The Evacuation Claims Bill heads for a House vote

Vol. 24, No. 26, July 5, 1947. 8 pages. View this issue

A House vote on the Evacuation Claims bill, H.R. 3999, was set for July 7, and the issue followed it closely. The bill moved authority over certain evacuation losses from the Interior Department to the Attorney General. Mike Masaoka and the JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee worked to secure floor action, and a report from Representative John Gwynne praised the loyalty of relocated Japanese Americans. Other front-page stories covered the Hirata escheat case, a California alien land law fund bill that died in committee, and a Spokane drive to raise money for the committee’s legislative work.

Elsewhere in these eight pages, the House voted 196 to 133 to approve Hawaii statehood. A federal judge granted writs of habeas corpus to 325 Tule Lake renunciants. Columns by Larry Tajiri, Mary Oyama, Bill Hosokawa and Saburo Kido looked at Nisei writing, assimilation, the Boise Valley and postwar Hawaii.

What’s in this issue

Military & Veterans

• Utah State VFW Supports Citizen Rights for Issei, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Utah Veterans of Foreign Wars passed a resolution at its state encampment supporting naturalization rights for persons of Japanese ancestry. The resolution will be presented at the national VFW encampment in Cleveland.
• 100th Battalion Veteran Dies in California Hospital, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Pfc. Rokuro Moriguchi, a 100th Infantry Battalion veteran wounded in France, died in a Van Nuys hospital and was honored with funeral rites in Honolulu. He had earlier been presented a washing machine by a Chinese American American Legion post in Los Angeles.
• Memorial Ceremony Will Honor Return of Nisei Dead From Europe, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The JACL memorial committee in Washington is planning services at Arlington National Cemetery for Nisei war dead being returned from Europe. All JACL chapters will be invited to contribute toward the costs.
• 138 Nisei Graduate from Army Language Training School, by P.C. Staff, page 3. 138 Nisei graduated from the Military Intelligence Language School at the Presidio of Monterey for occupation duty in Japan. Speakers emphasized the task of helping the Japanese adopt democracy.
• Disabled Veteran Will Take Up Painting as Career, by Joe Miller, page 7. Seattle Nisei veteran John Matsudaira, disabled by shrapnel in Italy, plans to pursue art at Broadway-Edison Technical School. He spent thirty months in army hospitals after a battlefield rescue by another Seattle Nisei.
• Bob Takeshita, Career Barred by Britons, Returns to U.S., by P.C. Staff, page 7. Undefeated Nisei welterweight Bob Takeshita returned from Scotland after the British boxing board barred his bout against Jack Marshall. His European tour was cut short when the Paterson-Marino title fight was postponed.

Community

• Nisei Soldiers Carry Huge U.S. Flag in Parade, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Nisei soldiers and veterans carried a 40-by-75-foot American flag loaned by the Monterey JACL in the Idaho Falls Fourth of July parade. The Idaho Falls chapter arranged the display.
• Inland Empire’s ADC Group Plans Financial Drive, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Spokane JACL formed the Inland Empire JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee to raise $1,000 by July 15 for ADC legislative work. Leaders explained the ADC’s program at a meeting with Issei booster committee members.
• Police Doubt Hawaii Nisei Implicated in Siegal Murder, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Los Angeles police doubted that Henry Kojiro Uyechi had any part in the gangland killing of Benjamin Siegel after he was arrested in Las Vegas. Uyechi was held on a concealed weapons charge and described as confused about the murder.
• Los Angeles Paper Exposes Drive to Oust Non-Caucasians From San Fernando Valley, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Los Angeles Sentinel exposed a campaign by San Fernando Valley Chambers of Commerce to impose race restrictive covenants excluding non-Caucasians. The paper condemned the plan and warned it would spread to other minority groups.
• Hawaii Hails House Action on Statehood, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Hawaii leaders praised the House passage of the statehood bill as a vote of confidence in the islands. Senator Wilfred Tsukiyama said the next step was to win Senate approval.
• Frank Ikuno Heads Cheyenne Group For ADC Campaign, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Frank Ikuno was elected temporary chairman of an organizing group to establish a JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee chapter in Cheyenne. Officials from the Tri-State Issei Citizenship League attended the organizing meeting.
• Mike Masaoka Will Speak on Nisei Problems, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Mike Masaoka is scheduled to speak on remaining problems of displaced Americans at the fourth annual Institute of Race Relations in Nashville, Tennessee. He will discuss problems still facing persons of Japanese ancestry.
• Togo Tanaka Leads Chicago Discussion on Behavior Patterns of Nisei Resettlers, by William R. Simms, page 5. Togo Tanaka led a Chicago JACL discussion on the Little Tokyo mind, based on canvassing leaders in major resettlement cities. Participants concluded the community is insular and that many problems attributed to Nisei are shared by other groups.
• Nisei Juvenile Delinquency Discussed by JACL Group, by P.C. Staff, page 7. A Chicago JACL informal discussion identified inadequate housing, economic instability and family breakdown as factors in Nisei juvenile delinquency. The group plans further informal meetings to address community problems.
• Rep. Gwynne Urges Passage of Evacuee Claims Measure, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Representative John Gwynne’s report on the Evacuation Claims bill praised the loyalty of relocated Japanese Americans and estimated costs near ten million dollars. The bill is set for House action on July 7.

Incarceration & Redress

• Southgate Issei Win Extension For 60 Days, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Issei residents of the Southgate war dormitory in San Francisco received a sixty-day reprieve after the scheduled closing. The move followed intervention with the Federal Public Housing Authority commissioner.
• Supreme Court Asked to Rule In Issei Case, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Counsel for Sannosuke Madokoro petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding his deportation order. The attorneys argue he lawfully made border crossings while residing in the United States since 1915.
• 325 Renunciants Win Release From Custody as Federal Court Grants Writs to Group, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Federal Judge Louis Goodman granted writs of habeas corpus to 325 Tule Lake renunciants, ruling they were not alien enemies subject to deportation. The judge reserved ruling on whether their renunciations of citizenship should be cancelled.
• Friends Aids Winona Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The American Friends Service Committee will maintain an office at the Winona trailer camp to assist about 100 Japanese ancestry residents facing eviction. Residents received a two-month extension after the lease was set to expire.

National

• Wirin Will Enter Language School Case in Hawaii, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A. L. Wirin, JACL special counsel, arrived in Honolulu to assist in the Chinese language schools case testing Hawaii’s laws regulating foreign-language schools. The case will examine the constitutionality of those laws.
• House Vote Set on Evacuation Claims Bill, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Evacuation Claims bill, H.R. 3999, was placed on the House consent calendar for action on July 7. The revised bill shifts adjudication authority from the Interior Department to the Attorney General.
• Seek to Remand Hirata Case to California Court, by P.C. Staff, page 1. California asked that the Hirata escheat case, moved to federal court in Sacramento, be remanded to state court. The Hiratas had argued they could not receive a fair hearing in state courts.
• California Alien Land Law Fund Bill Dies in Senate Committee, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A $200,000 appropriation bill for enforcing alien land law escheat cases died in committee when the California legislature recessed. The JACL had vigorously opposed the bill.
• Race Issue in Debate Not Expected to Hinder Hawaii Statehood, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The House voted 196 to 133 to approve Hawaii statehood after debate in which southern congressmen objected to the islands’ Japanese ancestry population. Rep. Leroy Johnson defended the wartime loyalty of Japanese Americans in Hawaii.

Commentary

• Masaoka Files Protest Against Civil Service Commission’s Use of Race Classification, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Mike Masaoka protested the Civil Service Commission’s labeling of five discharged or rejected applicants as ‘Japanese’ in a report to Congress. He argued the singling out implied danger based on birth and unfairly cast suspicion on loyal Japanese Americans.
• Roger Baldwin’s Comment: Japanese Militarists Used Restrictive U.S. Laws as Excuse for Aggressive War, by Everett J. Starr, page 2. ACLU director Roger Baldwin said U.S. discriminatory immigration and citizenship laws were used by Japanese war lords as propaganda to justify aggression. He also reported on his observations of postwar Japan and Korea and urged faster democratic progress.
• Epitaph for the Nisei Novel, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Editor Larry Tajiri reflects on the decline of Nisei literary writing, recalling prewar literary magazines and columns. He notes Nisei authors who have published and argues the Nisei novel is less urgent now but the community still needs its own writers.
• Joining the Debate, by P.C. Staff, page 4. A Los Angeles reader writes in response to a commentary on integration and assimilation, arguing the Nisei must uphold their own standards and ethics to earn acceptance. The writer urges Nisei to act aggressively and build a good neighborhood reputation.
• Assimilation and Integration: Everybody’s Silken Curtain, by Mary Oyama, page 5. Mary Oyama responds to Professor Elmer Smith’s article on Nisei assimilation, agreeing that both Caucasians and Nisei must take initiative to bridge the gap. She calls for unity and more effort to break down segregation and discrimination.
• Evacuees in Boise Valley, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Bill Hosokawa describes evacuees who came to the Boise Valley during the war, finding work on farms and in restaurants and many staying permanently. He also notes a Nisei baseball team in Caldwell and a visit to the Silver City ghost town.
• Saburo Kido’s Return: Hawaii Has Growing Pains, by Saburo Kido, page 6. Saburo Kido reports on changes in postwar Hawaii, including rising wages, housing shortages, and the aftermath of the sugar strike. He notes the islands’ economic transformation and the contributions of Japanese Americans there during the war.

Sports

• Hoshino To Quit After Knockout With Henry Davis, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Nisei boxer Hoshino suffered a concussion in a knockout loss to Henry Davis in Honolulu and announced he was through with the ring. He had hoped to make a comeback in Hawaii after earlier success there.
• Bowling Race Ban Debate in Honolulu, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Honolulu bowlers threatened to quit the American Bowling Congress over its race ban on non-Caucasians. The Honolulu City Bowling Association voted to remain in the ABC and pursue educational efforts to change the policy.

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