Naturalization bill S. 1655 and the fight over alien land laws

Vol. 25, No. 3, July 26, 1947. 8 pages. View this issue

A bill to end race restrictions in U.S. naturalization law led this eight-page issue. Senators James Howard McGrath and Theodore Francis Green of Rhode Island introduced S. 1655, and Mike Masaoka of the JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee called it the major naturalization bill the JACL had advocated. The House also passed H.R. 3999 on evacuation claims, and the Senate planned an immigration inquiry. Alien land laws drew attention too: California sought to move the Hirata case to state court, Dr. Edwin E. Ferguson wrote that the law violates the Fourteenth Amendment, and Kenji Namba, a 442nd veteran, challenged Oregon’s law.

Elsewhere, Wat Misaka signed with the New York Knickerbockers, and Wally Yonamine began working out with the San Francisco Forty-Niners. Bill Hosokawa’s columns looked at New York street rackets and the scramble for the Japanese import-export trade. The community pages covered a Denver dinner for Minoru Yasui and a soya sauce contamination that sickened farm workers.

What’s in this issue

National

• Bill Introduced to Eliminate Race Restrictions From U.S. Naturalization Law, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Senators James Howard McGrath and Theodore Francis Green introduced S. 1655 to remove race restrictions from the Nationality Act and allow naturalization of legally resident aliens. Mike Masaoka of the JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee called it the major naturalization bill the JACL has advocated.
• New Directive Cuts Repatriates From U.S. Jobs, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A MacArthur headquarters directive barred persons who went to Japan as repatriates from the U.S. or Canada from American occupation jobs. Many Tule Lake returnees lost their interpreter and translator positions, while Canadian Nisei in Japan seek to return home.
• Report Nisei, Issei Have Utah’s Lowest Crime Rate, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A University of Utah anthropologist’s report found persons of Japanese ancestry have the lowest crime and delinquency rate of any group in Utah. The report also noted the Japanese American population in the state has declined since the wartime peak.
• Nisei Veteran Held in Hawaii Beating Case, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A decorated 442nd veteran was held for questioning in the fatal hotel beating of William Baker in Honolulu. Police said Baker and a friend had used derogatory language about Americans of Japanese ancestry before the argument began.
• House Passes Evacuation Claims Bill Unanimously, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 3999, creating a procedure for paying business and property losses from the 1942 West Coast evacuation. The bill now goes to the Senate, which passed a similar measure in 1946.
• California Asks Jurisdiction on Land Law Case, by P.C. Staff, page 2. California moved to remand the Hirata Alien Land law case from federal court to state court, with a hearing before Judge Dal M. Lemmon. The Hiratas argued the state courts could not give them a fair hearing.
• Senate Investigation Into Immigration Situation, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a full inquiry into U.S. immigration under Senate Resolution 137, introduced by Senator Chapman Revercomb. Masaoka noted the probe would likely cover quotas and problems stemming from the Oriental Exclusion Act of 1924.
• Senate Passes Bill to Legalize Stay in U.S. of Wife of Nisei, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Senate unanimously passed a private bill by Senator Robert A. Taft to legalize Japan-born Yone Nakazawa’s residence in the United States so she would not be deported from her Nisei husband. Action in the House was considered unlikely this session.

Community

• Wat Misaka Signs Pro Cage Contract With N.Y. Team, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Nisei basketball star Wat Misaka signed with the New York Knickerbockers of the Basketball Association of America for a reported $4,000 season salary. Misaka was a key member of Utah’s 1944 national championship team.
• East Bay JACL May Use Blue Cross Plan, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A committee is studying adoption of a Blue Cross hospital plan for East Bay JACL chapter members. Secretary Wat Miura confirmed the study.
• Nakamura Resigns Community Position in Marysville, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Frank F. Nakamura resigned after five years as manager and treasurer of Marysville’s Japanese community buildings. During his term a nearly $3,000 mortgage on the hall was paid off, leaving all buildings debt-free.
• Minoru Yasui Honored at Dinner in Denver, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Denver JACL members honored Minoru Yasui on July 18 for his service as regional representative for two years. Roy Takeno succeeded him, and Yasui was credited with testing the wartime curfew order in court.
• Disclose Nisei Fight Against Race Bias at Nebraska, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Patsy Takemoto, a Hawaiian Nisei senior at the University of Nebraska, described discrimination against non-white students in Lincoln. She had earlier written an article condemning restrictive practices in campus housing and organizations.
• Seek New Site for Families Ousted From Winona Camp, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Evacuee families of Japanese ancestry are being moved from the Winona trailer project in Los Angeles, with the AFSC locating a new site. Remaining families face eviction as the deadline approaches.
• Unrestricted Participation to Be Pattern for Chicago Forums, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Chicago JACL decided its social discussion group program will allow unrestricted, democratic participation. A committee set guidelines on meeting times and a 25-cent donation per attendee.
• First Test of Oregon’s Alien Land Law Scheduled as Court Will Consider Namba Case, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Kenji Namba, a 442nd veteran, and his father Etsuo Namba filed suit challenging Oregon’s Alien Land law after seeking to lease a Gresham farm. The suit argues the law and its 1945 amendment violate the 14th Amendment.
• Forty in Farm Labor Camp Reported Ill, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Forty farm workers at a Parlier labor camp were reported ill after eating soya sauce from a contaminated shipment. Fresno County health officials quarantined sauce in Reedley and Parlier establishments.
• 200 Gallons of Bay Sauce Dumped by Food Inspector, by P.C. Staff, page 8. California food and drug inspectors dumped 200 gallons of arsenic-tainted soya sauce into a Sacramento sewer. The sauce was part of thousands of gallons manufactured by a Decatur, Illinois firm after nearly 200 state residents fell ill.

Military & Veterans

• Sixteen Thousand Hawaii Nisei Fought in World War II, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Hawaii selective service records show more than half of Territory of Hawaii wartime volunteers were of Japanese ancestry. Of 36,777 Hawaiian residents who served, 16,083 were Japanese Americans.

Arts & Entertainment

• Queen of 442nd Veterans Fete in Hawaii to Visit Hollywood, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Blanche Jikaku, queen of the 442nd combat team carnival in Honolulu, won a Hollywood trip and a wardrobe designed by Mitzi Sugita. She will tour west coast cities with Hilo carnival queen Jane Udo.
• Yone Noguchi’s Poetry Enjoyed Twenty Years of Popularity, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Japanese poet Yone Noguchi, once popular in the United States and England, died July 13 in Japan at age 72. His son Isamu Noguchi recalled that his father’s early English poems had a simplicity his later works lacked.

Commentary

• Dr. Ferguson Says Land Law Violates 14th Amendment, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Dr. Edwin E. Ferguson argues in the California Law Review that the alien land law is unjust legislation aimed solely at the Japanese and violates the Fourteenth Amendment. He traces the law’s history from anti-Chinese agitation through its 1913 enactment and wartime enforcement.
• All a Racket, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa describes the many small hustles and sidewalk rackets New Yorkers use to make money, from car-watching and parking lot scams to ticket speculation. He notes that no Nisei has yet been involved in these ventures.
• From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa discusses Nisei businessmen scrambling for the Japanese import-export trade and expects few to get in on the ground floor. He also offers a humorous take on why new cars are really old-styled.

Sports

• Forty-Niner, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Wally Yonamine, the first Nisei player in big-time pro football, began working out with the San Francisco Forty-Niners. Coach Buck Shaw planned special plays to use Yonamine’s passing and left-footed kicking.
• Nisei Baseball Stars Tour With Hawaiians, by P.C. Staff, page 7. An All-Hawaii semi-pro team including Nisei stars Haruto Hirota, Kuroku Kanimoto, and Fred Hasegawa will tour the mainland before the national tournament in Wichita. The barnstorming itinerary includes games across the Midwest.
• Watanabe Selected for Baltimore Tournament Team, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Honolulu player Watanabe was selected for an American Legion team that will play in an international tournament in Baltimore. He batted .420 in the Territorial Legion tournament on Maui.

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