Labor, the courts and the camps: news from October 1, 1942

Vol. 15, No. 18, October 1, 1942. 8 pages. View this issue

Citizenship was the main question in this eight-page issue. The California State Federation of Labor voted down a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to revoke the citizenship of Japanese Americans, and the paper covered the debate in two front-page stories. Larry Tajiri’s column looked at how the press shaped public opinion, and an editorial praised labor’s defense of minority rights. Saburo Kido wrote about self-government in the relocation centers, while Bill Hosokawa described volunteer evacuees at work in the sugar beet harvest.

Also inside are new War Relocation Authority leave regulations, Army orders moving residents of assembly centers to Jerome and Rohwer in Arkansas, and a Heart Mountain plant planned to employ Nisei. Court stories follow the Wakayama habeas corpus petition and Gordon Hirabayashi’s coming trial. Teiko Ishida visited Topaz, and Ann Nisei offered ideas for arranging a barrack room.

What’s in this issue

National

• California AFL Rejects Move Urging Revocation of Citizenship Rights for U.S.-Born Japanese, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The California State Federation of Labor overwhelmingly rejected a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to revoke citizenship of Japanese Americans. Delegates denounced the proposal as inhuman and undemocratic before voting it down.
• Resolution Defeated by Overwhelming Vote at State Labor Convention, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The California AFL convention defeated a resolution that would have barred persons of Japanese ancestry from citizenship. Opponents warned it would enable discrimination against other groups and aid Axis propaganda.
• Nursery Group Seeks to Block Evacuees’ Return, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The California Association of Nurserymen unanimously passed a resolution opposing the return of Japanese to California after the war. The group argued this would protect American industry from Japanese infiltration.
• New Regulations Provide Three Types of Leaves for Colonists, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The War Relocation Authority published new regulations effective October 1 allowing evacuees to leave relocation centers on short-term, work group, or indefinite leaves. Indefinite leaves require employment arrangements, community acceptance, and no security risk.
• House Group Backs Citizenship Measure, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The House Immigration Committee approved a bill restoring citizenship to native-born women who lost it through marriage to aliens.

Community

• War Industry Plant Planned For Wyoming, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A $100,000 lens and precision instrument plant will be built at Heart Mountain, employing about 150 highly trained Nisei. Specialists from the New York parent company will train the workers locally.
• Nash Accepts New War Post, Quits Manzanar, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Roy Nash, Manzanar project director, is leaving to head the Brazil-Ecuador unit of the Board of Economic Warfare. Harvey Coverly takes over as acting project director amid an unsettled center.
• Evacuees Help Harvest Beets in Wyoming, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Volunteer evacuees from the Heart Mountain center helped harvest a sugar beet field near Worland, Wyoming. Farmers reported the workers were hardworking and willing.
• Evacuee Labor Answers Call to Aid Harvest, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Wholesale movements of volunteer evacuee workers to western beet fields were underway, with trains passing through Salt Lake City daily. Roughly 10,000 evacuees were expected to work western harvest fields at the peak of the season.
• Relocation Center Reports First Murder, Suicide, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Manzanar reported its first murder and suicide when Fred Tetsuzo Okasaki allegedly strangled his wife and then stabbed himself. Two daughters survive.
• Officials in Dither as Nisei Soldier Visits California Home, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Private Roy Suyetomo, a Nisei soldier stationed in Wyoming, was located by police while visiting a former teacher in Oakland despite a military exclusion order. He was returned to his post, and he said he had enjoyed the visit.
• Evacuee Workers’ Rights Upheld by Montana Official, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Montana liquor control enforcement officer J. S. Benjamin announced that Japanese evacuees working in sugar beet fields cannot be denied the right to purchase liquor.
• Evacuees Cheer U.S. Troops at Railroad Station in El Paso, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A train carrying over 600 evacuees to Arkansas met a troop train at El Paso Union Station, and the two groups exchanged cheers. An army captain said the evacuees appeared loyal and would be useful in defense work.
• Minidoka Center Begins Irrigation Project to Reclaim Desert Land, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Colonists at Minidoka dug a five-mile irrigation ditch by hand, bringing the first water to the center area. The project aims to stop dust storms and eventually irrigate 17,000 acres of desert.
• From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa describes the hard work of sugar beet harvesting by evacuee volunteers and reports that farmers are learning Nisei are honest and industrious. He notes that the volunteers are also learning about the country.
• Topaz Pioneers Reflect on First Days of New Community, by Teiko Ishida, page 6. Teiko Ishida describes visiting the newly opened Topaz center, noting its welcoming induction process and incomplete facilities. She observes harsh dust and cold but hopes the community will become one of the best WRA communities.
• Salt Lake Japanese Serve Hot Meal to Beet Workers, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Salt Lake City Japanese Buddhist and Christian church women prepared a dinner for 146 Manzanar beet workers passing through en route to Idaho. Expenses were borne by the Utah and Idaho Sugar Company.

Incarceration & Redress

• Military Necessity Challenged in Test Case on Evacuation, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Ernest Wakayama and his wife challenged the government’s claim that military necessity justified mass evacuation in an amended habeas corpus petition in Los Angeles. The petition argues the claims lack factual or legal support and that loyal citizens could be identified through hearings.
• Fresno Center to Be Moved to Jerome Project in Arkansas, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Army announced transfer orders moving more than 8,000 evacuees from Fresno, Santa Anita, and San Francisco area assembly centers to inland relocation centers in Utah and Arkansas. The Jerome center in Arkansas will receive its first residents.
• Alien Japanese Sentenced to Year on Bribery Charge, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Fuji Yoshida, a former Seattle resident, was sentenced to a year in county jail after pleading guilty to attempting to bribe an immigration officer. She had offered money to arrange the release of a former business partner.
• Army Orders New Movement to Arkansas, Stockton Residents, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Army ordered transfer of about 4,000 Stockton Assembly Center residents to the Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas, beginning October 3. The move will proceed at about 600 persons on alternate days.
• Four Evacuees Return for Court Case in Seattle, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Four Japanese Americans were returned to Seattle from inland centers on writs of habeas corpus to testify or stand trial in federal court. Two defendants were retried on charges of conspiracy to violate an embargo on shipments to Japan.
• Iki Sentenced to Nine Years in Seattle Case, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Kenji Iki, an official of the United Ocean Transport Company, pleaded guilty to failing to list foreign properties and bonds and received nine years and a $5,000 fine. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
• Hirabayashi Case Will Be Heard Soon in Seattle Court, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Judge Lloyd Black set October 20 as the trial date for Gordon Hirabayashi, a University of Washington student accused of refusing to obey evacuation orders. Hirabayashi argues the orders deny citizens their civil liberties.
• Youth to Serve Six Months, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Patrick Brennan Kawasaki, a 21-year-old of Irish and Japanese ancestry, was sentenced to six months in county jail for failing to obey evacuation orders. He said he was willing to join his parents at the relocation center.

Commentary

• Evacuees Moving to Relocation Homes, by Saburo Kido, page 2. Kido discusses the coming self-government in relocation centers and stresses that residents must uphold law and order to earn greater autonomy. He argues that each center should be judged on its own record rather than penalized collectively.
• Labor’s Attitudes, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial praises labor’s defense of minority rights while condemning a Utah AFL resolution requiring Japanese restaurants to post race notices as Nazi-style discrimination. It quotes a Seattle union leader rejecting racial treatment of Japanese Americans.
• Poll-Tax and Democracy, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial celebrates the 218 House signatures forcing a vote on the Geyer anti-poll tax bill. It argues that defeating racial disenfranchisement strengthens rights for all minorities.
• Not Hostages, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial rejects revenge against Japanese Americans for Japan’s mistreatment of American prisoners. It urges making conditions tolerable in the camps to preserve the loyalty of American-born citizens.
• Nisei Views, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Tajiri argues that the press has shaped unfavorable public opinion about Japanese Americans and that headlines distort facts such as labor’s rejected resolution. He criticizes papers for using terms like concentration camp and internee.
• Evacuees Eager to Aid in Farm Labor Shortage, by Larry Tajiri, page 5. The editorial argues that furlough workers who left Manzanar for beet fields show a determination to support the war effort despite bitterness over evacuation. It urges workers to show responsibility so that Japanese Americans can resettle permanently.
• Design for Center Living: Suggestions for a Family of Four in a Wartime Relocation Center Apartment, by Ann Nisei, page 5. Ann Nisei offers layout and furniture suggestions for dividing a 16-by-24-foot barrack room into living, sleeping, and work areas. The design uses chests, bunks, and muslin partitions to create efficient zones.
• The Lancer, by Tad Uyeno, page 5. Uyeno reports that Lancer colonists who worked on farms have been asked by farmers to show responsibility, and urges them to keep informed. He encourages readers to remain engaged with national affairs.
• Little Esteban Is Against the Poll-Tax, by Kenny Murase, page 7. In this short fiction-style column, Little Esteban urges the narrator to take an active interest in national democratic issues like the Geyer anti-poll tax bill. He argues that Japanese Americans should help secure voting rights for Negroes to prove democracy’s value.

JACL

• Overall Organization Planned at New York Meeting to Carry Forward Evacuee Resettlement, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Religious and civic groups met in New York to plan an administrative organization to coordinate permanent resettlement of Japanese evacuees, working with the War Relocation Authority. JACL’s Mike Masaoka attended and supported the effort.
• National JACL Creates Associated Members Division to Recruit Memberships from Nisei Residing Outside Chapter Jurisdiction, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The National JACL created an Associated Members division to recruit Nisei living outside chapter areas, with George Inagaki as director. Dues are set at $3.50 annually, including a Pacific Citizen subscription.

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