Hawaii’s wartime primary and the WRA’s turn toward individual relocation

Vol. 15, No. 19, October 8, 1942. 8 pages. View this issue

Hawaii’s first wartime primary opened this eight-page issue: seven Japanese candidates ran, one was elected, four were nominated and two were defeated. Wallace Otsuka won the Republican nomination for representative on Kauai, while Ted Kuramoto lost on Hawaii Island. The other main subject was the move toward individual resettlement. WRA Director Dillon Myer toured the Intermountain centers, and Bill Hosokawa described his visit to Heart Mountain in “From the Frying Pan.” An editorial, “The WRA Looks Ahead,” said the assembly center phase was ending. The paper also reported that about 2,200 people at Santa Anita would move to Gila River, and 4,800 more to Jerome.

Elsewhere, three judges in Los Angeles heard arguments challenging the detention of citizens. Saburo Kido wrote about Poston’s schools, Larry Tajiri reviewed John Fante’s story “Mary Osaka, I Love You,” and Tad Uyeno answered a columnist on the difference between evacuees and internees. Page 7 covers Warrant Officer Thomas Kobayashi.

What’s in this issue

Community

• Four Nisei Win Nomination, One Elected in Hawaii First Wartime Primary Election, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Thousands of Hawaii-born Japanese voted in the territory’s primary elections, with seven Japanese candidates resulting in one elected, four nominated, and two defeated. Wallace Otsuka won the Republican nomination for representative on Kauai while Ted Kuramoto was defeated on Hawaii Island.
• Experts Study Soil at Utah Center, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Three soil experts led by Dr. David S. Jenkins of Utah State Agricultural College are testing and analyzing soil at the central Utah relocation project. They are working alongside representatives of the soil conservation service.
• Bus Service May Be Started at Minidoka, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Superintendent John Essene said a bus line within the Minidoka relocation center may be established to transport residents. Fares would depend on how many passengers use the service.
• 1,400 Japanese From Hunt Go Into Farm Work, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Approximately 1,500 Japanese evacuees from the Minidoka Relocation Center have taken outside farm jobs, near the peak of employment from the center this season. The workers help relieve the agricultural labor shortage.
• More Granada Students Leave for Colleges, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Twenty-seven students of Japanese ancestry received leaves from WRA centers in Colorado and Wyoming to attend Western and Midwestern colleges this fall. The students pay their own expenses, and their applications were checked by the FBI.
• Evacuees Leave Hunt for College, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Eleven evacuees left the Minidoka Relocation Center to continue their studies at approved colleges in several states. Additional students from Minidoka and Heart Mountain were also released to universities.
• Nisei Appointed to Instructors’ Posts at Vassar, Maryland, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Harry Iwamoto was appointed assistant instructor of chemistry at the University of Maryland, and Ruth Tashiro was appointed instructor of biochemistry at Vassar. Both are nisei appointments made despite wartime circumstances.
• New York Federation Basketball Team Starts Practice, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The New York Young People’s Christian Federation basketball team held its first practice under coach J. Earl Fowler. Several players were named in the report.
• Women of Powell Valley Extend Neighborly Welcome to Evacuee Women, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Christian women from Powell, Wyoming formed the Christian Good Will Group to extend friendship to evacuee women from the Heart Mountain center. Suggestions included sharing flower seeds and bulbs.
• Poston Residents May Raise Squabs, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A squab-raising project is planned at Poston under the agricultural department. About 400 birds will be brought in from California, with instruction given to interested residents.
• Chick Sexing School to Open in Fresno, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A chick sexing school will open October 19 in Fresno to train Caucasian Americans to replace Japanese American chick sexers who had dominated the field. The school was sponsored by the federal government and local hatcherymen.
• Kitchen Crew Makes Garden Fish Pond, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Manzanar kitchen crew built a waterfall-equipped garden pond housing a turtle, trout, and carp. R. F. Kado supervised the project.
• Pacemaker Staff Members to Leave for Jerome Center, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Members of the Santa Anita Pacemaker staff will leave for the Jerome center in Arkansas on October 8 to continue newspaper work. The staff recently lost its star artist.
• City Beautification Contest at Gila, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A beautification contest will judge the most artistic and cleanest gardens and blocks at Gila River. Winners will be honored with banners.
• Pacific Citizen Calling All Chapters, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The column thanks chapter members and donors, including Alfred Obayashi of the San Diego chapter for a donation to national headquarters. It also acknowledges George T. Yamamura’s contribution to the newspaper’s operating fund.
• Home Activities Get Under Way, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Activities began at Hunt including knitting classes, YWCA groups, softball teams, and Go tournaments. Libraries extended hours and model plane and choir groups formed.
• Utah Evacuees Take New Jobs Outside Center, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Eleven evacuees from the Topaz center took outside farm and clerical jobs in response to requests from nearby employers. Roy Takagi was the first to leave, hired as payroll clerk for a construction firm.
• YMCA Groups Will Function in WRA Centers, by P.C. Staff, page 7. George B. Corwin of the national YMCA council said evacuees at Sacaton and Parker would be encouraged to set up YMCA programs. He found evacuees maintaining a philosophical attitude and community efforts to beautify the camps.
• Senator Lauds Donation from Hawaii Group, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Senator Elbert Thomas praised an $11,000 donation to the U.S. Army from Japanese residents of Hawaii, collected by the Japanese mission of the Latter-day Saints church. The campaign was described as a 100 percent Japanese effort.
• Armenian-Speaking Nisei Is Plumber at Fresno Center, by Carl Kurihara, page 8. Kurihara profiles Yukio Kawakami, a nisei who learned Armenian while working at Josephine Furniture and now works as a plumber at Fresno center. Kawakami is also a harmonica player and athlete.
• Cupid Scores Triple in Wyoming Weddings, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Six young Heart Mountain residents were united in a triple wedding at Cody, Wyoming on September 26. The three couples served as witnesses for each other.
• Race Issue Uninvolved in Suzuki Case, City’s Education Head Declares, by P.C. Staff, page 8. New York’s Board of Higher Education denied 18-year-old Matzu Suzuki admission to Hunter College because her parents live in Japan and she lacked legal residence. Dr. Ordway Tead stated that the decision was not based on her Japanese ancestry.
• Amateur Gardeners Get Plots at Gila River Center, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Two ten-acre plots at the Gila River center were set aside for amateur gardeners. The land is intended for personal gardening use by residents.

National

• Secretary Wickard Wants Evacuees for His Indiana Farm, by P.C. Staff, page 1. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard applied for two Japanese farm workers from the Minidoka relocation center in Idaho. He requested a young Japanese married couple to work on his farm in Indiana.
• Santa Anitans Will Be Moved to Gila Center, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Approximately 2,200 evacuees from the Santa Anita Assembly Center will be moved to the Gila River Relocation Center under Army transfer orders. A second movement of about 4,800 persons to the Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas was also announced.
• Students at Earlham College Protested, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Junior Order of United American Mechanics in Richmond, Indiana protested the presence of six American-born Japanese students at Earlham College, a Quaker school. The group adopted a resolution to present to college trustees and the War Relocation Authority.
• Youth Held in San Francisco, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Morris Eugene Suyetomi, 81, was charged with violating military evacuation orders after surrendering to police, saying he did not wish to evade the draft. He was held on $500 bail.
• Precedent Broken as 3 Judges Hear Arguments Challenging Detention of Citizen Japanese, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Three judges heard arguments in Los Angeles challenging the constitutionality of DeWitt’s orders detaining Japanese American citizens in habeas corpus petitions for Ernest and Toki Wakayama. ACLU attorney A. L. Wirin argued the detention violated due process and equal protection.
• Army Evacuates Non-Japanese From Coast, ACLU Charges, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The ACLU News reported that the Army has begun deporting United States citizens other than Japanese from the Pacific Coast, with at least 250 expected to be banished. The case of San Francisco resident Sam Fusco, banished as potentially dangerous, was cited as an example.
• Last of Canadian Coast Japanese Will Be Evacuated Soon, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The remaining 2,500 Japanese in Vancouver and the Fraser valley were to begin moving out by mid-October, the British Columbia Security Commission announced. Most of the 25,000 coastal British Columbia residents of Japanese ancestry had already been relocated inland.
• Arizona Japanese Arrested by FBI, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Henry Tadao Yoshiga, a Japanese-born Phoenix garage operator, was arrested for being in a restricted area despite holding a travel permit. He is being held for a probable hearing before an enemy alien restrictions board.

Incarceration & Redress

• WRA Director Visits Topaz, Tells Policies, by P.C. Staff, page 1. WRA Director Dillon Myer toured the Intermountain relocation centers and told evacuees that the WRA would assist in permanent individual relocation. He stressed that relocation was not the final phase of the agency’s work.
• Detroit Church Group Urges Restoration of Civil Liberties, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Detroit Council of Churches adopted a resolution urging restoration of civil liberties to Japanese Americans in assembly and relocation centers. The resolution also called for hearing courts to establish individual loyalty.
• Poston Schools Begin First Term, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Schools at the Poston relocation center in Arizona opened their first semester with teachers from across the nation, though classrooms, equipment, and textbooks were lacking. Approximately 5,000 students were ready to resume their education disrupted by evacuation.
• Mystery of Missing School Building, by P.C. Staff, page 2. School buildings were not included in Poston’s construction program, forcing classes into mess halls and recreation halls. The article questions why lumber was available for other construction but not for schools.
• 865 Volunteer for Farm Work at Cody Center, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Denver regional WRA director Joseph Smart reported that 865 evacuee volunteers from the Heart Mountain center were recruited for sugar beet harvesting in Montana and Wyoming. The workers were allocated to several beet areas to combat the western labor shortage.
• Evacuation Termed ‘Wasteful’ by Claude Settles in Speech, by P.C. Staff, page 3. San Jose State sociology professor Claude Settles called West Coast Japanese evacuation wasteful and unfair in a Kiwanis Club speech. He argued that fundamental democratic principles are being undermined.
• Yamato Community in Florida ‘Evacuated’ by War Needs, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Construction of an Army Air Corps radio school forced evacuation of the Yamato colony in Florida, founded by H. T. Kamiya. The article traces the colony’s history and the Kamiya family’s later lives.
• Governor Visits Relocation City in Wyoming, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Wyoming Governor Nels Smith visited Heart Mountain City and was particularly impressed by the hospital facilities. He toured the town and was shown its waterworks and sewerage systems.
• Fresno Resident Gets Jail Term for Center Fight, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Tokujiro Saisho pleaded guilty to assault and battery against Tsuruda, a community council member at the Topaz center, and received sixty days in jail and probation. The scuffle occurred after Saisho tried to persuade Tsuruda to resign from the council.
• Attorney Seeks Technicality to Remove Trial Figures From Jail, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Defense attorneys sought to move four former Seattle Japanese, including witnesses, from King County jail to a hotel during the trial of Charles Takahashi and Edward Osawa. The case involves charges of fraudulently shipping storage tanks to Japan.
• Rights of Evacuated Japanese Protected by WRA Officials, by P.C. Staff, page 8. WRA assistant chief Victor L. Furth met in Los Angeles to discuss federal efforts to protect property rights of Japanese aliens and citizens. Each relocation center has an assigned attorney to assist evacuee lawyers.

Commentary

• Timely Topics, by Saburo Kido, page 2. Kido comments on the Poston school experiment and notes the desert climate hampers farming. He also describes victory gardens planted within the camps.
• Editorial: The WRA Looks Ahead, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial notes that the assembly center phase of evacuation is ending and the WRA is now focused on permanent individual relocation. It argues that individual resettlement will speed assimilation and prevent long-term camp life.
• Editorial: Negroes and Democracy, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial examines how denial of civil rights to Negroes creates opportunities for Axis-backed pro-fascist movements. It argues that Jim Crow laws and discrimination serve the war aims of Hitler and Tojo.
• On Loyalty of U.S. Japanese (Des Moines Tribune editorial), by P.C. Staff, page 4. The article reprints a Des Moines Tribune editorial citing Blake Clark’s account of Japanese American loyalty during the Pearl Harbor attack in Hawaii. It argues that extending democracy to Japanese Americans rather than stripping their rights is the best policy.
• Distinctions Between Evacuees and Internees, by Tad Uyeno, page 5. Uyeno responds to Lee Shippey’s column contrasting treatment of Japanese internees in America with American internees in Japan. He argues that most internees are American citizens whose evacuation violated democratic principles.
• From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa describes WRA director Dillon Myer’s visit to Heart Mountain City and his emphasis that relocation centers are temporary. Myer stressed that evacuees themselves would determine the outcome of relocation.
• In the October Harper’s: An Intelligence Officer Declares His Faith in Nisei, by P.C. Staff, page 5. An intelligence officer writing in Harper’s expresses faith in the loyalty of most Nisei and recommends policies for their permanent acceptance as citizens. He proposes hearing boards to segregate disloyal individuals from loyal ones.
• The Lancer, by Tad Uyeno, page 5. Uyeno writes about the Lancer column and its treatment of Japanese American issues. The column includes commentary on evacuee conditions.
• Cultural Revolution and World War, by Fred Fertig, page 6. Fertig argues that the world war is the imperfect means humanity has chosen to resolve cultural problems raised by the machine age. He calls for evacuees to seek causes of common misery through united positive action.
• Nisei Woman: It’s Not Too Early to Think About Christmas, by P.C. Staff, page 6. A holiday column suggests handmade Christmas gifts for evacuee families, including sewn clothing, knitted items, and crafts. It offers practical ideas for personal presents using available materials.

Military & Veterans

• Nisei Heroes, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The column profiles nisei soldiers in World War II, including Master Sergeant Arthur Komori on Bataan and nisei sentries in Hawaii who captured the first Japanese prisoner of war on U.S. soil. It recounts their exchange with the captured Japanese officer.
• Time’s Editors Sympathize With Nisei Problems, Soldier Hears, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Warrant Officer Thomas Kobayashi received a letter from Time magazine editors expressing sympathy with nisei who prove their loyalty. Kobayashi, born in Phoenix, rose from private to warrant officer within fourteen months of induction.
• Nisei Gets Warrant Officer’s Rating From War Department, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Thomas Kobayashi was promoted to Warrant Officer, junior grade, by War Department telegram. He was then applying for officer candidate school.

Arts & Entertainment

• Hope Story of a Nisei Girl: John Fante Tells It Poignantly in ‘Mary Osaka, I Love You’, by Larry Tajiri, page 5. Larry Tajiri reviews John Fante’s short story in Good Housekeeping about a Filipino man and a Nisei girl who marry after Pearl Harbor. The story captures the love and American identity of the young Nisei woman.

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