University of Washington Daily - Selected Articles
'Can't Believe It's True -- Japanese Students
'We Will Not Shirk Our Duty,' Nipponese Agree
By DICK TAKEUCHI
"We hoped at first that it was German raiders. It's still unbelievable."
Such was the first reaction of American-born Japanese University students who sat huddled around the radio in their clubhouse last night, and utterly bewildered, tried to imagine that the country of their ancestors had actually attacked the United States.
Representative of more than 400 Japanese students enrolled here at the University, the students at the Japanese clubhouse reaffirmed their loyalty to the United States as American citizens.
"It's taken me by surprise -- knocked me off my feet. But as citizens of this country, our duty is clear and none of use will shirk it," Tom Kanno, vice-president of the club, declared, speaking for other members of the organization.
The Japanese students could see no logical reason for the unprecedented attack on Hawaii by Nippon planes and warships.
One student, Dick Okada, whose home and family are in Honolulu, was visibly shocked and bewildered. He seemed unable to comprehend that warships of his parents' country were shelling their nations.
"Early radio reports have said that Japanese aliens in Hawaii may have aided the offshore forces. That may be true, but of my friends who are American citizens, I do not believe it possible," Okada, who registered at the University last winter, declared.
Among students questioned was Yutaka Semba, senior in economics and business, who is scheduled to be drafted in January.
Speechless
"I'm speechless," was all he had to say.
His friends pointed out that he may be fighting against people of his own race.
Most of the students were afraid that the excitement and suspense of the events might lead to racial outbreaks against Japanese in general.
Harold Inatomi, student from Los Angeles, was one of the students who had hoped that first reports were false, that the warships and planes were German and not Japanese.
As reports filtered through the loudspeaker that Japanese in the area were being rounded up or closely watched he declared that there was "absolutely no danger" from Japanese in his home town from saboteurs.
Not Held Possible
The outbreak of war between the United States and Japan was not held possible because of the great distances involved, students explained.
As war, or undeclared war became a reality, the shock to these students was reflected and magnified in their parents, most of whom are Japanese citizens.
That their parents may be confined in a concentration camp while they faced discrimination and suspicion was held not impossible by many of the students.
Confused by Reports
An American-born teaching fellow in the far eastern department, Nobutaka Ike, was also confused by the radio reports of the bombing and shelling of the United States' Pacific outpost.
"I though it was a recurrence of Orson Welles imaginative invasion from Mars and couldn't believe it was true," Ike said.
After the initial shock had worn off, the Japanese students generally agreed that they could face whatever the future would hold for them as American citizens with an "Oriental mask."
Our immediate concern, however, is about the final exams," one student wryly asserted.
Without Hate and Without Fear....
The sun that went down in the Western sky was red last night. It was the red red of mankind's blood. Certainly it was a meaningless thing, but farther west, thousands of miles beyond the seemingly peaceful horizon, Americans were dying in our first day of, this, our World War II.
Gone are the doubts of Americans. No longer can we say "this is not our war."
Even Burton K. Wheeler,leader of the reluctant isolationists, said yesterday the only thing for us to do is to lick hell out of the Japanese. By the time this is in the hands of readers, Congress will be preparing to clear the way for that by declaring war.
And from today on, the world will find that we are note the weaklings they thought, that they mistook our reluctance for war as weakness when it was in reality a praiseworthy disgust for the idiocy of war. Now it is forced uppon us by droppings of the eagles of the land of the rising sun, and our only answer can be to drain their blood into the sewers of mankind.
We go to war with a laugh on our lips and no fear in our hearts, only a feeling of sublime sorrow that mankind is so foolish. We go to war not with hate in our hearts, but rather with love for our stytle of doing things.
We go to war with full realization of the hell before us, and acknowledgement of our own guilt in the world flare-up, but with the firm conviction that we are united at last, that victory lies before us, and our sacrifices are not in vain. Say this is the enthusiasm of youth if you will, but deny us not that enthusiasm is a powerful thing. Deny us not that America, united in purpose as Japan has made u, can be made into the world's most powerful military nation.
* * *
Japan has always been an opportunist. For a decade she has played up for everything she could get. Finally we refused to and she opened her amazing attack and now makes the Near East the latest holocaust of bloodshed. She asked for disaster and she shall have it.
We say this with no ill-will toward the Japanese, for we realize there is little difference in the people of different nations. Lost, however, in the grip of the militarists, and forced by their particular path in world affairs, they have made the mistaken move Mussolini made before the tragic fall of France. Only while Mussolini continues as Hitler's satellite, the land of the rising sun will fall. Her sun will drop in the Eastern sky just as the real sun fell tonight in the Western sky--blood red.
For Japan cannot face the naval might of the ABCD powers inthe Pacific, and its cities are the most vulnerable in the world for incendiary bombs. Their cities will burn and corpses will lie in the streets.
We shudder with regret, but we are at war.
But when it is over, whether we are successful or not, let it not be said as it can said of students in the last war, that they were inflamed by the emotionalism of the mob and thereby diseased with intolerance. Let is (sic) not be said that we were too small of mind to respect the rights of man and the unfortunate Japanese-Americans among us.
--Bill Duncan
Two Campus Groups Ask 'Tolerance'
Yesterday as Japanese war planes soared over American territory, two campus organizations came out with resolutions asking "sympathy and understanding" for American-born Japanese.
Expressing confidence in the loyalty and support of "Americans of Japanese ancestry," a resolution was drafted Sunday night at a meeting of the Roger Williams club, campus Baptist organization, and a copy sent to Japanese students' clubs.
YWCA Applauds Policy
A second note, sent to The Daily from the University YWCA, commented Editor Bill Duncan on the "attitude expressed in your editorial regarding Japanese-American students."
"We feel," the note continued "that sympathy and understanding for Japanese-American students are extremely important at this time. By demonstrating our confidence in them we may give them strength to face this situation."
Discourages Discrimination
The Roger Williams club resolution stated that the religious group "discourage all discrimination of American-born Japanese in our midst and sought to reveal the true American spirit."
"We hope this resolution may lead to similar expressions of friendship by other groups on the campus. It came as the result of a discussion of the position which we, as a Christian student organization, should take in our future relations with fellow students of Japanese descent," Katherine E. Ross, secretary of the club, said yesterday.
Reasons for Resolution States
The resolution said in part:
"Inasmuch as a state of war exists between the United States and Japan:
"and since war produces tension and suspicion of all within a country who are of the race or nation at war:
"and since there are many Americans of Japanese ancestry who are loyal to the United States as evidenced by their character and conduct:
"be it resolved that we, the Roger Williams club of the University of Washington, express to our friends, the Americans of Japanese ancestry, our confidence in their loyalty and support of the government."
Japanese Students' club Discusses War Problems
More than two hundred Japanese students of American birth met with Robert O'Brien, assistant dean of arts and sciences and advisor of the Japanese Students' club, in Home Economics hall last Friday to discuss pertinent problems brought up by the war with Japan.
University officials distributed to the students a folder from the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco giving information regarding the amount of money Japanese nationals may withdraw from savings accounts for living expenses.
Prof. Jesse Steiner of sociology explained to the students the special regulations in force applying to the Japanese in this country and predicted the trends these restrictions could be expected to follow. His talk was followed by a student discussion of the problem, with Kiyoshi Kamikawa, president of the campus Japanese coeds' organization, acting as chairman.
Dean O'Brien announced yesterday that the University had assisted nearly fifty Japanese students in securing their American birth certificates from cities throughout the West.
"Representatives of the University are working in close cooperation with downtown churches and the Seattle Defense Fund to help solve the problems of the American-born Japanese students and their parents," he said.
Americans All....
A plea for tolerance and 100 per cent Americanism catches our eye in the Philippines News Letter, a weekly Filipino paper published in Seattle.
It's no ordinary plea. Bill Hosokawa, a Japanese-American and a former University journalism student, wrote it for the columns of Julius Ruiz, editor of the News Letter, and himself a former journalist at the University with Hosokawa.
Hosokawa pleads for common sense; asks Japanese and Filipinos to forget their nationalities and become Americans. It's nice to be able to realize that here in America representatives of warring kinfolk can speak their thoughts without fear of retaliation.
We fought our war of independence for tolerance.
We are fighting for the same principles now. Let's preserve them at home
--Bill Edmundson * * *
A war that has struck close to the hearts of all of us rages today in the Far East. It was brought on by the ruthless power-lust of a group of Nazi-minded militarists who have in their rise to dominance crushed the civil rights of their own countrymen in the same way that they are blasting the accomplishments and hopes of other peace-loving people.
This is a war that must be fought to the finish if the liberal principles we all cherish are to survive. Only a united America can accomplish this purpose.
There is no place here today for petty grievances or short-sightedness. We are, regardless of race, color or backgrounds, all Americans.
Let us speak bluntly.
In some sections of the country, California particularly, there have been senseless bloody crashes between Filipinos and Japanese. The bitterness that provoked these attacks is understandable. Sometimes it is more than a man can stand to read of brutal attack on his homeland, to realize that his loved ones are endangered, perhaps victims of an invader.
But it is only madness to seek revenge on innocent individuals many thousands of miles away from the battlefields. Such hysteria is aid indeed for the very Nazis we are fighting.
The Japanese residing in the United States had nothing whatever to say about official Japanese policy. The majority are American citizens by birth, education and preference, motivated in the defense of this country by the same patriotism that moves every loyal American. The non-citizens among them are aliens, not by choice but because of American law which denies them citizenship. Most of them have spent two-thirds of their lives here.
The Japanese in this country first came here because they wanted to better themselves, and they stayed because the loved the American way of life. This is true of most immigrant groups.
Filipinos, Chinese, Japanese, even Caucasians--Americans of whatever racial extraction--must realize that we are all in the same boat now. We are fighting for the same ideals and principles, and to defend them against a common foe. Our backgrounds must be made secondary to the urgent present, and that urgency demands a bold, impregnable unity.
All of us have much to gain by victory in this war.
First, the United States will triumph.
Second, our positions on the American scene can be made more secure.
It is no secret that Filipinos as well as Japanese have had some difficult times in American economic life. Our conduct during these trying times will determine how much social advancement we will have made when the world gets back to normal.
All of us have a big stake in the future. This is the time to work with sympathy and understanding. Common sense now will pay big dividends. There is not one among us who will not become a better American by using a little more of it.
--Bill Hosokawa
Behind the Headlines
Today's column was written by a University of Washington student who left Germany for London in 1939 and who has been in the United States 18 months.
by RALPH FREEDMAN
War is a hazardous business. There are all kind of wars. Wars for small things, and wars for great ideals. Right now, we are fighting a war to the finish -- not for lofty ideals but for our very existence. We are all sitting on the same bandwagon. You may call it a monstrous tank charging ahead. All the allied nations cluster around it, and though one may disagree with the other on various points, they need each other and it is a good thing, this tank-bandwagon.
In the beginning there was only England and Frace. Then France dropped off the bandwagon and somersaulted behind the remnants of her Maginot line. She was subdued and (word illegible - disabled? divided?). Soon many others took her place. The Czechs and the Poles, the Norwegians and the Dutch. Now Uncle Sam has mounted the wagon and is doing his part.
The bandwagon did not start up in 1939. It has been rolling through Central Europe for quite a while. Its first seats were taken by those refugees who later sought the sanctuary of the United States to find peace and rest from Nazi persecution. They came because of their deep hatred of Hitler and all he stands for.
I Am One
I am one of these people. I fled Germany, barely escaping Nazi imprisonment. I sought the freedom of England, but when France fell in 1940, I was classified as an Enemy Alien. I was considered an enemy of England though I probably hated Nazism more violently than any man on the London streets. When I crossed the border from Quebec to Maine, I saw the Stars and Stripes fluttering from a high building. I was free again.
When war was declared on December 7th, 1941, I tried to enlist with many other Americans. I was not accepted. Later I was required to register as an enemy alien. I thought of days gone by in England but I have never vowed allegience to England. I never confirmed by oath my desire to become a British citizen.
A pending government decree would oust all enemy aliens from the vital Puget Sound area. Since I and many hundreds with me are registered as "enemy aliens," we will also be affected.
We are not so much concerned with the inconvenience which this act would involve, as with the disillusiionment and deep disappointment it wrings.
Our Right to Fight
America invented the Statue of Liberty. This symbol we are called to defend. The oppressed people and peoples of Europe came here to find their haven of peace. The Irish, and the Scotch-Irish, and the Scotch, and the Poles, and the Slavs, and the Austro-Hungarians.
We have the misfortune of turning up rather late in the history of this country. We have the misfortune of speaking as a mother-tongue the language of Hitler and his Gestapo. I did not select my language before my birth, nor did any of those who share my fate.
Americans remember Pearl Harbor. We also remember thousands of our unfortunate brothers and sisters who were dumped into freight-cars and transported to the disease-infested ghettos of Poland. We who suffered Hitler's tyranny have as much right to fight him as any other member of the oppressed nations.
We do not whine and cry for mercy. We do not want to be endured for mercy's sake. We want to play an active part in the defense of this country which we love with the deep fervency of the stray wanderer who has finally reached his port.
Hate Hitler, Too
This week, I passed my physical examination for the United States army. Does that mean I may fight for this country while my parents are being labeled as "enemy aliens"?
To be called an "enemy" of this democracy is equal to being called a Nazi. We most indignantly object to being called Nazis. If Hitler or his Japanese henchmen were to arrive at these shores we would be the first to suffer under their heels. France is a vivid example.
If this area were to be evacuated for reasons of national defense, I doubt if any of us would waver a second to take part in such a general program. But we do feel that a grave injustice would be done to us, if we were forced out of this area because of our alleged danger to the security of this country.
And what will await us further inland? How will they receive us east of the mountains, we who were evacuated because we were supposedly hostile to this country's war effort? We have a long path of wendering behind us.
We watched the growth of Hitler and we know his strength and his weakness. Above all we know his viciousness, and we hate him, his stystem and his people who applaud him wholeheartedly.
Americans, we were on the bandwagon before you. Now that you have joined us, don't throw us overboard.
Picking a Bone
With Ed Davis
Ed. Note: In last Friday's "Behind the Headlines," Ralph Freeman, a German refugee student here, expressed his views on the removal of enemy aliens from the vital Puget Sound area. Today, Ed Davis, graduated student in journalism, takes it upon himself to answer Mr. Freedman.
When measles breaks out in a house everyone in the house is quarantined. Those unaffected by the disease are made to suffer confinement along with the sick. This regulation is enforced to protect the health of the community. No one denies the necessity for such a regulation.
Yet, with the nation at war -- fighting for its very life -- there are those who fail to see that the innocent must suffer with the guilty -- that everyone who might possibly help the Axis must endure confinement along with those who have been known to help the Axis.
A safeguard necessary to save a nation from the possibility of defeat is certainly more important than a measure to preserve the health of a community.
There Are Other Aliens
No one doubts that there are many aliens who have fled here from Germany hating the Nazis and their soulessness -- vowing to do everything within their power to some day crush that regime that crushed their friends. No one doubts that there are Japanese aliens who would like to help the United States seek revenge for Pearl Harbor.
But there are other aliens -- France found it out; Singapore discovered it -- who have been sent by their masters to terrorize from within while their compatriots attack from the outside.
These aliens, too, declare their love for the United States and cry out for the opportunity to serve against the nation from where they came. They are here as refugees; like cultures (sic) they await their opportunity to lunge at our belly while we dazedly ward off thrusts at our throat.
Betrayed Their Trust
There is no possible way of determining which refugees will hold to us and which will support our enemies. France confined many of her more obvious ememies among the refugees which poured in during the days before the Nazi invasion. But others were trusted and betrayed their trust. We in this country cannot afford to take the same chance France took. Were we twice as far from Germany and from Japan we still could not afford to take that chance.
A few days ago the chief of the far flung Sino-Korean espionage organization, a group of 1500 agents working for the Allies, delcared he had secret Japanese papers which reveal Japanese plans to launch a simultaneous attack on Hawaii, Alaska, Janama, (sic) and the U.S. Pacific coast next April.
Must Understand Situation
It is impossible to know whether these plans are real or whether they are intended to veil other Axis plans. But a nation at war must always assume that the worst will happen and must take precautions to stave off this worst possibility.
Those aliens who are genuinely fond of the United States and for its ideals will understand the situation we face and will willingly sacrifice their own freedom in order that the life of this nation they love may not be imperiled. They will realize that the continuing survival of the United States is of far greater importance than the freedom of action of a minority, no matter how innocent members of that minority may be.
To the Mothers...
Tucked away in small corners of our daily newspapers one finds news items which indicate that the American people are losing their concept of tolerance.
Tolerance is a funny word. It implies forbearance of views and opinions differing from one's own. During wartime it is a difficult yet necessary task to draw a thin line of distinction between one's own attitude and that of his neighbor.
There is a different feeling toward our enemies in this second World War; different from the feeling of Americans during the first War. Then were fighting the German people. Today most of us feel we are fighting the fascist form of government, not the people who make up the aggressor-nations.
Yet there are indications that that old feeling of hatred is once more abroad in our nation. Perhaps it is because we are now at war with a people of a different race; an Oriental race.
The government's decision to remove all enemy aliens away from vital areas on the Pacific Coast cannot be construed as intolerance. Rather it was made in the interests of defense.
Intolerance is beginning to show itself where American citizens of foreign extraction are concerned. Walter Winchell has been one of the worst offenders. Columnist Henry McLemore started more of it a couple of weeks ago when he declared all Japanese should be sent to the interior--regardless of citizenship.
Los Angeles had a taste of intolerance Tuesday when an ordinance was introduced to prohibit the speaking of Japanese, German and Italian languages in public places. The measure was defeated, but the county supervisor made a blunt remark about this proposal. "While I am in full sympathy with the objective, I am sure this ordinance would be unconstitutional." Luckily we still have free speech in America.
Seattle itself had not been particularly bothered with problems of tolerance until an occurrence Tuesday morning. A delegation of mothers in the Gatewood school district demonstrated vigorously against the employment of 20 Japanese office girls in the Seattle Public schools.
The Seattle PTA had previously protested against the same situation of two separate occasions. These mothers are certainly not showing the foresight necessary to bring up an enlightened generation of young Americans.
The office girls are all American-born, and have the same rights as other American citizens, regardless of creed or color. One of the reasons we are fighting Hitler is because of his persecution of all peoples not strictly German.
These "American" mothers may not realize the fact, but Japanese citizens have to earn a living along with the rest of us. The meager $45 a month that each of the girls receive is little enough in these days of high living costs. One reason they were hired is because it is difficult to find capable white help at that wage.
Two of the girls in question showed more down-to-earth common sense that the whole bunch of mothers put together. Both said that if their fellow citizens thought their continued employment would menace the welfare of the country, they would comply willing, as good citizens should.
Venting our hate on fellow American citizens will get us nowhere in this war.
--Bill Edmundson [Note: on February 27, Bill Edmundson appended a couple of paragraphs dealing with the Gatewood mothers to an editorial dealing with physical education.] The Gatewood incident on Tuesday last is causing some controversy on campus. A group of students have announced their intention of circulating a counter-petition asking for the reinstatement of the 23 Japanese girls who resigned voluntarily when the mothers protested so vigorously.
It's a strange commentary on modern life when we are expected to go to war to protect womenfolk who do not protect our American ideals on the home front.
The name attached to the Gatewood mothers may not be too fragrant, but it has its points.
Behind the Headlines
War and the PTA
The patriotic gesture made by some of the ladies of the Gatewood School PTA deserves some notice. This noble group of nice ladies have gotten up a petition to discharge all the Japanese girls working for the school board.
This move would throw out of work what the school's principal says are "loyal citizens and capable workers." They would not be able to get work in times like these. The school board would have a hard time getting replacements at the low wages paid.
All this would not make the ladies sad at all. It is what the Japanese deserve for coming from a race which is at war with the United States.
I feel that we should show our appreciation to these ladies for their wide awake attitude and fearless statement of policy. I propose that we take up a collection for a long vacation so that they may rest after their strenuous patriotic activity. A vacation, say, to Germany where they would be appreciated.
Safety Valve
to the Editor and to University Women:
Several years ago a frightened young mother rushed into a doctor's office with her baby son. The baby had bitten a Christmas tree ornament. As the doctor examined the baby's mouth, he asked the mother why she had not brought the baby in for the regular check-up after she had left the hospital. Most confidently she answered that her baby was perfectly healthy, "hardly ever cried" and she felt it wasn't necessary. What followed was not to be soon forgotten by the mother or me. As he carefully examined the baby's cut mouth, the doctor calmly said, "Mrs. Smith your baby is tongue-tied." In that moment that woman's attitude changed from flouting self-confidence to pitiful horror and humility.
No matter in what respect, is it not a good loving mother who recognizes the weakness of her child and attempts to correct it? Is it not a selfish weak mother who refuses to admit that her child is not perfect? Similarly, it is a good devoted citizen who recognizes the weakness of his fellow citizens, and most important attempts to correct them. I did not say "the weakness of his country" because a country is only as good as its people.
Is it far removed to suggest that perhaps only the pitiful horror which brought wisdom in the mother will bring to many of us the realization that we have not proven ourselves worth of the name "American." Many of us are betraying our fellow Americans. In our midst not only men and boys, but mothers and children are being treated as outcasts.
Many sons are dying today, many died yesterday and more shall die tomorrow for a principle--the right to happiness. Hearts were made bitter when tales of the persecution of the Jews were told. The connotations of the word "Nazi" became hateful for the represented injustice, cruelty and insanity.
Here in Seattle we have demonstrations which are sadly like those cruelties inflicted upon the Jewish German citizens by their fellow citizens--the Nazis. Yes, here in our own city we have American Nazis who willfully are unjust, and inhumane to their fellow Americans. Yes, these American Nazis are even mothers and they are the breeders of hate in small children, and from these, monsters like Hitler shall be born.
To those who are being discriminated against--perhaps it is well to say on Man who exemplified the true American way said of His persecutors, "Forgive them Father, they know not what they do." Could we but be of His greatness and forgive them; we can but pity them.
Sincerely,
Olive Moe. Sr. Pre-Med
To the Editor:
Thursday's editorial spoke for many of us who believe that tolerance does not mean weakness and that hysterical hatred does not mean strength or patriotism. I suppose it's futile to point out to these "patriotic" mothers that by their vicious attack on citizens they are creating that division and disunity which everyone condemns in time of war. In fact, I expect any day now to see some pictures in which the same "patriots" are carrying placards for "National Unity."
Sincerely,
Paul Moritz
To the Editor:
Your editorial "To the Mothers" is so expressive of your callow understanding and grasp of the present grim situation of Americans today. If you fully understood you would be somewhere in uniform instead of pushing an idle pen. This is not meant as a reflection of our patriotism or your Americanism, but to suggest you devote more time to study world conditions and what led up to the present conflict.
If you had read James R. Young's "Behind the Rising Sun" to acquaint yourself with the treatment of foreigners in Japan the past 13 years, you would be less apt to criticize the intelligent act of these mothers whose concern for the safety of their children, in event of an air raid, was perfectly normal. Do not confuse sensible precautionary defense with intolerance.
How dare you compare American treatment of our Japanese citizens and aliens with conditions in Nazi Germany or militaristic-controlled Japan! Do you mean to convey the impression that Americans are unjust to our Japanese or anyone else fortunate enough to be living in the United States?
Most respectfully,
Mrs. Arthur E. Bangs.
U. Students Urge Nisei Be Retained
Two University students and two faculty members appeared yesterday before the Tolan congressional committee, which last night concluded its Seattle hearings on the problems of alien evacuation.
Floyd Schmoe, instructor in forestry, called as a representative of the American Friends Service Committee, urged that the evacuation be used only as a last resort, with methods of reallocating persons in occupations similar to those where they now work.
Prof. Jesse Steiner of sociology, an expert on Japanese social problems, asked that no discrimination be made between Japanese and other aliens in the evacuation. He also urged that American-born Japanese not be included in the evacuation orders.
The two students, Hildur Coon and Curtiss Aller, appeared before the committee at their own request and drew from spectators the only round of applause during the two-day hearings.
Both requested that Nisei students now at the University be excepted (sic) from any evacuation. They further pointed out these students would be able to help Americanize their parents and would be useful in peace work following the war if they receive complete American educations.
Safety Valve
To the Editor:
When first the action of the Gatewood mothers was mentioned it impressed me as the result of group war hysteria and that sensible, modern mothers would soon realize the folly of their ways. But not so Mrs. Bangs. Had The Daily shown less taste and restraint it might have captioned her letter, "Mrs. Bangs Pops Off."
In the battle of production labor is hard to find. If Japanese, American-born or alien, are not to be allowed to work, employees from vital war industries must fill their place. Or perhaps the Gatewood mothers plan to personally provide 27 clerks for the school board.
Had these "American" mothers been such genuinely indignant Americans they might have become alarmed at these girls' $45 monthly salary. Or, have we a standard of living worth fighting for?
--Kenneth Prestrud
To Mrs. Arthur E. Bangs:
"How dare you..." Yes! How dare you call what the Gatewood mothers have done to our Japanese citizens American treatment. I have my doubts that the editor meant to "... convey the impression that Americans are unjust to our Japanese... fortunate enough to be living in the United States."
Those Japanese girls were as much, if not more, American citizens as the mothers who so unjustly asked them to resign. Just because you have read one book and gathered that foreigners were treated unjustly in Japan gives you no right to believe that those Japanese girls who have been brought up to love the American ways have any sympathy for this unjust treatment. Besides you seem to believe in the old Babylonian code of "An eye for any eye, and a tooth for a tooth." How can you believe this which is diametrically opposed to what American stands for?
How dare you confuse this intolerance with "... sensible precautionary defense..." Actually you are advocating a tendency toward hatred and confusion. Psychologists will agree that inactive people are more dangerous than active people. Therefore, our argument for the safety of the school children is not based on intelligent thinking.
Maybe you had better go to the University to learn a little more about world conditions and what led up to the present conflict. You might learn something that you never knew before. Knowing this litter will bring little light to our biased mind, but hoping it will set you thinking.
--I am, respectfully,
Harland Hausske
To the Editor:
I read in Thursday's Daily your column, Behind the Headlines by Russ Bradley.
His humanitarian effort is highly commendable. He feels extremely sorry for the poor Japanese girls who lost their jobs with the city schools. But in defending the "defenseless Japs" our honorable Mr. Bradley forgot his own brothers and sisters. Thousands of American citizens whose fate depends on proper protection of our country.
What would our great humanitarian, Mr. Bradley, say had he seen his fellow schoolmates and neighbors oppressed by the Japs? Innocent people tortured and killed by the thousands? I have seen Chinese and I have friends now who groan under the Sandal-wood heel of the Nipponese who previously were nothing but law abiding "LOYAL" citizens.
This is WAR, Mr. Bradley; we must crush both the enemy on the outside and the potential enemy on the inside.
--Oleg H. Kor
My Dear Mr. Kor:
Your letter certainly alarmed me. I phoned immediately to see what the Japanese-American girls had done to my little brothers and sisters. But the little tykes were all rights, so I settled down to write to you.
Look chum, what conceivable good is it going to do to persecute loyal American citizens because their ancestors were born in a country with which we are at war? What do you think they are going to do, burn down the schoolhouse?
Other Safety Valve letters on this page answer well enough your letter so I will stop before I libel somebody.
You spelled my name wrong too. That hurt.
--Russ Braley
Campus Japanese Face Evacuation
When the news came last night that all Japanese, American born and aliens alike, will eventually be evacuated from the Pacific coast area, nearly 200 Japanese students of the University of Washington began to make preparations to leave.
Future orders will be issued that will oust all Japanese and German and Italian aliens from the coastal strip that includes the western half of Washington. The proclamation, issued by General John L. DeWitt, commander of the fourth army, is the drastic answer to the frequent public demands for eviction of all Japanese - citizens and aliens alike - from vital defense areas.
Students Must Leave
The only organized Japanese house on the campus, the Japanese Students' Club, began to plan disposal of their clubhouse at 4115 Fifteenth avenue northeast. The Japanese Student club houses 28 Japanese students with 60 commuting Japanese students lunching there.
Abe Hagiwara, house manager, said the group hopes to lease the house to some group of students on an international plan. Then if a few members are able to return they can live at the house.
Faculty Affected
A sorority approached Japanese club officers last night to try to lease the three story building.
Four Japanese members of the University faculty will be affected by the evacuation order. They are Prof. Henry Tatsumi and Instructor John Maki of the far east department, Frank Miyamoto, sociology instructor, and Masako Takayoshi, instructor in nursing education.
Five teaching fellows, Nobutaka Ike, George Sawada, Tashio Inatomi, Shihiro and Martha Okuda will be evicted under the order. Four laboratory assistants and four Japanese students in clerical positions will go.
Ready to Go
"Don't feel sorry for us," one Japanese student said, "We have expected this for some time and are taking the whole thing calmly."
Commenting on the proclamation last night President Lee Paul Sieg said, "The University of course will comply with all orders issued by the army. I have not received any special instructions.
March 4, 1942 (Microfilm of article partially illegible)
Over the Coals
Seattle, Wash....
The movement here to ship aliens to an inland internment camp has surged into a wave that threatens to include American citizens of Japanese ancestry as well.
Proponents of the plan to move Japanese-Americans inland are apparently steadfast believers and rejuvenators of the theory of heredity.
"Once a Jap, always a Jap," they shout.
We have always been taught that man is a product of his environment. And that as the Japanese Americans have been brought up in the same world, gone to the same schools as we have, they could not be much different persons from what we are.
But then we listen to the brilliant remarks of our wised leaders and we find we are quite wrong. (word illegible) the classic statement of Major Millikin's: "That's their (word illegible) hard luck."
Bad luck? To have been with yellow skin and freedom-loving (word illegible) Or to have leaders like him. Which is our hard luck as (word illegible)
These people you condemn gentlemen are human beings -- individual citizens who work and dream as you and I. They are not cattle. And they are not to be herded as cattle. They are humans. Citizens. They speak our tongue. They worship our way of life. They are us. Hurt them and you destroy us. If segregation of our citizenry by racial groups persists, democracy is doomed. How can an utopian democracy thrive tomorrow when inter-racial hate is fostered today? That hate will not be erased. Caucasian and Mongolian and Negroid in battle with one another. The result will be complete self-annihilation.
Our business groups consider their business will improve when Japanese alien and American competition is removed. Anything for money, eh gentlemen?
And the American Legion (word illegible) its strong arm pressure (word illegible) with gusto. Anything to be able to wave a flag. Right? But gentlemen remember human values. Remember what you are doing to our conception of civilization.
Trod on the black citizen, trod on the yellow citizen. Make your money, wave your flag. But remember what you are doing. You will repent one day.
Safety Valve
To the Editor:
While I feel that the action of the Gatewood mothers was wrong and that they are carrying this thing much too far, we must consider the other side too. I know the backgrounds of both Harland Hausske and Oleg Kor, whose letters were published in Tuesday's Daily. Both have lived in the Orient and both know what they are talking about. And both make good points!
While we must practice tolerance, one of the first principles of this country, we must protect America, too. Undoubtedly there are a few Japanese--alien or citizen--who would sell America "up the river" as a few did in the countries conquered so far by the Axis. In order to protect our country, we must guard against these few. Since we cannot be sure which would and which would not be loyal, unfortunately, the loyal must suffer because of the few who are not loyal.
It's like the old rhyme:
"The rain it falls
Upon the just and unjust head
But mostly on the just, because
The Unjust steals the just's umbrella."
This is war. America must be the rain. Let it be gentle, but thorough, rain.
Respectfully
--Marjorie Knapp
A Guest Editorial...
If evacuation is a must in an unimpeded war-effort set-up, I don't see how anyone with the awareness of what we are fighting for can be against it. Considering the sudden uprooting and backstraining that are certainly in store for the evacuees, their responsibilities will demand of them a toughness of fibre tempered only by a long view of the deal allotted them. This is how the evacuee will feel if he sees our war effort as one to preserve what the Axis nations have been systematically breaking down: racial and religious tolerance, territorial integrity, freedom of speech, press and radio, labor's right to organize, etc.
But the evacuee has rights. What he demands of those who remain is that his evacuation will serve the purpose intended. Some of the clamor for a mass exodus comes from those who hope to gain from the evacuees' losses. Others are impelled by racial reasons. This business-and-prejudice-as-usual set-up has no place in our war effort.
Discriminate evacuation, difficult at anytime, seems hardly possible today. But at the least, keep it in your mind: the old world refugee is here not for the love of Hitler; some of them have fought this battle as far back as Spain when some of the fine and current "patriots" went beyond words to aid Hitler's Spanish yes-man, Franco; and there are among us those who for years knew who were turning deaf ears to demands that the flow of scrap iron to Japan be stopped.
But the time for reproach and settling scores went with the first weeks of Dec. 7. All out for defense is the order of the day. Whether their family trees reach back to Benedict Arnold or to the Tokugawas, fifth columnists must be weeded out. Citizens who put defense second after their pocketbooks or their political ends should be handed a jolt. That they are in Congress from Texas should not mean immunity. They line up for defense or else ...
The evacuee leaves hoping that something like this is in the minds of all.
--Daiki Miyagawa
March 6, 1942 - Excerpt from column
Behind the Headlines
There's a lot of talk goinb around about moving enemy aliens inland. Groups, social clubs, outraged individuals and community leaders are vociferously loud.
Who protested when the plans of some two million of our American word illegible were interrupted and drafted?
Who protested when the tire and automobile salesmen were force out of work? (Necessary, but who offered 'em jobs)?
Who protested weh industrial word illegible slowed and are slowing up word illegible defense production?
word illegible evidently, it's much more important to worry about moving several hundred aliens and disrupting their life. Great war spirit we got, isn't it?
Japanese Courses Listed Again Instructors May Escape Evacuation
Registration in Japanese language courses for spring quarter, cancelled last week, will be reopened today pending definite evacuation orders, Prof. F.D. Schultheis, acting head of the Far Eastern department, announced last night.
"All Japanese language instructors on the campus are American citizens of Japanese descent. To date, official army orders have not been issued requiring evacuation of American-born Japanese, therefore we decided to reopen registration on the possibility that classes can be given," Professor Schultheis said.
Know by Spring
He added that University officials will know definitely before spring quarter opens whether the instructors will be evacuated.
He suggested, however, that students be prepared to switch to some other course in case it becomes necessary to discontinue work in Japanese. Such a change in registration can be made without fee penalties.
"A surprisingly, large number of students - both men and women - have asked to be enrolled in the courses spring quarter," he said.
Exceptions Possible
To date the army has said nothing about possible exceptions to the evacuation orders, Professor Schultheis pointed out, but added that some might be possible for Japanese language instructors. Prof. Henry Tatsumi of Far East was born in the United States and is a World War veteran. His father was a Washington pioneer, settling in Seattle in the early 1880's. Nobutaka Ike and John Maki, the other two Japanese language instructors, were born in the United States. Ike's parents have been in this country more than forty years, and Ike has never visited Japan. Maki was...
Safety Valve
To my Japanese students: During the years I have been at this University I have had the pleasure of knowing many of you as my students and friends. In the months or years to come when you may be forced to sever your relations with the university and this region I hope that you will remember me as I shall remember you with feelings of loyalty and trust.
I have only one practical suggestion. As times goes on it might happen that you would wish some information on work you have done at the University, or you might just want to write a letter to your former professor. If you are ever in such a mood, please write to me. If I can answer your questions, I shall be happy to do so; if I can't answer them I can at least write you a bit of innocent gossip about conditions here.
And we can all hope that the ties of friendship and loyalty that have bound us together go deeper than the transitory forces that are now tearing us apart.
Sincerely,
Sophus Keith Winther
Department of English
SAFETY VALVE
To the Editor
A few weeks ago, General DeWitt announced the evacuation inland of certain classes of aliens and citizens as well. To many of those who are not affected by this order, it is easy to make such trite remarks as 'why worry about moving several hundred aliens and disrupting their lives?' as one Bob Twiss in Daily column said. Does he and others like him realize that it is not a mere hundred aliens who are affected by this order? Close to 200,000 are involved...of which 70 percent are citizens of the country...citizens who have know n no other country besides the United States and who have learned to love and cherish the high ideals of American democracy?
For the citizens who are so affected, this evacuation announcement has been a severe blow to all that we have been taught to love. It is unprecedented in the history of the United States that even notwithstanding wartime our rights as citizens have been temporarily suspended without the establishment of martial law. It is not so much over the great trouble of moving and resettling that we are so greatly concerned now as over the question of regaining our rights as citizens when this war is ended. We have faith in our government that it will still have faith in us to let us regain our rights as citizens, and that the resettlement will not result in a permanent racial distinction, one of the things against which our country is now fighting.
It is true that there are those who are taking economic advantage of those affected by this evacuation order, but there are still those who have been extremely kind and felt sincerely concerned for us, and it is from those people that we have obtained the strength to carry on as well as we can. To our fellow students who will be the future leaders of our country, may you still keep your faith in us as good and industrious citizens. It is with such hope and faith that we shall evacuate.
Chiyo Nakate
Tamako Inouye
Evacuees Head for Eastern Schools
Students and Faculty Set Census Tomorrow To Aid Alien Students
As the first move in comprehensive program to help settle evacuated students in Eastern Colleges, a University Student-Faculty committee will conduct a campus census Wednesday of probable alien student evacuees, Robert O'Brien, assistant dean of arts and sciences, announced last night.
At the same time Dean O'Brien declared that the Western Defense Command had asked that American-Japanese students continue their studies at the University until the time for evacuation arrives.
Bounds extended
A conference of representatives from Pacific Coast universities met at the University of California last week, conferring with officials from headquarters of the Western Defense Commands on the problems of student evacuation. Military authorities granted an extension for alien students of the rule requiring Japanese to stay within five miles of their home.
A few Japanese students withdrew from the University last week and have already registered in Eastern colleges with the aid of the Student-Faculty committee, Dean O'Brien said. Those who left early are registered at the universities of Michigan, Minnesota, Idaho and Chicago. All Japanese in Pacific Coast military areas after next Sunday will have to go through the regular evacuation process.
Faculty Considered
The committee in cooperation with the army is studying the evacuation problem of American-Japanese faculty members at the University.
Draft status, work experience, nationality and approximate available funds of student aliens will be polled when the census blanks are distributed next Wednesday. Complete plans will be made at a Student-Faculty meeting at noon today.
Faculty members of the committee are Floyd Schmoe, instructor in forestry, Dean of Men Newhouse, Dean of Women May Dunn Ward, Jesse Steiner, professor of sociology, John Macki of the Far Eastern department, and Frank E. Goodnough of Wesley Foundation.
Student members of the committee are Joan Hatton, North Burn, Kenji Okuda, M.D. Woodbury, Ruth Haines and Hildur Coon.
WSSF Aid May Provide Schooling for Evacuees
Japanese students who have been evacuated inland may be able to continue their educations through the aid of the World Student Service fund, it was announced yesterday. A poll taken at a meeting of 150 American-born Japanese students at Eagleson hall indicated that such help would sorely be needed.
The survey revealed that 78% of the students would be free to continue their college education, but only 25% said they would have adequate funds to do so. With supplementary funds to help them, 70% believed that they would be able to continue their disrupted educations.
Five hundred sixty dollars raised in the February WSSF drive will be used for its original purpose -- European and Chinese student relief. But permission was obtained last quarter from New York WSSF headquarters to use any further money raised for this new and immediate need.
Although the majority of students at the meeting Saturday did not know what college they would like to attend, several mentioned the University of Minnesota, with Washington State, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, and the University of Idaho preferred in the order named.
Alien Students Register
Japanese, German, Italian Nationals include in Request
By JEAN PARKER
In cooperation with a request of all Pacific Coast colleges, University Japanese, German and Italian nationals will register today, Robert O'Brien, assistant dean of arts and sciences, announced last night. A special room, 121 Education hall, has been designated for the registration.
The blanks to be filled out are to offer help to students in continuing education elsewhere. Replacement in other colleges is the hope of every coast school, O'Brien stated, and the information in these blanks will simplify student and advisory problems.
Students who have not previously registered will do so today. This will be the first opportunity for German and Italian nationals to fill out the blanks. Some registrations have been mailed in. Japanese students registered at a meeting Saturday in Eagleson hall.
Professors and students will be available to aid in deciding the necessary information with those registering. Among them will be Floyd Schmoe, instructor in forestry; Frank Goodnough of Wesley foundation; Dean Newhouse, dean of men; Jesse Steiner, of Sociology; May Dunn Ward, dean of women; Jack Maki of Far Eastern. Students helping are Joan Hatton, AWS president; North Burn of ISS; Kenji Okuda, YMCA; M.D. Woodbury, YMCA; Ruth Haines of YWCA, and Hildur Coon, ISS.
Very Solly -- No Wanty
Here on the coast where we have constantly associated with the American Japanese we have no thought of prejudice against them. We have played baseball, football, basketball with them; we have worked and studied along with them. We fully realize the younger generation of Japanese are, if anything, more completely American than we are.
In our eyes, news releases such as this from the Utah State Agricultural college at Logan are disgusting.
Salt Lake City, March 29.--Japanese college students evacuated from the Pacific Coast will not be accepted at Utah State college at Logan.
In announcing the ruling today, College trustees said that USAC "Is crowded with a naval training program, giving elementary and advanced classes in radio technology and a large number of naval trainees." The school's defense work was thus advanced as the reason for barring Japanese students.
Japanese students are not invited to attend the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, President Leroy E. Cowles said tonight. But he qualified his statement, adding that "American-born Japanese students, who are in good standing at the Universities of California and Washington will be accepted as transfers if they can pay full tuition and bring letters of recommendation."
Presidents Peterson and Cowles act as if these American-Japanese were convicted criminals. Perhaps, they have the impression that each one has a short wave radio and an arsenal of death-dealing weapons hidden under his black cloak.
They are completely overlooking the fact that the Nisei have been outstanding students, perfect citizens and good friends while living on the coast. Of course the second-rate Utah Agricultural College at Logan might well be contaminated by the intelligence and industry of the Japanese which has previously been welcomed at two of the nation's foremost colleges.
Contrast this release to a note recently written The Daily by a Japanese student who is about to be evacuated.
This note is not intended for the "Safety Valve" or any valve for that matter. I just want to point out to you a glaring error in the article on student evacuees published in the March 31 edition of The Daily.
The head states: "Students and Faculty Set Census Tomorrow to Aid Alien Students," and the lead paragraph gives in part "...a campus census Wednesday of probable Alien student evacuees." May I inform you that a majority of the affected student evacuees are not aliens! They (of Japanese ancestry) are no more aliens than you or the fellow who wrote the story. Almost 100 per cent of the Japanese student evacuees born have been born in this country and have been educated in America. Since when did The Daily assume that citizens of the United States could be called aliens?
Evacuee Camps Filthy
By VIRGINIA TAYLOR
Japanese resettlement camps in Eastern Washington are "crowded, crude, dirty, full of debris, bedbugs and other vermin," Floyd Schmoe, a former forestry instructor, told an informal group of Mortar Board alumnae who met in Clark hall last night to discuss Japanese-American student problems.
At the same meeting Robert O'Briend, assistant dean of the college of arts and sciences, announced the University would send hime East next week to the University of Minnesota to study living accomodations there for transfer students.
Schmoe said he was "inclined to say, not 'resettlement,' but 'concentration' camps," in referring to the barracks being prepared at Japanese reception centers.
"In Toppenish the government has taken over for assembly centers huts once used by Indians. They are surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by men armed with bayonets," he declared.
He hastened to add, however, that he understood construction at Toppenish was not yet completed, and the camp would probably undergo further cleaning up.
"But to put families, people not even under suspicion, in such rooms behind a barbed wire fence, that is simply too much. We should do something about it," he asserted.
He immediately remarked, though, that he doubted if "we can do much about it."
Schmoe also declared camps for actually suspected aliens in Missoula, Mont., were in better condition than those in Toppenish.
Schmoe suggested several ways in which his audience might assist Japanese-American students, acts such as volunteering to care for their more valuable personal goods for the duration, establishing contacts for them in Eastern schools to which they might transfer, and helping their families prepare for journeys to evacuation camps.
He was introduced to his audience as a faculty member now on leave, but Dean Hugo Winkenwerder of forestry last night stated Schmoe was no longer connected in any way with the University.
Also on the program was Lily Yorozu, senior in sociology, who discussed the evacuation from the Nisei students' point of view.
Mortar Board members, following the discussion, decided to take no group action to aid Japanese-American students, but to leave any aid purely to individual action.
Committee Formed To Assist Nisei
To coordinate all resettlement plans of Japanese American students forced to leave the Pacific Northwest area, the Northwest College Personnel Association this week set up a Student Relocation Committee with Robert W. O'Brien, assistant dean of Arts and Sciences, as chairman, it was announced yesterday.
This committee will take over the work of various local groups which have sought to deal with the problem.
According to O'Brien, the aim of the committee is three-fold. It will seek (1) to gather data on the Nisei in the Pacific Northwest; (2) to collect character references for the students; (3) to help relocate Nisei in other colleges after their evacuation.
Of the 17 appointed members on the committee, four will represent the University. They are, in addition to Chairman O'Brien, Dean Newhouse, dean of men; M. D. Woodbury, executive secretary of the University YMCA; and May Dunn Ward, dean of women, who will act as an ex-officio member.
With 456 American students of Japanese ancestry enrolled at the beginning of the school year, the University of Washington has by far the biggest resettlement problem of any Pacific Northwest school, O'Brien explained:
Seattle College had 45 Nisei, while Oregon State College came next with 41. Enrollment of American-born Japanese students for the 1941-42 period totaled 30 for the College of Puget Sound, 22 for the U of Oregon, 17 for Multnomah Junior College, 13 for North Pacific College and 10 for Williamette University.
Adams Will Discuss Problems with Nisei
Nisei students should plan to see Harold Adams, assistant to the dean of men, as soon as possible about their evacuation plans, it was announced yesterday.
Interviews may be obtained in the dean of men's office in Clark hall daily from 9 to 10 a.m., 11 to 12 a.m. and from 2 to 4 p.m.
In the absence of Robert W. O'Brien, regular advisor to the Japanese-American students, Mr. Adams will serve in that capacity. Mr. O'Brien, who was recently appointed chairman of the regional Student Relocation Committee, leaves today for Cleveland, where he will attend a conference of the Institute of International Education.
O'Brien on Trip
According to present plans, he will return in from two to three weeks, when he will continue his resettlement work with Nisei, German and Italian students who have had to leave the Pacific Northwest district.
Of the 456 Japanese-American students registered at the University at the beginning of the year, only a fraction remain who will be affected by the latest evacuation order issued to aliens living in this area.
Definite information upon the number is not available because so many of the students merely did not register for winter or spring quarter. The majority of these, Mr. O'Brien said, found it necessary to quit school in order to assist their alien parents with evacuation plans and to help support them.
Should See Profs
Other of the Nisei have enrolled in colleges farther inland where they are permitted to continue their education.
Any students who are affected by the evacuation order and who hope to obtain admission to other schools are urged to obtain as many recommendations as possible from instructors and high school teachers.
Brown Bodies But -- Red Blood
One of the most intelligent suggestions motivated by this war is a proposal by the Council Against Intolerance to the War department that a mixed combat division be formed from men of any race or creed.
This may appear to be a vague, idealistic, maybe even socialistic, idea, but it does have significance.
Segregation as practiced in the last war is undemocratic, and it adds wood to the Nazi and Japanese propaganda fires. Axis agents utilize the fact that there are many different racial and language groups in this nation. They emphasise that United States will fall into chaotic and disorganized racial groups when a strong power attacks them. That Negroes fight in separate units only adds credence to their statements.
A mixed division would completely squelch such use of our American "foible."
This would be a concrete example of the democratic principles for which we are supposedly fighting. The plan was suggested by Dr. Alonzo Meyers, chairman of New York university school of higher education, and infantry captain in World War I.
In presenting the proposal, Meyers said: "I believe that a man who is good enough to fight for my country is good enough to fight alongside me."
Running through American martial history is the thread of Negro bravery. They have fought in the Revolutionary, Civil, Spanish-American and First World War. The first Americans to be decorated with the Croix de Guerre in 1918 were two Negro privates of the three hundred and sixty ninth division.
Democracy is just a mockery as long as one man is not considered the equal of another. This of all wars, in this county of all the world, we should not be taken in by the racial hatered (sic) which swept across Europe.
The concil's idea is wrong, there should not just be one division. But every unit of the army should have a representative of each racial, language or religious group in the nation.
We in America are more than willing to allow the Negro to fight for us, why shouldn't we be willing to fight beside him.
YMCA Will Give Farewell Party
A farewell party for Nisei students who are leaving school will be given by the YWCA from 5 to 7 p. m. today at Eagleson hall, it was announced today.
All students are invited to attend the buffet supper, but reservations must be made at Eagleson hall before noon. Cost will be 25 cents, but Japanese students will be guests. Chairman of the affair is Janice Sheldon.
Jap Rule Bars Watanabe from Palouse Trip
By HARRY PITZER
Although he didn't know it then, the Dec. 7 hocus-pocus that took place at Pearl Harbor was an extra blue Sunday for Ken Raby, new varsity tennis mentor.
With the trip into eastern Washington only a matter of days away he was informed last night that his number three man, Frank Watanabe, would not be able to make the trip over the mountains. Watanabe is one of the best Japanese tennis players ever developed in the Northwest and it is unfortunate for him and for the squad that he should be playing at a time when the international scene is so upset.
Although definitely assured by the army that it would be impossible for Watanabe to make the trip, Raby has drafted the services of Lee Paul Sieg, University of Washington president, and several members of the faculty in an effort to convince those in charge that permission in this case is perfectly justified.
In the meantime, the remainder of the varsity continues to workout every night. During the coming week-end they will go through a strenous final rehersal before they pack their bags and leave next Wednesday. In case Watanabe can not make the trip, Lefty Eden, Francis Draves, John Sweet or Bob Butterfield will get the "go-sign" to back his tooth-brush and comb and pad out the remainder of the squad.
The squad will hit out for Walla Walla (the school, not the pen) where they'll meet Whitman in the first match. Moscow, Idaho will be the next stop, and then they'll meet Washington State at Pullman where the northern division crown will probably be decided. Success of the trip lies mainly in the last stop if the Huskies can stride past this barrier, they can lock up the silverware for another year.
Idaho-Banned U Nisei Find Refuge at WSC; Argonaut Raps Clark
By VIRGINIA TAYLOR
Six Japanese-American University students who were prevented from enrolling at the University of Idaho two weeks ago by a decree issued by Idaho's Governor Clark are now attending Washington State college, The Daily learned yesterday through Carl Ronning, WSC student leader.
The news came as the University's few remaining Nisei students made final preparations to check out of school for eastern colleges or evacuee camps in compliance with week-end orders issued by Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt ordering all Japanese to leave the city before Saturday.
Violence Threatened
The six Nisei students had made preparations to leave for Moscow when Governor Clark of Idaho declared that no out-of-state Nisei would be allowed to enroll in any of the state's institutions of high learning. Public reaction and threats of violence on the part of a few Moscow inhabitants resulted in the temporary jailing of two of the women students for their own protection.
Following the incident the Idaho Argonaut, college student newspaper, protested the action in an editorial entitled, "Six American Citizens.
Argonaut Protests
"Certainly we should keep this shameful action from those University of Idaho students, and citizens of Moscow, who are fighting now on all world fronts. We think it would hardly comfort those who are risking their lives to preserve and protect this 'land of the free,' that its principles are thus defended at home," the editorial stated. Ronning, who disclosed the students are now at WSC, was student chairman of the eighth annual Japan-America student conference which was to have been held at the University campus last summer.
* * * What People Think
Carl Ronning
Carl Ronning, Washington State college student, expresses his views on the recent treatment of Nisei letters in an open letter to Governor Clark of Idaho:
Pine Manor
Pullman, Wash.
May 3, 1942 Governor Chase A. Clark
Boise, Idaho
My Dear Governor Clark: Recent happenings at the University of Idaho impel me to address this letter to you. In light of these happenings a more than considerable amount of criticism is being hurled at you and some of the people of Moscow. Permit me, please to again present the facts.
We have on our Pacific Coast some thousands of American-born Japanese. do you note my emphasis? -- American born! They are American citizens in every respect. Because of the exigencies of war, however, our military authorities have ordered a mass evacuation of all Japanese from the coast areas. No on criticizes those authorities, for we know they are acting in the interests of our defense and well within their constitutional authority.
As you are undoubtedly aware, some hundreds of these American-born Japanese, these Americans, were attending coastal colleges and universities when the evacuation order was given. Naturally some of them expressed a desire to continue their education in some inland school. With this objective in mind, six of those students applied for entrance at the University of Idaho. University officials corresponded with them and expressed a willingness to accept them into their institution. The students arrived in Moscow, got themselves located, and prepared to register at your state university.
Then it happened. You, Mr. Governor, issued a public statement openly forbidding out-of-state American-born Japanese from enrolling in any of the state's institutions of higher learning. The students who were arranging to continue their studies at the University of Idaho were forbidden entrance. To provide a typical Nazi-like finale some of the inevitable pool-hall loafers, and perhaps others began writing threatening letters to these already completely confused Americans. Two of the students, girls, spent 48 hours in the Moscow city jail for their own protection again possible violence. Many of Moscow's good people, who were befriending the students, also received warnings. Finally the students were threateningly notified that they must leave the city. With this display of your warm Americanism and the impetus which it gave to the Americanism of a few city loafers, the students were compelled to leave.
I am certain, Mr. Governor, that the majority of the people of Moscow and the students of the University do not approve of your actions. I myself am soon slated for the army, but if I thought that I was going to fight to defend any of the actions such as you have committed, I would hang my head in shame.
Can you, as an American, justify your actions, Mr. Governor? I ask you again -- Can you?
Respectfully yours,
CARL RONNING,
Washington State College.
The Nisei and "Never-Never Land"
A dearth of patriotic feeling may be bad. And there has been much hullabaloo about American apathy, but this apathy is a blessing compared to the narrow-minded patriotism which recently has been exhibited. From the way college presidents and state governors have been acting, one would think the only purposes of American armed forces is to remove all traces of Japanese race and culture from the earth.
This attitude may well win the war, but it will never preserve the ensuing peace. Of course we have friends and relatives who have been killed in this war. Think of the Nisei. They have American friends who have been killed -- and Japanese, racial and blood brothers, who are killing and being killed by fellow Americans.
One cannot blame Mrs. Williams for taking such a stand. But there is no reason why she should vent her spleen on the American-born Japanese because their former country-men have killed her cousin.
We don't say nasty things about our neighbors of German ancestry. They had nothing to do with Hitler. The Nisei have as little to do with the present situation. Why should they be crucified by narrow-minded patriotism?
University Places 58 Nisei in Other Schools
By MAXINE GIRSON
Fifty-eight Nisei students were placed in 15 different colleges in 12 states throughout the nation before the final period of evacuation, Robert W. O'Brien, chairman of the Student Relocation committee, revealed yesterday.
There are still more than 300 former Washington students of Japanese descent living in evacuation centers in Puyallup, Washington; North Portland, Oregon; Pinedale and Manazar, in California, who are waiting while plans are being formulated for their transfer to schools in other sections of the nation.
Such plans are being developed with the cooperation of the Federal Relocation Authority and the American Friends Service committee.
Following up letters written to other college presidents on behalf of the American-born Japanese students by President Lee Paul Sieg, the local committee secured admission for them in colleges in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah and Washington.
Permits for Nisei students' travel were secured from the Wartime Civilian Control Authority and the Presidio in San Francisco.
During the last three weeks that Nisei were in attendance here, individual recommendations were collected for the majority of them, and should aid considerably in placing more Nisei students in schools in non-restricted areas.
Pinch-hitting for O'Brien as official campus director of the Student Relocation committee while the former was in the East attending the Institute of International Education, has been Harold Adams, assistant dean of men. O'Brien is assistant dean of arts and sciences.
Nisei Student Held in County Jail
Gordon K. Hirabayashi, 24-year-old University senior charged with failing to register for evacuation, today was being held in county jail in lieu of $5,000 bond, the United Press reported last night.
Hirabayashi said he was a "conscientious objector" to evacuation and as such thought it was not necessary to register for evacuation last week.
Hirabayashi was arraigned before the U.S. Commissioner yesterday and bound over for Federal Grand Jury action.
Mrs. Mary Farquharson of the Seattle Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said Hirabayashi's case would be backed by the organization.
Evacuees Given Posts in Midwest
Misako Kondo, a senior Nisei student evacuated at the beginning of spring quarter, has just been awarded a tuition scholarship for graduate study in sociology at the University of Chicago, according to word received by the department of sociology yesterday.
Going directly to the University of Chicago, Miss Kondo earned the award on the basis of work done there during this last quarter.
At the same time the sociology department has been informed of the advancement of two Japanese instructors formerly with the teaching staff here.
Frank Miyamoto, former teaching fellow, has been awarded the Social Science Research Council Fellowship to make a study of assembly centers and relocation camps for Japanese in the United States.
In his study, Miyamoto will be working with Miss Dorothy Thomson, outstanding woman sociologist in the country today.
Another teaching fellow, Martha Okuda, has just been accepted by the University of Nebraska to teach in the school of social work there.
Prior to her evacuation, Miss Okuda worked for the Maritime Civilian Control association.
Nisei Send Thanks for Gift Books
In a letter to the Campus Christian council, Yoshiko Uchiyama, secretary of the Nisei students group at the Japanese relocation center in Idaho, expressed thanks for gifts and donations of books to the Nisei Students Christmas Gift.
The letter read, in part, I wish all of us former University of Washington students now in Idaho could thank all of you individually for your heart-warming gesture at Christmas time.
"We have decided to keep the magazines and books on a special shelf in the high school library which will be opened several nights a week to former University of Washington students so that we can enjoy your contributions."
"Not only will the gift be of use to us, but more than that, if will be a constant reminder for us to keep our faith in America- our country which belongs to broad-minded individuals such as those of you who contributed toward the gift. We are ever hoping that the time will come soon when we can all re-enter the American beyond the relocation camps in order that we make our contributions and be considered as an integral part of the American way of living." The letter bore the signatures of 66 former Washington students.
The gift consisted of books donated by students and faculty and subscriptions to national magazines.