Comments by the War Relocation Authority on newspaper statements attributed to representatives of the House Committee on Un-American Activities

Comments by the War Relocation |

Authority on Newspaper Statements

Attributed to Representatives of

the House Committee on Un-American

Activities.

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During the past few weeks the House Committee on

`Un-American Activities (popularly kmown as the Dies Committee)

has been investigating the program of the War Relocation

Authority. While this investigation has been going forward--

and to some extent even before it was fairly under way--

numerous statements on the WRA and its program allegedly made

by members, investigators, and "spokesmen" of the Committee

have been appearing in the Nation's press. Some of these

statements are true; some are completely without foundation

in fact; and others are a compound of half-truths blended

with either careless reporting, slipshod investigating, or

deliberate distortion. To run all these statements down

and prepare a factual comment on each would require more

manpower and more money for communication with field offices

than the War Relocation Authority can afford to expend while

engaged on a war program. The Authority has, however, taken

time to select some of the more flagrantly inaccurate state-

ments attributed to representatives of the Committee and has

prepared factual comment on then. | .

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These statements and the WRA comments are listed below:

1. The WRA is encouraging high government officials

to teke Japanese from the centers as farm workers

or domestics, so that preater public trust in the

Japanese may be created,

(Statement attributed to a "spokesman" for the Committee

in a story from Washington appearing in the San Francisco

Examiner of May 23).

Comment: The Authority has never "encouraged" any government

official to employ an evacuee at any time. Like all

other employers, government officials are fully

entitled to forward job offers to the War Relocation

Authority for submission to the evacuees at the. centers.

2, Both alien and American-born evacuees are being fed

so well through the Quartermaster Depot of the Army

that they ave sending packages of butter, corfee, and

other retionsd food to friends outside the centers.

(Statement allegedly contained in a report submitted by field

investigators of the Committee and appearing in a story published

by the Washington Times Herald on May 28).

Comment: As the War Relocation Authority has pointed out on numerous

? occasions, evacuees at relocation centers are subject to

the seme rationing restrictions as all other civilians

in the United States. We have absolutely no evidence that

any evacuee has ever sent any rationed food to persons

outside the centers. If this were done, it could be done

only at the expense of the sender's rationed allowance.

3. As many as 76 per cent of the Japanese in one camp

have refused to profess their loyalty to the United

States,

(Same source as that of Statement No. 2).

Comment: No comment seems necessary on this statement beyond the fact

that it is completely untrue.

4, The disclosures of the Committee have not hampered

the release of 27,000 for work in agricultuvel and

industrial communities and education at government

ex pense.

(Same source as that of Statement No, 2).

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Comment:

De

a

At the time when this story was published, a total of -

12,799 evacuees had left the relocation centers either

temporarily or permanently under the regular leave

procedures of the War Relocation Authority. Of this

number, about 800 are students who left the centers to

continue their education. Neither the WRA nor any other

Federal agency has provided eny of these students with

financial assistance.

" ..we have no evidence of proper check being made by

the War Relocation Authority before releasing Japanese..."

(Direct quotation attributed to Robert E. Stripling, Committee

investigator, in a United Press dispatch from Washington dated

May 29).

Comment:

6.

If the Commitiee had no evidence that proper check is being

made, this can only be because the investigators did not

take the trouble to examine the War Relocation Authority's

leave procedures. Before granting indefinite leave to

any evacuee, the Authority checks all available records

atthe refocation center. If there is any question

about the individual involved, a further check is made of

the records maintained by Federal investigative agencies.

The Authority firmly believes that, in granting leaves,

it has taken end is taking every proper precaution to

safeguard the national security.

(a) Evacuees in the centers are permitted large

quantities of gasoline for pleasure driving,

some using govermient automobiles.

(b) They have been allowed to bring their own

automobiles to the centers and use them mainly

for "visiting back and forth."

(c) One camp has clamped down on pleasure driving

and saved 1,000 gallons of gasoline the first

week.

(Statements attributed to Rep. Joe Starnes, Acting Chairman of

the Committee in a United Press dispatch from Washington

dated June 2. Rep, Starnes has categorically denied ever

having made the statements).

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Comment:

-3-

All of these statements are wholly unfounded. No evacuee

is permitted to use a personally owned automobile at any

relocation center, Only in a very few cases have evacuee-

owned automobiles even been stored within the centers, and

in all these instances, the cars have been impounded by

the War Relocation Authority. All evacuees who have used

their own automobiles in going out of the centers on

indefinite leave have obtained their gasoline through

the local ration boards and in accordance with the regular

rationing procedure.

a Evacuees at the centers are allowed five gallons of

whiskey per person.

(Statement attributed to Acting Chairman Starnes by the Washington

Times Herald in a local story appearing on June 4. As in the

case of the statements immediately above, Rep. Starnes has

denied ever making or even authorizing this charge).

Comment:

This statement scarcely deserves comment. The only whiskey

ever made available to the evacuees by the War Relocation

Authority has been dispensed strictly for medical purposes

in accordance with the prescription of a practicing

physician. A small amount is stored at each center for

this purpose and is kept constantly under lock and key in

the custody of the Chief Medical Officer.

8. They receive $50 from the WRA in addition to clothing

and transportation when they leave relocation centers

to take jobs. Many make a practice of working a short

time, then returning to the camp and leaving again. to

benefit a second time from the $50-leave-taking present.

(Same source as that of Statement No. 7; also denied by Rep. Starnes).

Comment:

The first half of this statement is partially true; the latter

half totally untrue. The War Relocation Authority does

provide financial assistance to each evacuee going for the

first time on indefinite leave to take a job in cases where

the individual lacks the necessary ready cash to make the

trip and establish himself in his place of employment. No

evacuee, however, is entitled to more than one grant of

this kind. Those who return to the centers and then go

out a second time receive no financial assistance whatever

from the WRA in connection with the second trip,

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a).

9, "They /the Committee's investigators/ have reported that

one of the main reasons why the Japanese are so belligerent

is because of the influence and teachings of the Shinto

priests who are still permitted to preach and teach in

the relocation centers."

(Part of a direct quotation attributed to Rep. J. Parnell Thomas,

member of the Committee, by the Los Angeles Times in a local

story published on May 20).

The War Relocation Authority has never tolerated the preaching

or teaching of State Shintoism at relocation centers and

has no intention of doing so.

Comment;

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