like a laborer or a hobo, but you bumped into him every time you turned a corner -- constantly patrolling, always giving you the once-over...
The natives of the district knew they were being watched. They never appeared to see you, but if you turned suddenly, you caught them eyeing you...
The big Koyasan Buddhist Temple, in a courtyard off East First Street, that might have been transplanted from Tokyo, stood with its portals open, its big hall and ornate altar deserted, minded only by two inscrutable custodians in the outer office.
"Everybody gone..."
Business in
Slump
The few places left open did only desultory business. The Iwaki drug store... the Nisei-Do jewelry store... at the big Asia Company, importers, piled bags of rice lying untouched...
"We are 100 per cent for the U. S...."
The hole-in-the-wall barber shops were busiest, with farewell haircuts. In one, an old Japanese woman barber shaved a customer. The man in blue dungarees, rounding that block for the third time in an hour, looked in...
"God bless America..."
One place remained indomitably open, although it was doing no business -the Nakano photograph studio, in its window a placard:
"My son is in service of the U. S. Army. Frank Nakako."
'NISEI' OYSTERS GIVE GROWERS AMPLE SEED
Offspring of Original Japanese Imports
Furnish Ranchers Enough Stock, Says Kincaid
By ROBERT N. WARD
By ROBERT N. WARD
Five years ago the Pacific war, by cutting off imports of seed oysters from Japan, would have strangled most of the Pacific Coast's thriving young oyster industry.
But today, even with the war in full swing, there is no such danger. Oyster ranchers in the shallow bays of the Oregon and Washington coasts are planting more oysters than ever before, and they are absolutely independent of the Japanese for their seed supply.
This came about mostly through the scientific curiosity and experiment of Prof. Trevor Kincaid of the University of Washington zoology department, a man who was not satisfied to let the closemouthed oyster keep its secret to itself.
MONOPOLY BROKEN
Kincaid got what he laughingly calls a "Nisei" oyster -- a Pacific oyster grown from seed spawned in America, under American care, but of Japanese lineage. It's what you're eating today.
At one time the Japanese held an air-tight monopoly on the production of seed oysters -- young oysters ready for transplanting to the beds. Each year oyster ranchers in America had to import seed oysters from Japan. As late as 1939 the majority of seed oysters used on our coast came from Japanese sources.
"Always there was the possibility that there might come a time when we would be cut off from importing the seed," Professor Kincaid said. "So we decided to try to develop our own. We simply imitated the Japanese. And now we are able to grow all the coast oyster ranchers can plant."
WILLAPA BAY
FARM
Kincaid's experiments took place in Willapa Bay, where he himself has forty-three acres of oyster land. Now Willapa Bay grows all its own seed, and exports seed to Yaquina and Coos Bays in Oregon and to various locations in Washington.
The method of gathering seed oysters is simple. Each year, at the first of July, just before the adult oysters spawn, strings of old oyster shells are suspended in the water over the oyster beds. The microscopic oyster larvae, called "seeds", swim around until they fasten themselves to one of the old shells to mature.
Within several months the young oysters have reached fingernail size. Then the strings of shells are raised and shipped. Seed oysters can survive out of water for a month, Kincaid said, so shipping is merely a matter of boxing the shells.
The young oysters are dumped overboard in their shallow farming grounds and left alone. Three years later they appear on your dinner plate.
JAP ADOPTIONS PROPOSED HERE
A plan that would save loyal American-born Japanese children from evacuation and permit them to remain in school classes was advanced yesterday by Carl Dakan, professor of finance at the University of Washington.He suggested that Seattle families be permitted to adopt them "for the duration," and assume full responsibility for their actions.
"I believe the idea could be worked out and that trustworthy and loyal young Japanese-Americans could be spared the suffering they are bound to experience through removal to inland points," he explained.
"I feel the plan is worth serious consideration, at least."
He declared that though he has four children of his own, he is willing to take a young Japanese-American into his own home for the duration and assume full responsibility for his or her conduct.
"Of course those offering homes for these children should be reputable and dependable citizens," he continued, "parents should be permitted to make their own selection from children whose loyalty is unquestioned.
"The children should not be assigned to homes arbitrarily.
"I hate to see these young people oppressed with the feeling that there is no way to separate the good from the bad. I feel that this may be the solution.
"Of course the plan would require a considerable amount of detailed investigation. There would be the danger that some families might adopt the children to use them as household servants. But I believe the effort would be worth while."
WASHINGTON. -- Isolationist Senator Hiram Johnson of California, who fought every major measure to prepare for an Axis attack, was one of the loudest clamorers for evacuating West Coast Japs at the secret pow-wow of senate and house congressmen from California, Washington and Oregon.
However, Johnson got his ears pinned back when he tried to put over a resolution aimed at the President, demanding the removal only of Japs, and not German and Italian aliens.
"I most emphatically will not agree to anything like that," snapped Representative Bertrand Gearhart. "I'll walk out of this meeting first."
"What's the reason for your objection?" demanded Johnson.
"I'll admit that the Japs are the most dangerous element on the Coast," shot back Gearhart, "but if you don't know it, we also are fighting Germany and Italy. Further, your proposal is unconstitutional. We can't single out a special class for evacuation. The law has to apply to all enemy aliens."
Representatives Ed Izac and John Costello of California strongly supported this view, and for a moment it looked as if the meeting would blow up in a hot row. Several other congressmen also inferentially accused Johnson of playing politics by trying to curry favor with German-American and Italian-American elements.
NIPPONESE TAKEN IN F. B. I. ROUND-UP HERE
Americans Ill Of Japs' Prison Diet
CHUNGKING, March 9.--(AP)-Recent arrivals from Japanese-occupied Hongkong reported today that Vaughn Meisling, Associated Press corespondent, and two other Americans had been confined to Stanley prison under conditions of privation.The report said that persons confined there were given but one bowl of rice and a bowl of fish or meat soup daily, and that many were suffering from dysentery and stomach ulcers, it was said.
Meisling and his two companions first were allowed to live in the Gloucester Hotel, where a Japanese army intelligence officer tried to induce them to write and sign articles saying they were getting good treatment, it was reported. When his efforts were useless, the men were transferred to the prison.
WOOLISCROFT, IN KOBE, WELL FED
A radio message, confirming earlier reports that Everett B. Wooliscroft, formerly of Seattle, is alive and a prisoner of the Japanese, was recorded by the United Press listening post in San Francisco yesterday, the news agency reported.The message, from Wooliscroft to his father, David Wooliscroft, at Three Tree Point, said Wooliscroft, an engineer, was "safe and well."
"I am safe and well in Kobe," the message asserted. "We are quartered in a large mansion surrounded by gardens and lawns. Ample quantities of excellent food are served us three times daily.
Contact Pomeroy Company, 333 Montgomery St., San Francisco. We are all in good spirits and looking forward hopefully to the day we will be returned to our homes so that we may work for better understanding between American and Japanese people.
"Do not worry or become discouraged because everything will turn out all right. Please inform Jean that this message is also intended for her."
Wooliscroft was one of a number of engineers working on Guam when the island was taken by the Japs.
The broadcast was one of four recorded by United Press. The three others were from William G. Johnston, Franklin, Tenn.; Charles F. Greggs, Los Angeles, ???? manager for Pan American Airways, and Harley Lucke, ????, Calif., all of whom were in Guam with Wooliscroft.
RELIGIOUS PEACE HELD ESSENTIAL
This is no time for Christian denominations and Jews to be fighting among themselves or to be indifferent to each other, the Rev. Dr. Henry Smith Leiper of New York City, American executive secretary of the World Council of Churches, told the Seattle Council of Churches and Christian Education at the noon meeting today at the Y. W. C. A."Rather we should forget our minor differences and strengthen the whole spiritual morale, bringing all we have to bear upon this problem of democracy," Dr. Leiper said.
Beliefs Do Count
Dr. Leiper was in Europe when the Second World War started. The last time he was in Germany was in 1936, when he had an opportunity to see religious changes firsthand.
"You hear 'It doesn't make any difference what a man believes.' It does make a difference whether he believes Hitler is the final law or not," Dr. Leiper said. "If we, as a nation, believe in God as the Japanese do in the Emperor, we will have a more powerful drive in this business of saving democracy."
Children Defended
The Rev. Dr. Newton E. Moats, president of the Seattle council, said the council should realize it cannot ignore certain problems in the evacuation of Christian Japanese from this area.
"We have complete confidence in those in authority," he said, "but we must be interested in seeing that Japanese children have schools and medical care wherever they are going."
The Rev. Dr. Harold Jensen, pastor of the First Baptist Church and chairman of the council's civics committee, urged that all member vote in the municipal election tomorrow, particularly on the proposed 3-mill tax levy for city schools.
NINE JAPS HELD IN BLAST PROBE
Pending an Army investigation of an explosion and fire on railroad property near Port Townsend Saturday night, Army officials ordered removal of nine arrested Japanese members of a section crew to the Immigration Service detention headquarters in Seattle, the Associated Press reported today.The blast destroyed a railroad speeder, a tool shed and two old coaches belonging to the Port Townsend Southern Railroad.
The laborers were arrested by Arny sentries and taken to the Jefferson County Jail for removal to Seattle. They are held without charge.
Railroad officials, who said no estimate has been made of damage, reported the fire broke out after the crew had been summoned for a repair job on the isolated Olympic Peninsula Railroad. This line, which runs from Port Angeles to Port Townsend and other points on the Olympic Peninsula, is connected to other railroads only by ferry connections with Seattle.
Army guards were on patrol in the vicinity when the speeder being taken from the shed, burst into flames. Along with the shed, several barrels of oil ignited and a number of stocks of dynamite exploded.
The Japanese were listed by Jefferson County officers as Kanshicki Kanno, Jinhichi Kurisu, Ichitaro Taniwa, Yuki Matsuoka, Kanzo Nakamura. Tadao Ka????, Natsuaki? Kushima?...
So He Says!
JAPANESE FACE QUICK TAX MOVE
County Treasurer Ralph S. Stacy's revenue deputies today were to begin investigation of properties owned by more than 300 Japanese here on "quick-collect" orders from County Assessor Roy B. Misener.In issuing the orders, Misener expressed belief that the county might lose property taxes for the past year against Japanese facing evacuation unless the county acts promptly to collect.
Ed Streeter, chief revenue deputy, said restraint orders against Japanese properties will be issued in cases where there is evidence the county may be forestalled in tax collections.
Y. Official in Tokyo to Help Prisoners
TORONTO, March 10. -- (AP) -- Russell L. Durgin, an American Y. M. C. A. official, has arrived in Tokyo to make arrangements for aid to United States and British prisoners of war in Japan, it was announced today by Sir Ernest MacMillan, chairman of the War Prisoners' Aid Branch of the Canadian Y. M. C. A.Durgin, native of Concord, N. H., and a Dartmouth alumnus, for many years was a secretary of the Y. M. C. A. in Tokyo and speaks Japanese fluently.
Legion Head Demands Evacuation of Aliens
WASHINGTON, March 6.--(AP)-Lynn U. Stambaugh, national commander of the American Legion, today demanded that all Japanese be removed from the Pacific Coast to inland states."The War Department should immediately exercise its newly granted authority to remove all dangerous persons from combat zones," the commander said.
"The presence of large numbers of enemy aliens and potentially disloyal nationals of alien parentage in combat zones is a menace to the safety of our country," Stambaugh continued.
Whites Try to Buy Them Out at Low Price, Say Japanese
Seattle-born Japanese business men, facing possibilities of losing their establishments through evacuation, are doing business as usual here -- but with their fingers crossed.A few, however, already are conducting "removal sales," and many complain that they are being annoyed by white competitors, who want to buy the Japanese owner's stock at 5 or 10 cents on the dollar, now that the Japanese are faced with evacuation.
The Japanese know not at what time the government will order them to leave Seattle immediately. Neither do they know how long they will have to dispose of their stock.
Though Seattle's American-born Japanese are facing heavy losses, they ask no sympathy. They say their greatest heartache is the severe blow to their pride in citizenship.
"Because we are good Americans and have been taught the American spirit, we can take it," said one. "We are anxious to do our part. It is a very small sacrifice for the right to be an American."
Presidents' Names Taken
A typical situation is that of the Beppu brothers, who operate a fishing-tackle store at 600 Third Ave. Named after Presidents, they are Taft, Lincoln and Grant Beppu. They have a younger brother, Monroe Beppu, who is in the United States Army. All were born in Seattle.
They have been in business eight years and were about to reap the profits of the approaching fishing season. Because of their business record, much of their stock will be taken back to wholesalers at no loss. However, there is a great deal of other stock, which might be tied up for the duration.
"We do not want to be idle," said Taft. "We want to do our part. If we are sent inland, there won't be much to do in the fishing-tackle business. But whatever the government wants us to be, farmers, carpenters, ranchers or apple pickers, we'll do our best.
"We want to do something in which we best will be serving our country. We don't want sympathy; we want to put our shoulders to the wheel."
Mits and George Kashiwagi, operators of clothing stores at 615 Jackson St., and 308 Main St., have had several offers, which would net them about 10 per cent of their stock's value. But they said they rather would have the government take over their business than to sell at such a loss.
The Kashiwagi brothers are classified 3-A by the Selective... [end of clipping]
Brave Japanese Rescues Major
WITH THE FIFTH ARMY AT CASSINO (3) -- The major was lying in the rain on a rocky hillside between Cassino and the Abbey of Monte Cassino.Everyone knew he was badly hurt, but the nearest man to him had to cross 18 yards of open ground in the face of German snipers and a German tank which was on the road to the Abbey.
The nearest man happened to be Sgt. Gary Hisaoka, an American of Japanese descent from Hilo, Hawaii, who came into the Army directly from the University of Hawaii.
Hisaoka crouched down, slid out to the end of his trench, then sprinted across the 10 yards intervening to the officer.
"Major," he said, "I'm going to have to drag you in."
"That's all right, boy," the major replied, "get me back any old way."
Hisaoka then grabbed him by the arms and dragged him across the open space to the trench and saw him placed on a litter. The major is going to be all right after a spell in a hospital.
Woman Missionary Hopes To Keep Ties With Japanese
It's a big, fat photograph album pasted up with snapshots of surpliced little boys carrying crucifixes, brides in white satin, young men at sports, tiny babies being christened, girl "chums" laughing together -- the usual kind of snapshots found in albums.But this one belongs to an American woman, Mrs. Margaret Peppers, 1220 Holgate St, and the people in the pictures are all Japanese.
Reminiscences of 13 years of missionary work among the Japanese here in Seattle unroll with the pages.
But instead of looking backward, Mrs.
Peppers, Episcopal
deaconess, is looking forward, hoping, if the Army agrees with the
hopes of the Rt. Rev. S. Arthur Huston, bishop of the diocese of
Olympia, that she will add more photographs of her Japanese friends in
their evacuation settlements. (PHOTO: MRS. MARGARET PEPPERS 'I've
watched them
grow')Trip
Arranged
"I have made arrangements to go with the Japanese Episcopalians in St. Peter's Mission, 16th Avenue and King Street, or with those in St. Paul's in Kent, from the very beginning. When I offered my services, Bishop Huston said he had hoped I would want to go, and both Buddhist and Christian Japanese have said the same thing. If they are sent to open settlements I can, of course, go without permission. If it is a guarded section, I shall have to obtain permission."
If Mrs. Peppers does go to one of the settlements she probably will be one of the few American women to live among the Japanese during their evacuation.
Mrs. Peppers, godmother of 105 children of all races and nationalities, began her missionary work in the Philippines, where she spent ten years, part of them among the headhunters in Northern Luzon. For ten months she was the only white woman among 897 Igorots in Tekukan.
"I gave them first aid for everything from broken legs to minor cuts and taught Belgian lace-making to the girls."
Armistice News Was Slow
Mrs. Peppers also was in charge of a home for Mestigo girls (native girls with white fathers) and St. Stephen's Chinese Girls' School in Manila.
"I remember during the First World War, when we were so busy with the influenza epidemic. All the trails were closed and we had no contact with the outside world. It was three weeks before we knew the Armistice had been signed!"
When Mrs. Peppers first came to Seattle she worked among isolated church people in Western Washington, visiting between four and five hundred families so far from centers that they were unable to attend church services.
Thirteen years ago she took up her work at St. Peter's Mission, becoming a sort of liaison officer between the younger generation, who were American in manners and speech, and their parents, who clung to the Japanese language and customs.
'Taught Them Everything'
"I taught them everything from how to thread a needle and cook a meal to saying their prayers. I've watched them grow up into men and women and the third generation begin. This is the only Japanese Episcopal Church in Seattle, so our people are scattered all over the city. When they are all settled -- and we hope the people in our church will be in the same settlement -- I hope I'll be with them."
The local and Kent churches may combine congregations. If they are separated Mrs. Peppers will go "wherever I am needed most." Mrs. Peppers was the only American among 600 Japanese assisting Dr. Paul Shigaya when he gave typhus inoculations last Sunday in Kent.
4 Japs Jailed Here For Curfew Violation
United States District Judge John C. Bowen today sentenced four American-born Seattle Japanese to serve 12 days in the King County jail for violation of the wartime curfew regulations. Two others were freed by the Court.Those who were sentenced were Ken Eto, 22 years old; Yoshito Takano, 23; Arthur Masanori Mahara, 27, and Kazuo H. Yamaskai. All of the Japanese pleaded guilty to the charges.
Judge Bowen suspended for five years imposition of sentence against Miss Sumi Kesamaru, 25, and Yoshimi Innouye, 25. Innouye, father of an infant son, was instructed to join his wife and son who already have been evacuated with other Japanese from Seattle. The four other Japanese sentenced were taken to jail by United States Deputy Marshals Michael Green and James Bridges.
Tears, Smiles Mingle as Japs Bid Bainbridge Farewell
By FIELDING LEMMON
Bainbridge Island Japanese, alien and American-born alike, were evacuated from the island this forenoon, some leaving in tears, some with smiles and others with traditional stoic faces.
The Army checked out a total of 237 persons, the remainder of the 289 on the island having left voluntarily.
The evacuation was a credit to the efficiency of the Army, it was a tragedy to the Japanese themselves and it was a said affair for island residents, most of whom knew the Japanese personally.
Only one incident marred an orderly evacuation. One elderly woman was stricken with a heart attack as she awaited the ferry at Eagledale which was to take her to new surroundings in California.
The woman was given first aid, carried on the boat and then received medical attention when the ferry arrived in Seattle. By 11 o'clock this forenoon the entire Japanese population of the island had assembled, as arranged previously, at the ferry dock in Eagledale. Soldiers under command of Maj. C. F. Bisenius immediately segregated them by families and gave an identification tag to each.
When the ferry Kehloken arrived at 11:03 o'clock, the entire assemblage was ready to board. It was accomplished in orderly fashion. There were one or more soldiers for each family. The soldiers courteously escorted the Japanese aboard the ferry.
Once aboard, the evacuees were given the run of the boat, except for the lower deck.
Arriving at Colman Dock shortly after noon, the Japanese were taken immediately to a special train, which was on the switch tracks in front of the dock.
The Japanese by this time were smiling but there were many a soldier, including even officers, who had tears streaming down their faces as they escorted the evacuees aboard the train.
The Japanese had left their homes, in which some had lived for as many as 40 years. The most touching scene, however, was the attitude of the children, some too young to comprehend the reason for their removal. One child, held tightly by his mother on the ferry, asked:
"Where are we going?"
The mother rocked him gently and said:
"I don't know, but we will be back."
The captain of the ferry which brought the Japanese to Seattle was Oscar Lundgren, who was born on the island and knew most of the Japanese who were being removed. He was kept busy during his relief shift shaking hands with his friends.
Tells of 'Slabwood Harry'
He told about Harry Hiroshita, who was known in the early part of the century as "Slabwood Harry."
Captain Lundgren explained that this nickname resulted from the fact that Hiroshita supplied the slabwood for tubs which ran into Port Blakely before the days of coal and oil.
Another touching scene before the ferry left Bainbridge Island was the parting between high school classmates. Many pupils at Bainbridge High School cut classes to bid their Japanese friends goodbye.
There was a great gathering of white friends at Eagledale before the evacuation was completed. These friends, as well as soldiers, gave the departing Japanese every help.
It was a pathetic exodus.
There were mothers with babies in arms, aged patriarchs with faltering steps, high school boys and girls, and some children, too young to realize the full import of the occasion. The youngsters frolicked about, treating the evacuation as a happy excursion.
There was at least one sad separation.
Zbaristo Arota, a Filipino, remained on the island while his Japanese wife, Miki, sadly boarded the ferry.
Army officials said they were compelled to deny a request that either Arota be taken with the evacuees or Mrs. Arota be allowed to stay.
Yesterday was a busy one for the island's "orphans of war," as they have designated themselves. The island Japanese had set their affairs in order in eight short days, under Army orders.
For some it was a simple matter. Others had a far more difficult time, as they had much personal property to sell or store, and personal affairs, such as leases, to settle.
John Nakata, proprietor of the Eagle Harbor Grocery & Market, spent a busy day visiting customers who had invited him for farewell calls. Earlier in the week he had arranged for leasing his business, and his day was free.
Nakata's home, during the late afternoon, became a gathering place for many Japanese and American friends at what he termed a "going-away" party.
Farewell Service Held
The Rev. K. Hirakawa, pastor of the Japanese church, was has accepted his evacuation orders with calm philosophy, held farewell services for the flock he has served 17 years. Services scarcely had ended when movers arrived to store the church piano.
"What has to be, has to be," said Mr. Hirakawa, smiling. "I am glad for the fact we all can be together. I think most of us will return to the island together some day.
Some are old and won't be back, but the rest of us will await the day when we can come home."
The minister expressed pride over the way members of his race accepted evacuation.
"We knew, really, that the order was coming," he asserted. "We had hoped for the best, however, and when it did come it was a shock. But almost 100 per cent of the Japanese have tried to make the best of it. If this evacuation will help the country, we are proud to obey the order."
'Auction'
Draws Many
A scene reminiscent of a Midwest farm auction was enacted yesterday at the Kitayama Greenhouse and Gardens at Pleasant Beach. The proprietors had much to sell. There were plants and shrubs, tools and fertilizers, automobiles and trucks, household furnishings, and even a flock of chickens.
Eager buyers stormed the place, and by nightfall nearly everything was gone. A few chickens remained, but a neighbor agreed to take care of them.
A problem was foreseen over the evacuation of Yoshio Katayama, his mother and two sisters. Katayama owns the island's largest rhubarb farm, which will have a harvest estimated at $1,000. Katayama said he had been unable to obtain a lessee, and fears his entire rhubarb crop will go to waste.
Strawberry and pea fields were almost deserted yesterday, a strange occurrence for this time of year, when workers usually are busy every day, even Sundays, weeding and cultivating.
Every Field to
Order
The Japanese pointed proudly however, to one thing: Every field on the island is in perfect order. For the past week, they have toiled to put each strawberry field in "apple pie" condition. The peas are cultivated and staked. Pea plants are two to three inches tall, and the rows spread in geometrical order, are weed-free.
F. O. Nagatani, Island Center, said every Japanese on the island has striven for the past eight days to make his land ready for production.
"We won't be here to harvest the crop, but the crop is there," Nagatani said. "It will be as good or better crop than any previous year. We hope it will aid the war effort."
A strange collection of material began gathering in the storehouse opened at Winslow by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, custodian for enemy-alien property. Among articles the Japanese asked the bank to care for were a 50gallon barrel of strawberry preserves, and 68 wrestling mats owned by the island's Japanese Association.
There were many scenes of pathos yesterday. The Japanese can take only personal belongings with them. The Army made no arrangements for pets. This was a hard blow to many children who had to part with dogs and cats.
The dog situation was eased by citizens who agreed to care for the animals until the Japanese return, or until the dogs can be shipped to the resettlement center -- Army rules permitting.
Little Kejo Leaves Kitty
There was no solution, however, as to what to do about little Kejo Nishimira's kitten. The little girl, scarcer 4 years old, said, with tears in her eyes:
"It can't take my kitty."
Several hard-boiled guys from Brooklyn in the Army group indicated they would gladly smuggle little Kejo's kitten aboard the ferry if they thought she could take it along with her to California.
They knew she couldn't, however, and it appeared that one company might have a new mascot -a kitten.
Japanese are regretful but not bitter about their departure. John Ichero summed up the general attitude when he said:
"Some Americans join the Army, others the Navy. We do our part by evacuating."
The evacuees can ???? this restriction, many families are discarding staple articles in favor of personal ones. Two families, for instance, are taking small Buddhist altars. Another is taking a scrapbook of clippings, which tell of a son's Bainbridge High School athletic career. The M. Nakata family carefully packed away a poster which says a son is in the United States Army. Lieut. Col. Paul B. Malone, 9th Corps Area, was on the island to aid evacuation procedure. He had high praise for the manner in which the Japanese had cooperated.
C. of C. Appeals to Farmers To Take Over Jap Acreages
Appeal to individual operators to step forward and take over farm lands which must be abandoned by evacuated Japanese was made here yesterday by the Wartime Civil Control Administration.Washington State, it was revealed at a meeting held at the Chamber of Commerce, lags far behind other Coast states in Japanese evacuation and in placing new operators on land formerly farmed by Japanese. It was estimated that only 20 per cent of Japanese-operated farms had been transferred to white operators, whereas the take-over in California is as high as 90 per cent.
Farm-products canners, shippers and packers attended the meeting, some of them directing complaints to Laurence I. Hewes, director of the agricultural division of W. C. C. A., who presided, that slowness in granting loans to operators was holding up the take-over of land.
Only 25 Loans
Granted
Floyd Oles, manager of the Washington Produce Shippers' Association, learning that 25 loans had been consummated in King County to provide for operation of about 375 acres of farmland, said that figure represented about 10 per cent of the acreage which must be taken over when the Japanese are evacuated. Oles said there were 550 farm units in the White River Valley alone, for which about 120 loan applications had been filed.
Oles also stated that Victory Farms, Inc., which proposed to take over Japanese farms from Bothell to Tacoma as a purely patriotic venture, had been "turned down cold" by the W. C. C. A. for a loan despite the fact the government agency had asked white operators to help solve the abandoned farm problem.
"All right," said Hewes, "the idea was our baby. All right, we made a mistake. We are sorry. But Victory Farms is free to go on, free to submit another docket. If it assists evacuation, the door still is wide open.
Idea Good, Plan
Wrong
"Victory Farms is a fine, patriotic thing. We are thankful to you and hope you may be able to work out a more orthodox, conventional pattern of financing."
Hewes said the Victoria Farms loan request was turned down because it asked for "an open line of credit," with a $400,000 advance, plus another $300,000 and perhaps more money "without regard for specific operation on specific lands."
"My farm people told me it was so unusual that it could not succeed in operation," Hewes said.
"Several large corporation interests are trying to enter the takeover field. One wanted to spend $5,000,000 if we gave it a first 'pick over' of the land involved.
"Victory Farms tends to discourage the individual operator. The Japanese feel no compulsion to get out in a hurry if they think a million-dollar corporation will take care of them."
Olih also disclosed that greenhouse operators, seeking to aid in evacuation, had organized, elected Peter Rosaia of Seattle president and presented a proposal to operate Japanese greenhouses.
"That's a horse on us, too," Hewes said. 'We invited it."
If the greenhouse combine discouraged individual take-overs, Hewes explained, the W. C A. A. would not look favorably upon a request for a loan.
Rossia said a $75,000 to $85,000 crop of tomatoes and cucumbers in about 30 King and Pierce County greenhouses would be lost unless they were taken over by white operators. He said the operators could supply the necessary labor.
"We have a corporation ready, the crop is 30 to 45 days away and we can salvage this crop," Oles explained.
Hewes Opposes Corporation "Why a corporation?" Hewes asked. "Why not have each individual white operator spread out and take over the greenhouses?"
Hewes and Oles disagreed upon the ability of a Japanese to find a substitute operator. Oles said he doubted that lone Japanese operators could find substitutes but Hewes, citing experiences in California evacuation, said many Japanese waited until the last day on the farms before revealing they had concluded negotiations for takeovers.
Hewes and L. N. McKown, representative of the fruit department of Libby, McNeill & Libby, disagreed over time required to obtain loans. Hewes said loan applications were taken care of in four days while McKown said "it is more like four weeks." MeKown cited an instance of 280 acres of tomatoes in California being lost because "a prospective operator had been held at arm's length so long he said, 'The hell with it.'"
"There is no consistency in the requirements for loans," McKown said. "What happened in California can happen here."
Another complaint was that a white operator, proposing to expand and take over a Japanese operation, was asked to mortgage his own crop in order to obtain a loan. Hewes replied that the mortgages were desired, but were not absolutely necessary.
During discussion of labor shortage for farm operation, Pete Desimone, King County farm operator, broke in:
"What is all this talk about workers? We're in a war and we've got to work. We've got to forget about the 40-hour week. What we need is a 75-hour week if we are going to lick Hitler."
SECOND GROUP OF JAPANESE GOES
The week's second contingent of Japanese evacuees was being transferred to the Puyallup assembly center from Seattle under Army supervision today.Almost 2,100 Japanese will be evacuated from the South End and northwest sector of the city this week. The third and last group will go tomorrow. The first went Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Portland, Or., was preparing for its first evacuation by registering Japanese. Removal to the assembly center at the converted Pacific International Livestock Exposition grounds will begin tomorrow, the Associated Press reported.
The Wartime Civilian Control Administration announced many of the Japanese evacuated from the Portland area probably will be sent to the Tule Lake section near Klamath Falls, Or.
JAP EVACUATION DIDN'T HURT TRADE
Stalls In the Pike Place Public markets, Inc., yesterday reflected the usual Saturday crowds, despite the evacuation. Stalls formerly occupied by the Japanese, who are barred from the central business district by wartime restrictions, were taken over by Italians and others of different nationalities. "Under New Management" signs announced new stall operators. A section of the brisk shopping crowd is shown here.
JAPANESE AID FAMILY SOCIETY
As a token of appreciation for aid given Japanese by the Family Society in solving problems of evacuation, the Association of Japanese Cannery Workers has contributed $50 to the general welfare fund of the Family Society at Seattle, it was announced yesterday.
"While our contribution is too small to approximate the extent to which you have aided our members and their families in the crisis which confronts the Japanese population of the Pacific Coast, we hope the enclosed amount will serve as a token of appreciation," a letter accompanying the donation said. It was signed by Dyke Miyagawa, president of the association.
"There is abundant assurance, we feel sure, that the Japanese of the Northwest will not forget the friends they have been so fortunate to find in your society," Miyagawa wrote.
NEW EVACUATION AREAS
2,000 More City Japs Will Be Evacuated
(Continued From Page One)[previous clipping missing]...sible member of each family can register all members of a family.
The movement of the Japanese to Puyallup will start Friday afternoon and must be completed by Saturday noon, the orders said. California Japanese will go to assembly centers at the Santa Anita and Tanforan race tracks, those from Arizona to the Cave Creek reception center, 50 miles north of Phoenix and the Mayer reception center, 85 miles northwest of Phoenix.
Coincident with issuance of the orders, Col. Karl R. Bendetsen, assistant chief of staff, civil affairs division, reiterated his previous announcement that there is no basis of fact to rumors that Japanese in rural areas will not be removed until crops are harvested.
"Military necessity is an unrelenting taskmaster, and the harvesting of crops or other agriculture tasks cannot be allowed to retard the evacuation program," the colonel said.
Evacuee Writes Japanese Like Puyallup 'Home'
Japanese who have been evacuated from Seattle and now are settled at the assembly center in Puyallup are surprisingly pleased with their new "home," according to a letter received yesterday from Edward K. Shimomura, a pharmacist formerly employed here.Shimomura wrote:
"I'm not the least bit worried now after witnessing how courteously and splendidly the Army has equipped us in these cabins with all the facilities to make it comfortable, the special food that they give the children and the balanced meals which we receive. In more ways than one we are thankful."
The pharmacist said that his sojourn so far "certainly seems like a vacation to me to be away from my work at the drug store and to be taking it so easy."
Shimomura indicated, however, that he soon would be busy. He has been assigned to the hospital staff. He continued:
"The hospital staff will be put to work in taking some 800 new recruits through a strict physical examination. My job is to give the smallpox vaccine. I feel sorry for my first 10 or 15 'guinea pigs' upon whom I will have to practice.
"We are getting here in Puyallup one of the best equipped and the most modern hospitals in a camp of this type in the United States, for which we are lucky. As it is not yet completed I am unable to describe it to you. I am not going to be a bit surprised if this becomes our permanent settlement for the duration. Everything so far seems to indicate it."
Shimomura said the Japanese are permitted radios and newspapers and that salesmen are allowed to call at the camp.
"We are confined to the camp," he said, "but are not restricted."
Army to Get Petitions On Japs -- Protest on School Office Workers Will Be Made
Petitions asking the dismissal of Japanese office girls from Seattle public schools will be presented to the Second Interceptor Command by the end of the week, Mrs. Esther M. Sekor, chairman of a committee of Gatewood mothers conducting the campaign, said yesterday.She announced that the petitions, put in circulation Monday, carried more than 250 signatures yesterday.
She is planning to increase the size of the committee to expedite the work.
SUPPORT OFFERED
"We believe it would be better to file our protest with the Interceptor Command rather than the school board," she explained. "The matter is probably one that a branch of the government charged with the defense of this area should handle.
"The announcement of our determined stand to remove these girls for the safety of our children has met with an enthusiastic reception. Members of our committee have been swamped with phone calls from people all over Seattle commending us on our action and offering support."
PAY SCALE LOW
School officials pointed out that they cannot legally refuse the girls employment since they are native born Americans.
They also commented that it is difficult to get clerical help other than Japanese at the scale of 30 cents an hour for the first year, 35 cents an hour for the second and 40 cents an hour for the third year. Officials explained that this is the pay for beginner or apprentice office help.
26 Japanese Girls Leave School Jobs
Clerks Resign En Masse After Protests by Mothers
Seattle's twenty-six Japanese girls employed as clerks in school offices and another on a department staff at school district headquarters resigned in a body yesterday by letter to the school board. They asked immediate acceptance.Members of the school board said they would accept at tomorrow's meeting. The girls decided upon their course after meetings Tuesday and early yesterday morning. In their letter they declared they were taking the step because they have the best interest of the Seattle school system at heart.
MOTHERS PROTESTED
They spent yesterday breaking in successors and preparing to leave their positions. Their resignation followed two requests for their dismissal lodged with the school board by Parent-Teacher Association officers of Seattle recently.
The controversy was brought to a head an Monday when mothers of the Gatewood District started circulating petitions protesting against employment of the Japanese girls in Seattle public school offices.
The girls gave their reasons for resigning in the following statement addressed to the Seattle school board, which is quoted in part:
"We, the undersigned American citizens of Japanese ancestry have learned that our presence as employee in the Seattle school system has been protected by certain persons and organizations.
"Therefore, we respectfully request the Seattle school board to accept our resignations immediately.
"We take this step to prove our loyalty to the schools and to the United States by not becoming a contributing factor to dissension and disunity when national unity in spirit and deed is vitally necessary to the defense of and complete victory for America.
"We bear no ill will toward those who have protested our employment in the school system. We feel that is their privilege. We only hope the welfare of the schools will be served by our action in resigning from the positions we now occupy.
"Finally, we wish to express our heartfelt appreciation to the school board, superintendent, principals and teachers for the kind treatment accorded us."
In the absence from the city of Superintendent Worth McClure, Samuel E. Fleming, assistant superintendent, issued a statement commending the girls for that action.
PRAISED BY FLEMING
"The letter of resignation of Japanese clerks speaks for itself," he said. "I am sure that our principals and teachers would want to join me in words of highest appreciation of the courtesy, industry, efficiency and loyalty of the girls.
"Their statement, supported by their voluntary withdrawal from school employment, makes us feel that out good opinion and our confidence have not been misplaced."
Mrs. Esther M. Sekor, chairman of a committee of Gatewood District mothers who started the petition, also praised the action."
YOUNGEST EVACUEE
JAPANESE UNLOAD AT NEW HOME
WAR BOND WINNER
Japanese Sells Store, Buys $13,500 Bonds
PORTLAND, May 1. -- A 24year-old, American-born Japanese, Chicalo Shioshi, gathered his belongings yesterday and prepared to enter an assembly camp, after closing his grocery store and buying $13,500 worth of war bonds with profits accumulated in five years at operation.Shioshi and his brother, Sam, founded the grocery in 1937, after both had graduated from Benson Tech and completed post-graduate course. They are the sons of T. S. Shioshi, a Japanese merchant who came to America in 1898. Recently Sam was inducted into the Army -and Chicalo, class 1-A, received? a call shortly after he moved east of the Cascades.
First Group of Seattle Japs Moves Right in at Puyallup
The 1,600 Japanese to be evacuated from Seattle during the next three days will be welcomed at the Puyallup evacuation center by an advance guard of 474 Japanese technicians, who established themselves in their new homes last night, completing a mass evacuation from Seattle.Almost as though they were used to mass moving, the advance party moved in shortly after noon. They "took over," transforming the almost uninhabited camp into a bustling community. The center already appears ready for the larger parties to follow.
The long lines of apartments were barren when the first parties arrived by bus and private automobile. Within a few minutes, men, women and children were busy with home-making chores.
There were beds to erect, mattresses to arrange, bedding to spread, stoves to set up, sandboxes to fill, and fuel to gather. There were lamps and radios to plug in, knickknacks to place.
Built in 15 Days
The evacuation center was constructed in a brief 15 days. The first group settled in Area A, a 19-acre tract outside and at the northeast edge of the fair grounds. It has a capacity of 3,000 persons and contains six of the center's twelve mess halls.
The first mess hall was in readiness for the advance group, having already fed 96 Alaskan Japanese who arrived at the center Monday. As soon as the new arrivals had inspected their quarters, they ate luncheon, for they had been on the move from Seattle "pickup" points since early morning.
Impending evacuation caused a specially-called assembly at Kent Junior High School, where May Hanada, 14 years old, and Betty McAlexander, 13, were presented $25 war bonds as prizes for the best-designed? war bond posters. May and her parents, Kent farmers, are among evacuees to go to Puyallup center during the next two weeks.
The prizes were presented by S. Robinson, assistant vice president of the Pacific National Bank of Seattle.
At Puyallup, evacuees were registered by a staff of 27 persons under direction of Robert F. Tur?? of the Wartime Civil Control Administration, manager of the assembly center, and then shown to their apartments, which had been assigned before their arrival.
Officials were gratified at the way evacuees began their new life. Most of them accepted it as something they'd have foregone willingly, but so long as it had ?? come, they'd make the best of it.
And this they did speedily.
Farm Crisis Foreseen
Meanwhile, officials of the W. C. C. A. said a crisis is approaching in the need for finding new operators of evacuees' farm lands, particularly in the Seattle area, where only 23.4 per cent of the registered acreage has been transferred.
In San Francisco, the W. C. C. A. said 4,290 farms out of 6,4?? being given up by evacuated Japanese have been transferred to new operators, the Associated Press reported.
However, in Arizona. 96.6 per cent have been transferred, in Oregon 93.7 Per cent and in Washington 77.3 per cent.
' The W. C. C. A. said nearly 40,000? acres in Pacific Coast defense zones still are available for new? operators.
Virginia Boren
Tastes Victory and Defeat: Hears James Young Lecture
James R. Young, fast-talking -- he speaks with the rapidity and the crisp click of a machine gun -- word-tossing, dynamic denouncer of the Japanese, last evening brought phrases of singing hope to the Sunset Club when he predicted ultimate victory for the United States as opposed to a devastating defeat by the Japanese. Likewise, he carried grim warnings for this country, declaring:"The greatest communique, the first one, that went to the Emperor today on his forty-first birthday, was the trouble that the United States is having in Johnstown, Pa. -the steel strike. When will this war end? When we don't get reports of 'no work in Johnstown.' How is it going to end? Well, no matter what Japan possesses, wherever she goes, she cannot win the war. We have soma bad headlines ahead, but we'll write the last
chapter of this war --
victory."Mr. Young, who spent thirteen years as a foreign correspondent in Japan, and also 16 days in a Tokyo jail because he dared to write that the Japanese had failed in China and why they'd continue to fail, presented a varied assortment of chapters in his extended talk at the Sunset Club. And he illustrated these conversational chapters with prints that were frightful, hideous, cruel, far removed from the muted, soft gray, feathery prints that have become famous as examples of Japanese art. (PHOTO: MR. JAMES R. YOUNG -- Victory for United States)
Confucius Confusing
For instance, there was that chapter on the Chinese chicanery and courage which completely defeats and baffles the Japanese, which posts the amazing bulletins that although the Japanese have lost 1,200,000 people in their combat against China, they have failed to conquer the Chinese. Confucius for the Japanese is utterly confusing!
"The Japanese capture the Chinese capital and the Chinese keep on smiling and move the capital. Faint victory," commented Mr. Young. "The general tells the Chinese to plant cotton in Manchuria and up comes corn -- the Chinese planted corn. The general set the Chinese to building railroads in Manchuria and the Chinese hid the rails in the lakes. They moved the Shanghai Express 1,000 miles away, including 200 miles of railroad, and then sent their bandits down to the occupied Japanese territory for 300 more miles of rails. They build adobe walls to protect the rails from theft, and all the time the Chinese knew the walls would melt in the spring rains."
There was that bitter chapter, which rents like gritty ashes in the mouth of Mr. Young -- the gallant, generous manner in which America is treating Japanese in this country as compared to the manner in which Americans are being treated in Japan.
"I'm interested to see that the Japanese evacuated from Seattle have nice comfortable mattresses," commented Mr. Young. "That they have plenty of fuel. That they were fed on Vienna sausage, potatoes, string beans, fruit pudding and coffee. The Americans in Japan, I assure you, don't have mattresses. They have no potatoes, because there have bean no potatoes there for two years. They have had no fuel all winter. They are fed, these Americans in Japan, on rice and cabbage. At White Sulphur Springs, Va., this country is spending $2,000 a day to take care of the members of the Japanese embassy. I think the United States should hire Chinese cooks and Filipino boys to wait on those Japs at White Sulphur Springs, just so the Japs will feel at home.
"When the real stories come out about Shanghai, Hongkong and Manila, you will be amazed, stunned at the true stories of brutality and atrocities. The Japanese are beasts when they cut loose. They do not respect the sign of the Red Cross. They stop at nothing. Their loyalty over here? Well, that's a big question and one which I will not go into here, but I am certainly glad they are moving all the Japanese inland here.
"I was incensed when I was here in January to meet Japanese redcaps at your railroad station. I don't want Japs working around any station in the United States. I am glad to see that they have been replaced, and there was not a Japanese redcap at the station today when I arrived."
Mr. Young predicted that the West Coast would be attacked by the Japanese but sounded an optimistic note when he observed:
"Of course, we have the Navy between the Japs and the West Coast, and the Navy is doing an excellent job. The Japs never expected the bombing of Tokyo. That was a fine way to deliver lend-lease goods. The fall of Singapore was as big a surprise to the Japanese as it was to us. Corregidor and the Philippines also have held their surprises. Singapore has slowed us up, but the fact that we've sent planes over Japan has helped us mightily."
'Brats' in Back Yard
Among pertinent observations made by the lecturer were:
"The parade for the Emperor's birthday was canceled because the weather was bad. Well, there's going to be a lot of bad weather from now on.
"The United States was sitting in the parlor of a house of diplomacy while Nazis played in the front yard and Jap brats in the back.
"The sun goddess made a three-point landing at the Emperor's palace. Under one arm she carried a sword, a jewel and a mirror, while under the other arm were two iron bridges, both of them made in Hamburg, Germany.
"We, Americans, quickly put many of our customs and our goods in Japan: Santa Clauses in the department stores; spinach and the story of Popeye, the Sailor; chewing gum, beer halls and baseball.
"Whatever the Emperor does, the rest of the Japanese imitate. That shows the regimentation of the country. The day the Emperor donned a wrist watch, every Japanese went off to get a wrist watch. The Emperor grew a Charlie Chaplin mustache, all the Japanese grew like mustaches. He put on spectacles and there was a huge demand for spectacles.
"The Japanese love to buy cash registers and sewing machines. They will buy anything so long as they cannot figure it out.
Distance Our Problem
"The Russians never sold the Japanese an airplane because, the I Russians said, 'We don't know where they're going.'
"The Japs don't know what the Russians are going to do and neither do we. The Russians plague the life out of the Japs.
"The Japanese cabinet is so weak it hasn't the strength to change. Mr. Young declared that America surpasses Japan in man power, the replacement of planes and ships and the stamina of its people, but that America has the problem of distance. He listed as some of Japan's great troubles:
Malnutrition and the general breakdown of health in Japan, with typhoid, dysentery and the increase of tuberculosis greatly alarming the Japanese government; the lack of oil and ball-bearing machinery; the breakdown of the iron industry... [end of clipping]
Japanese Organize Own Government at Puyallup
Although the Army's assembly center in Puyallup for Japanese evacuees has been occupied for only a few days, its population is increasing like that of a gold-rush town, and it already has a mayor, a local government, several postmasters, street signs, and the beginning of a newspaper.The main street along wooden barracks in which 2,179 Seattle Japanese now are living, bears a sign "Burma Road." Mess halls are named Jackson Cafe, Spike's Cafe, and Blanc's Cafe. The mayor, a young attorney named William Mimbu, has an office and two stenographers. The camp had a dance last Saturday night. There was no orchestra but all the portable radios around were set up in a mess hall and tuned to the same station.
Puyallup's Population
Doubled
The Seattle Japanese, first to arrive in Puyallup, are quartered in what is known as Area A -- a 19acre parking lot across the street from the Western Washington Fair grounds.
Eventually there will be 8,000 Japanese occupying four assembly areas, almost exactly doubling the population of Puyallup. As yet all but Area A, which the Japanese have named Camp Harmony, are empty. When their people arrive, methods which the Seattle Japanese worked out will be used to settle them.
The Japanese themselves are handling all the diverse problems which arise when thousands of people are moved from their homes to camps with only a minimum of belongings. The 2,000 occupants of Camp Harmony were moved into it in a week, with more than 1,500 people and their baggage arriving in two consecutive days.
Three hundred people, mostly men, arrived first. They included the mayor, named by the Japanese American Citizens' League, six section leaders who are heads of six divisions of the camp, crews of six mess hall and details to handle baggage, wood, and a postmaster for each section.
All this work is voluntary.
The "mayor" handled hundreds of complaints in his first week in office. Roofs leaked; children strayed; because a canteen was not yet built, residents could not buy cigarettes, razor blades and other incidentals. There was a lack of hot water in the laundry. There was mud in the streets when it rained.
But, Mimbu said, most of the complaints were only those associated with settling into new homes and a new routine. All of Camp Harmony's population, he says, have volunteered for tasks which must be done in the camp and have done them well.
Expert Cooks Prepare
Meals
Cooks from many Seattle restaurants prepare the meals for Camp Harmony. Best known probably is Joe Shiga, who was a chef at Blanc's Cafe for 23 years. His mess hall bears the sign Blanc's. Cooks get Army rations to prepare for adults. Each mess hall, however, has special meals for children from 2 to 14 years old, and other food for infants under a year.
Japanese who have not yet been evacuated have been acting as buyers for those who have, and have been going back and forth between the camp and Puyallup stores with ice cream cones, fruit, cigarettes, and other incidentals which will be on sale inside the camp as soon as its canteen opens.
Younger Japanese children at Camp Harmony think the place is marvelous -- it hasn't any school yet and every day is like vacation. Their parents aren't so enthusiastic about the no-school idea, but most of them are treating their stay in camp as a vacation, and are performing their chores in the same spirit as if they were on a camping trip.
Quarters are about the size of those in a tourist cabin. If a family is too big for one room, the wooden partition between two is opened and more room provided. They are scantily furnished. Each has a stove, beds and a table. But... [end of clipping]
JAPS, ABOUT TO GO, PLAN FAREWELLS
Seattle's Japanese residents, for many of whom tomorrow is their last day in the city until the war ends, were planning numerous "farewell parties" in observation of their forthcoming evacuation from their homes beginning Tuesday.Many of them, never away from Seattle since birth, seemed to realize for the first time yesterday, when they began registering for evacuation at two Seattle centers, 2100 Second Ave., and 1319 Rainier Ave., that they were facing an entirely new life beginning Tuesday, when the first group will be taken to an assembly center at Puyallup.
Hundreds registered yesterday for the evacuation, leaving only a small handful of those in Seattle's two restricted areas who still face the task of enrolling today. The small number of Japanese living in other portions of Seattle will be evacuated during May.
The registration yesterday was uneventful, about 500 heads of families taking care of the task for their wives, husbands, sons and daughters. About 2,100 Japanese are to be evacuated this week.
330
in First Removal
The first group, a comparatively small gathering of 330, will be moved to the Western Washington Fair Grounds at Puyallup Tuesday, to prepare the assembly center for the others. The rest will start moving Wednesday, and all 2,100 will have been moved by next Saturday.
Despite the somber aspects of the registration, the Japanese were in a happy mood as they lined up, resigned to the need for their removal and cognizant of the fact that war has made the evacuation necessary.
The registration was under direction of the Wartime Civil Control Administration and the Army, which had on hand, for the assistance of the Japanese, staffs from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Farm Security Administration and Social Security agencies.
Many Sign in California
The Seattle registration coincided with registration of another 4,950 Japanese in Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties in California.
Seattle Japanese eventually will be removed from the center at Puyallup to relocation and resettlement centers in Idaho.
Seattle evacuees will be joined at Puyallup by 200 Japanese who have been residing in Alaska, the W. C. C. A. announced. The time of their arrival and the port of disembarkation will not be announced, but officials said the evacuees will be accorded the same privileges as those who live in continental United States.
Registration of Jap Evacuees Gets Under Way in Seattle
Those Listed Yesterday Will Be Sent To
Puyallup Fair Grounds
With an efficiency and smoothness that gave no indication that a whole community was being uprooted, the registration of prospective Japanese evacuees started in Seattle yesterday.
It was carried out at two civil control stations -- one at 2100 2nd Ave. for residents of the North End exclusion area, and the other at 1319 Rainier Ave. for residents of the South End exclusion area.
Registration will be continued at both stations today, from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. by which time army officers anticipate that all the 2,000 Japanese who are to be evacuated this week will have been processed.
Officers pointed out that registration is mandatory under the civilian exclusion orders issued by Lieut. Gen. John De Witt, commanding general of the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, and that every Japanese resident of the exclusion areas must be registered by tonight. Japanese living alone must register individually, but any responsible member, preferably the head, may register for a family.
All Japanese registering yesterday and today will be sent to the assembly center at the Western Washington Fair Grounds in Puyallup by noon next Friday. At that time the exclusion orders go into effect, and no Japanese, whether American citizens or aliens, will be permitted inside the exclusion area.
Japanese residents of the rest of the city -- roughly that portion north of Yesler Way and east of Roosevelt Way and Eastlake and 6th Aves. -- are not being required to register as yet, but it is expected that all will be evacuated before May 20.
At the control stations the Japanese went through a regular assembly line process. They were greeted by volunteer receptionists -members of their own community who offered to serve as interpreters for those without a full grasp of the English language -- and supplied with a set of forms required by the different government agencies which are assisting the army in the evacuation.
Because of the large number of people being handled, medical examinations were deferred until tomorrow, but an army liaison officer allotted each family or individual to specific living quarters at the assembly center in Puyallup.
Members of the advance party which will go to the assembly center Tuesday were given priority in registration.
The other residents of the exclusion area will be sent to Puyallup on Thursday and Friday, moving in convoys of about ten automobiles each.
Evacuees will be allowed to take with them bedding and linen for each member of a family (but no mattresses); toilet articles, extra clothing, table ware and essential personal effects.
It was announced that personal effects included flat irons or electric irons, cribs or bassinets, bed pillows, small portable radios with a range of not less than 540 nor more than 1750 kilocycles, folding camp stools, cards and games, wash boards, clothes lines and clothes pins, baby carriages, portable sewing machines, portable typewriters and coat hooks.
There was a proviso, however, that families will be allowed to take only articles which they can pack and carry.
Prepare to Leave
COMING EVACUEES
BAN JAP STUDENTS
MINNEAPOLIS. April 25 -- (AP) -W. C. Coffey, president of the University of Minnesota, said today that the board of regents has voted "not to accept Japanese students pending formulation of a policy by the Federal government."Keep Valley Farms In Production!
The threat that 80 per cent of Japanese operated farms in Western Washington will go out of production this month is the worst that this region has yet faced as the result of war conditions.The army says that evacuation must proceed on schedule. Crops, in most cases, are in and growing. There will be a tremendous economic waste if the vegetables are not harvested, heavy losses to owners and hardship for the entire region.
The problem can be solved. It has been solved in California, where transfers of acreage make it certain that production will proceed, virtually uninterrupted.
It takes two to make a bargain.
Japanese should remember that they have had ample warning of evacuation plans and that every day's delay in arranging a "deal" for their farms lessens their chances of making a satisfactory private arrangement.
But the government evacuation procedure is not planned for the purpose of depriving the Japanese of their properties for the benefit of grasping individuals. Prospective purchasers and lessees should remember that for them, too, the time is growing short.
Beyond the interests of individuals, each attempting to make the best possible deal, is the interest of this region.
We are strongly of the opinion that the most satisfactory situation, all around, is to be found in arrangements between the Japanese and individual purchasers or lessees, aided if necessary by such loans as the Farm Security Administration can provide.
But because much more than individual interests are affected, we urge that chambers of commerce, the State Grange and other farm organizations and groups representing business and the general public, devote their utmost efforts, in cooperation with the Farm Security Administration, toward finding a solution to this problem. The first effort should be devoted toward bringing prospective buyer and prospective seller together -- and impressing upon both that neither should seek to take undue advantage of the other.
It takes two to make a bargain. Both sides must come to a bargaining frame of mind. And the time is growing short.
Warren Urges Cooperation
By United
Press
Church leaders and and civil liberties groups Sunday night joined with Gov. Earl Warren in a plea to west coast residents to uphold the constitutional privileges of Japanese allowed to return to the west coast at the same time some legislators and individuals bitterly predicted outbreaks of violence.
A proclamation by Warren asked the people of California to respect and to comply with the revocation order. Emphasizing that it was the "most important function of citizenship as well as government to protect constitutional rights and to maintain order," he added that public unrest resulting from "intemperate action" will retard the war effort.
Rev. John C. Leffler, president of the San Francisco council of churches, said his organization thought the "controlled return" of the Japanese-Americans was "eminently just" and pledged cooperation with government agencies in relocating and assimilating the evacuees.
In contrast to a statement by Maj. Gen. Henry C. Pratt. commanding general of the WDC, that he expected little violence, Assemblyman Chester F. Gannon, Sacramento, Calif., chairmen of the California Committee on Japanese Problems, predicted that the Japanese government can smuggle in Japanese to mingle unobserved with American Japanese.
A spokesman for the Pacific coast committee on American principles and fair play said, however, peace officers should be capable of enforcing law and order when the Japanese-Americans return.
State Sen. Hugh P. Donnelly, chairman of the California senate fact finding committee on Japanese resettlement said he "bitterly regretted" the War department order permitting Japanese to return to the west coast and reiterated the action might lead to "bloodshed and violence."
BOYCOTT STILL PLANNED
KENT, Wash. (AP) -- President Benjamin Smith of the "Remember Pearl Harbor" league, organized in the White and Puyallup river valleys of this state to oppose the resettlement of Japanese Sunday said his organization plans to continue a boycott against the Japanese despite the War department's lifting of the west coast exclusion order.WHERE 10,000 JAPANESE WILL LIVE
IN MANZANAR, CALIF., YESTERDAY
The
snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada tower in the West as workmen
rush construction of the huge reception center in the Owens Valley to
receive the first of the 10,000 evacuated Japanese from Southern
California. Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt of the Western Defense Command
commandeered
6,020 acres for the boom town. The project will be completed in 60
days. -- A. P. wirephoto.SAN FRANCISCO, March 20. -(AP) -- When 1,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans leave Los Angeles voluntarily early next week for an alien-reception center, they will start the largest orderly mass movement of civilians in history," the Western Defense Command Wartime Civilian Control Board said today.
The Japanese evacuees from Los Angeles, headed for Manzanar, reception center in Owens Valley, are the vanguard of 179,985 enemy aliens and Japanese-Americans on the Pacific Coast subject to evacuation orders.
The great bulk of those who will be evacuated from military areas are Japanese and their descendants, said Dr. C. L. Dedrick, statistician for the civilian control branch of the Western Defense Command. The Japanese group totals 112,985. Next come Germans. Italians form the smallest group.
MANZANAR, Calif., March 20. -(AP) -- The West's newest boom town, designed to house 10,000 Japanese evacuees from Southern California, is being constructed in the midst of 6,020 acres in Owens River Valley.
Four hundred carpenters went to work yesterday. In a few hours they erected one barracks and started the framework for an administration building and a 150-bed hospital. Speed is essential. The project is scheduled to be completed in 60 days. The first 1,000 Japanese are due Monday.
Japanese will raise farm and garden products. Long unused irrigation ditches, which two decades ago furnished water for fruit growing, are being reopened.
320 Bailey Gatzert Jap Pupils Face Unfinished School Term
There will be 320 vacant desks in the Bailey Gatzart Grade School, 12th Avenue South and Weller Street, when the Army decides that it is time for Japanese to be evacuated from Seattle.Of the 720 students in the modern school, there are 320 Japanese students, most of whom were born in Seattle, who will be forced by the government to move inland with their parents.
The Lady Stirling Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution today fingerprinted children, and issued identification tags to children of pre-school age. Many were Japanese children under 6 years old, attending kindergarten and pre-school classes at Bailey Gatzert School.
Uneasiness
Apparent
Their parents, who do not know when they will be ordered out of the zone by the Army, and even the small children, alike showed a strain of uneasiness over the uncertainty.
A large part of the expected vacancy will be filled by new white, Chinese and Negro children who are enrolling in the school, according to Miss Ada J. Mahon, school principal.
Miss Mahon said that 13 new students enrolled today and that there were 15 new students admitted last week.
"Most of these new children are moving with their parents into the Yesler Way Terrace," Miss Mahon said. "At the rate of the past two weeks, the vacancies would be filled in a short time, provided that children continue to move into the housing project."
Miss Mahon said that no racial prejudice exists among the students.
Citizens' Club
Credited
"We like to refer to our student body as 'little democracy'," Miss Mahon said. "We attribute our success to the work of our 'Good American Citizens' Club,' which is made up of 'upperclassmen' of the fifth and sixth grades.
"The students organize many committees, such as committee for clean grounds, good deeds, safety, clean shoes, turn-off-the-faucets and activities like that. The children are so busy helping each other, they have no time for developing prejudices."
Group to Protect Jap Properties
HOOD RIVER, Ore., March 22 -- (I.N.S.) -- While organizations in other sections of the state criticized Japanese and protested settlement of evacuees in their areas, the Hood River Traffic Association appointed a committee to protect Nipponese against exploitation.The association, which represents leading fruit growers and shippers of the Hood River Valley, appointed the committee to advise nearly 100 Japanese in the area on sale of their property and crops and to prevent unscrupulous persons from buying their belongings at a fraction of the true value. Reports of attempts at such deals had come from other sections of the Pacific Northwest.
The Camp Harmony N E W S - L E T T E R
July 10, 1942 Page 3
EDITOR..........Dick Takeuchi
Managing Editor..........Dyke Miyagawa
Ass't. Managing Editor....Taka Oka
Sports Editor..........Kenji Tani
Copy Editor............Makiko Takahashi
Art Editor........Keith Oka
Reporters......Ruth Yoshimoto, Gertrude Takayama
Mitsuko Yagi, Hanako Okamoto.
Business Manager.........George Minato.
OUR PAPER FAMINE.....
We're apologizing again, and following up fast with the same old alibi. The alibi is tattered, moldy, almost putrescent from repeated use, but it still stands defiantly true.
We had high hopes of shooting the patriotic works and knocking another wheel off the Axis war-machine with a special 4th of July edition. We visualized and we labored, but we could not conceive. Hopes, we 1earned again, are not enough.
Frank1y, we are not in the 1east hesitant about drawing the center's attention to our dilemma, and we might add, our despair. The NEWS LETTER is the ONLY newspaper among some ten center sheets which has never been able to come out on schedule.
Tanforan's TOTALIZER, Santa Anita's PACEMAKER, Pinedale's LOGGER, Tulare's NEWS, Manzanar's FREE PRESS, Portland's EVACUAZETTE -- all, whether they be weeklies or bi-weeklies, are able to supply their centers regularly with from six to eight pages of news. We limp along, not on schedule but whatever we can, on four skimpy pages.
The staff is at present collecting pennies for a telegram to Donald Nelson of the War Production Board. Mr. Nelson will be asked if there is some spare mimeograph paper somewhere in the land which can be allocated for Camp Harmony and it's paper-starved NEWS LETTER.
ART SHOW SLATED FOR
'A'
Intrepid artists last week pooled their joint efforts and, under the auspices of the headquarters art department, displayed their varied and conglomerate talent at an art exhibit in Area D in the first of a series of such showings.
Thirty entrants submitted 103 water color and oil paintings, charcoal, pen and pencil drawings to the display which attracted a large gallery during the two days of its showing in a makeshift salon adjacent to the Area D library.
All was not a strict adherence to "art" in reference to paintings inasmuch as woodcarving and its allied arts were represented.
More than half of the pictures entered depicted life in the camp. Sketches ranged from simple line drawing to a water color rendition, bordering on the surrealistic, of an Area latrine.
Portraits, show-cards, even Japanese "kakemono" were among the various entries. A part of the exhibit was devoted to the art department's war bond posters -- huge display signs which were printed by the art and sign staffs and used as a featured part of Puyallup's recent Fourth of July parade.
The exhibit in other areas were completed yesterday by the art staff with Area A scheduled to hold the display today and Saturday in the area visiting room.
The FINISH Line
ARTFUL
DISCORD
We will gladly give our formula for dandelion wine to the talented rowdies of the Art Department if they will give or throw away their harmonica and guitar. The boys may have good reasons for celebrating after their prodigious labors on the 4th of July posters, but we wish they would remember they are only two doors down from the peaceful NEWS-LETTER office. Webster's definitions for discord, bedlam and caterwauling are totally inadequate when Keith Oka's paint and brush gang cuts loose with "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain."
FOR PEEP'S SAKE!
We can't say it's our sense of decorum, but the center's cuties should be warned that every wall in camp will soon be full of man-made knot holes. The village gallants are still busy with their knives, but not just to carve out the name's of their prize fillies. That's passe. The male hobby of the week is making rings cut of knots. So if you hear a banging on your walls, remember it ain't the carpenter. And run for cover accordingly.
HDQTRS. HEROES
The next time you want to call the Headquarters Staff a bunch of buckpassers or worse, think twice. Area D's mammoth kitchen was caught flat with a labor shortage -- right smack in the middle of last week's heat wave. George Taki's Operations Department sent out frantic calls for temporary pot washers, and the first volunteers were members of the camp's top administrative staff. They who gave up their cool confines in Headquarters and stripped themselves to the waist to scrub the big pots for five torrid days were Bill and Rube Hosokawa, Yoshi Takayoshi, George Minato, Tom Iseri, Dick Na???, Dick Setsuda, Tom Kanae, Chick Uno and Michie Sainoda. (Jimmie Sakamoto's Man Friday.)
Extra lollipops to the headquarters heroes.
Seattle Japs Packed Up and Ready to Move
Many Will Lose Their Livelihood When Evacuated
By Doug Welch
Uncertainty hangs like a black cloud over Seattle's numerous Japanese community.
In some homes all but the bedding and kitchenware has been packed against a hasty departure -a summons which, for all local Japanese know, may come in the night.
In some business houses and hole-in-the-wall stores stock already is being removed from the shelves and counters and laid away in boxes and barrels -- for storage until the war is over.
But mostly the Japanese, alien [section missing] cash from the sale of business. His biggest asset is the good will of his readers, and with evacuation that ceases. He'll turn the key in the door of the Japanese-American Courier with only $200 or $300 realized from the sale of a secondhand linotype and a few fonts of type.
RESIGNED TO LEAVING
"I stand to lose my living," he said yesterday. "I have a wife and two children to support. I am also supporting my aged parents who have lived here forty-seven years. I don't know what kind of work I can do in the interior. However, this is war, I'm a good American citizen, and if I've got to go, I've got to go; that's all."
American-born Richard Setsuda, a merchant, 452 12th Ave., was selling his stock back to wholesalers yesterday, attempting to raise a little each for whatever has... [end of clipping]
COAST ALIEN RESETTLEMENT PLAN REVEALED
SAN FRANCISCO, March 6 -(AP)-- Civilian agencies of the government are cooperating with the army in plans for resettlement of enemy aliens with Japanese-Americans to be evacuated from the Pacific Coast's vital defense zones, army headquarters of the western Defense Command and Fourth Army announced tonight."The Pacific Coast program is proceeding along American lines," the announcement said, "in accordance with Gen. John L. DeWitt's plan of tempering stern military necessity with every practicable safeguard for individual and property rights."
Vital areas for defense and important industrial plants must be safeguarded through closing them to enemy aliens and Japanese-Americans, the Army statement said.
But evacuation plans will attempt to minimize the disruption of normal life among both those required to move and those remaining in the regions affected.
Japs? 'Get Tough' -- Solon
WASHINGTON, March 21. -- Senator Tom Stewart, Democrat, Tennessee, thinks the nation should "get tough in this war" and deny all privileges of citizenship to Japanese -- even those who were born in this country. "A Jap's a Jap anywhere," said Stewart.SHE KEEPS JOB
IN ABILENE,
TEX., YESTERDAY
Naomi Fugita, 18-year-old daughter of a
Japanese father and Occidental mother, was back at her job in a
5-and-10-cent store, selling novelties and playing records about
slapping the Japs. When customers complained of her employment, the
manager decided to transfer her to the stock room. Naomi balked and
went home. Then it was learned that the girl had two brothers in the
United States Army. Result: Naomi is back on the job. -- A.P.
wirephoto.Filipinos Beat American-Born Jap in Street
William Yamatuchi, American-born Japanese, 1909 Minor Ave, was knocked down and beaten and threatened with a knife by two Filipinos in Fourth Avenue at Madison Street at 12:45 o'clock this morning.Yamatuchi told Patrolmen F. E. Pinsley and E. N. Johnson he was approached by the Filipinos while he was walking along Fourth Avenue. One of them struck him and knocked him down, he said. The other hit him and drew a hunting knife from his pocket.
Yamatuchi ran when he saw the knife. He reported to police after he had reached home half an hour later.
One of the Filipinos was described as being "very thin" with "pop" eyes. He was wearing a green hat and tan coat and carried a large knife.
The other was described as having "lots of grease in his hair."
EVACUEE TAKES APPETITE ALONG
AT SANTA ANITA
When this 2-year old Japanese lad left his
home in the Los Angeles Harbor area and was taken to the Japanese
assembly center at Santa Anita Race Track along with other evacuees he
brought his appetite along -- and a good one it was, too. He was served
this dinner in the mess hall formerly used by track employee. -- A. P.
wirephoto.SEABISCUIT LOOKS ON
EVACUEES
AT TRACK
An interned Japanese family inspects the statue
of Seabiscuit, the famous race horse, after arrival at Santa Anita Race
Track from the Los Angeles Harbor area yesterday. The race course has
been converted into an assembly center for evacuated Japanese. By
Sunday 3,000 Japanese will be at the track. -- A. P.
wirephoto.SANTA ANITA RACE TRACK, Calif., April 4. --(AP)-- Guided by soldier-laden Army "jeep" cars, the first contingent of 1,000 Japanese moved into famed Santa Anita Race Track yesterday as the final evacuation of aliens got underway in the vital Los Angeles Harbor district.
It was a different Santa Anita that presented itself today. Stables that once held the mightiest thoroughbreds of the turf -- Seabiscuit, Cavalcade, Discovery, Twenty Grand, Equipoise and company -were converted into two-room apartments for human occupation.
MRS. F. R. SENDS EVACUEES CHEER
Evacuated Japanese may be assured of protection against "vigilantes and misguided private citizens," Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt advised the Seattle Chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens' League in a letter which James Y. Sakamoto, leader of the league, made public today.Sakamoto wrote to President Roosevelt saying Japanese have been discredited completely under the present evacuation system and asked him to point out "we are not traitors to our country."
A copy of the letter to the President was sent to Mrs. Roosevelt. She answered:
"I know the many difficulties confronting the American-born Japanese, and also the loyal Japanese nationals. I am confident that the government will do everything possible to make the evacuation as decent and as comfortable as possible, and it will provide protection against vigilantes and misguided private citizens."
'No Army Has Done So Much With So Little' -- MacArthur
By Associated Press.
MELBOURNE, April 10. -- Gen. Douglas MacArthur said today of the defenders of Bataan: "No army has ever done so much with so little."
The supreme commander, hero of Bataan's first successful defense, said:
"The Bataan force went out as it would have wished -- fighting to the end of its flickering, forlorn hope.
"No army has ever done so much with so little.
"Nothing became it more than its last hour of trial and agony. "To the weeping mothers of its dead I only say that the sacrifice and halo of Jesus of Nazareth has descended upon their sons and that God will take them unto himself."
The supreme commander wrote this tribute to the Bataan defenders in his hotel suite.
It was read to newspaper men from a ruled sheet of paper -- on which the words were written in pencil in the general's own hand.
JAPANESE GROUP PLEDGES TOTAL EVACUATION AID
League Praises Treatment Given Persons
Removed to
Interior; Meeting Observes Curfew Rule
Full and willing cooperation with the government in all evacuation steps was pledged last night by 100 members of the Japanese-American Citizens League of Seattle in a session, which may be their last prior to removal to the interior.
Appreciation of the "extraordinary measures" taken to safeguard safety and economic welfare of evacuated persons also was expressed in the resolution which was introduced by James Y. Sakamoto, editor of the Japanese-American Courier, and adopted unanimously.
The session was held at 517 Main Street.
Clarence Arai, attorney, presided. Discussions were ended early to enable all members to be in their homes not later than 8 o'clock, the curfew time set by military authorities.
The text of the resolution:
"Whereas, the military authorities of the United States have decreed that all persons of Japanese descent must he removed from certain zones designated as military areas, and whereas such steps have been taken as a matter of strategic necessity to the safety and defense of the United States;
"And whereas, no sacrifice is too great in realizing our avowed objective in prosecuting this war to a successful conclusion, and whereas the government of the United States has taken extraordinary measures under the circumstances to safeguard the comfort, safety and economic welfare of the persons due to be evacuated;
"And whereas, it is the first duty of loyal Americans to obey the orders of their government; "Therefore be it resolved that the Japanese-American Citizens League of Seattle go on record as endorsing cheerful and willing cooperation by the community with the government agencies in the carrying out of evacuation proceedings, and that individual members of the League set an example of good Americanism by doing everything possible to facilitate the execution of a measure deemed necessary to the victory effort of our nation."
JAPANESE SIGN, TOO, FOR DRAFT
JAPANESE GOOD-NATURED AS THEY REGISTER
U. Idaho Head Denies Part In Japs' Transfer
MOSCOW, Idaho, April 25. --(AP)-The University of Idaho, in a statement issued by President H. C. Dale, has disclaimed responsibility for the arrival of six Japanese-American students from the University of Washington. President Dale said only one of the families which received the students was a "university family" -- and he described it as "a former Seattle family which gave temporary housing to two 19-year-old girls.""The university has nothing whatever to do with finding homes for the students," Dale added. "The civil and military authorities in Seattle had been notified that no Japanese-American boys and girls would be admitted to the university. We had no information that the Army planned to send any of these Japanese-American students to Moscow, and heard of it only when informed that they had actually arrived.
The Board of Regents will confer with Dale on the matter.
U. W. Dean Unavailable For Comment
on Shift
Dean Newhouse, dean of men at the University of Washington, and both his assistants were out of the city today and unavailable for comment on the arrival last week of six Japanese-American students at the University of Idaho from the University of Washington.
Other University officials here said, however, that there was no "official note" to the change of universities. They said the students made the transfer voluntarily and individually.