RELOCATION of JAPANESE-AMERICANS ★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY Washington, D. C. MAY 1943 RELOCATION of JAPANESE-AMERICANS ttackgroiind During the spring and summer of 1012. the United States Government carried out, in remarkably short time and witliout serious incident, one of the largest controlled migrations in history. This was the movement of 110,000 people of Jaj)anese descent from their homes in an area horder- ing the Pacific coast into 10 \\artime communities constructed in remote areas between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Mississippi River. The evacuation of these jieojile was started in the earlv spring of 1012. At that time, with invasion of the west coast looming as an imminent possibility, the Western Defense Command of the Lnited States Army ilecided that the militarv situation required the removal of all persons of Japanese ancestr\ from a broad coastal strij). In the weeks that followed, both \merican-horn and alien Japanese residents were moved from a prescribed zone comprising the entire State of (lalifornia, the western half of Oregon and W ashington, and the southern third of Arizona. Thv Kvlneation i*roffram I'he Lnited States Government, having called upon these pi'ople to move from their homes, also assumed a resjionsihilit) for helping them to become reestablished. To carry out this responsibility, the Presich'ut on March 18. P) 12. created a civilian agemw known as the W ar Relocation Authorit\ . I'he job of this agemw . hrieflv. is to assist in the relocation of anv per- sons who may he recpiired by the Arm\ to move from their homes in the interest of militar\ securit^ . So far, the work of W RA has been concerned almost exclusively v\ith jieople of Japanese descent who formerly lived close to the Pacific rim of the countrv. At first, plans were made h\ the Western Defense Command and the W R A to build accommodations onlv for a jiortion of the 110,000 evacuated people. \ considerafile percentage of them, it was hoped, would move out of the restricteil area and resettle inland on their own initiative. During March of 1012, some 8.000 actuallv did move, hut the great majorit^ were held hack hv limited resoiirees, general uncertainty, and mounting signs of community hostiiit) in the intermountain region. By 1 532755°— 43 An American famHy of Japanese descent. the latter part of Mareli, it had become apparent that such a large-scale exodus could be handled effectively only on a planned and systematic basis. Accordingly, all further voluntary evacuation was halted by the estern Defense Command on March 29 and plans were initiated by ^ RA for establishing relocation centers with sufficient capacity and facilities to handle the entire evacuated population for as long as might be necessary. The relocation centers, however, are NOT and never were intended to be internment camps or places of confinement. They were established for two primary purposes: (1) To provide communities where evacuees might live and contribute, through work, to their own support pending their gradual reabsorjjtion into private employment and normal American life; and (2) to serve as wartime homes for those evacuees who might be unable or unfit to relocate in ordinary American communities. Under regulations adopted in September of 1942, the ^ ar Relocation Author- ity is now working toward a steady depo 2 mlation of the centers by en- couraging all able-bodied residents with good records of behavior to reenter private emjiloyment in agriculture or industry. The procedures are relatively simjjle. At a number of key cities throughout the interior of the country, the ^ RA has field employees known as relocation officers and relocation supervisors. These men, working in close collaboration with local volunteer committees of inter- ested citizens and with the United States Emjjloyment Service, seek out •> cinplovment opportunities for evacuees in their respective areas and channel such mformation to the relocation centers where an effort is made to match up the jobs with the most likely evacuee candidates. Direct negotiations are then started between the employer and the potential employee and final arrangements are made ordinarily by mail. Before any evacuee is permitted to leave a relocation center for the purpose of taking a job or establishing normal residence, however, certain requirements must be met: 1. A carefid check is made of the evacuee’s behavior record at the relocation center and of other information in the hands of ^ RA. In all questionable cases, any information in the possession of the federal in- vestigative agencies is requested and studied. If there is any evidence from any source that the evacuee might endanger the security of the Aalion, permission for indefinite leave is denied. 2. There must he reasonable assurance from responsible officials or citizens regarding local sentiment in the community where the evacuee plans to settle. If community sentiment appears so hostile to all persons of lajianese descent that the jiresence of the evacuee seems likelv to cause troidile, the evacuee is so advised and is discouraged from relocating in that particular area. 3. Indefinite leave is granted only to evaciu'cs who have a definite ])lace to go and some means of support. 1. Kach evacuee going out on indefinite leave must agree to keep \\ K \ informed of an\ dian^e of job or change of address. d'he primar\ purpose of this program is to n'Store as manv of the c\ ai’iK'cs as possihli' to prodiicti\ i* lib* in normal American communities. Hotishifi for lUe resirlpnl s of reloral ioti reiilprs is provided iti siniplp barracks of f ramp const ructiou. Iniprovenients in family living quarters are made by the evacuees themselves from scrap materials. The specific procedures being followed have been approved by the De- partment of Justice as sound from the standpoint of national security and have been endorsed by the ^ ar Manpower Commission as a con- tribution to national manpower needs. As the program moves forw ard, the costs for maintenance of the relocation centers w ill be steadily reduced. Persons interested in employing evacuees from relocation centers for any sort of work shoidd communicate with the nearest relocation su2)cr- visor of the ^ RA. The addresses and names of these sujjervisors are: City Street address Relocation snj>ervisor Chicago, 111 226 ^ est Jackson Blvd .... Elmer L. Sbirrell. Cleveland, Ohio Union Coniinerce Bldg Harold Fistere. Denver, Colo INIidland Savings Bldg Harold Choate. Salt Lake Citv, Utah 318 Atlas Bldg H. Rex Lee. Kansas CitVi Mo 1509 Fidelity Bldg 4’eruon Kennedy. Little Rock, Ark Pyramid Rld^ E. R. ^ hitaker. New York, N. Y Room 1410, 50 Broadway . . Robert M. Cullum. 1 The Eracuated People In the interest of both accuracy and fairness, it is important to distin- guish sharply between tbe residents of relocation centers and the mili- tarists of Imperial Japan. Two-thirds of the people in the centers are American citizens, born in tliis country and educated, for the most part, in American public schools. At all centers, tbe residents have bought thousands of dollars tvorth of war bonds and have made significant con- tributions to the American Red Cross. Many of them have sons, hus- bands, and brothers in the Lnited States Army. Even the aliens among them have nearlv all lived in the Lnited States for two decades or longer. And it is important to remember that these particular aliens have been (Icnied the privilege of gaining American citizenship under our laws. It is also important to distinguish between the residents of relocation centers and civilian internees. I nder onr laws, aliens of enemvnationalitv who are found guilty of acts or intentions against the securitv of the .Nation are being confinetl in internment camps which are administered not by tbe Vi ar Relocation Authority but by the Department of Justice. American citizens suspected of subversive activities are being handled through the ordinary courts. The residents of the relocation centers, however, have never been found guilty — either individually or collec- tivelv — of any such acts or intentions. Thev are merely a group of American residents who happen to have Japanese ancestors and who happened to be living in a jiotential combat zone sbortK after tbe outbreak Meals are served eafeteria style at an a vera fie food cost of not niore than 15 cettts per person per day. If orfc is available for able-bodied residents on the comniiinity farms and in many other lines of activity. of war. All evidence available to the ar Relocation Authority indicates that the great majority of them are completely loyal to the United States. Tf««* Reittcaiittn t'entvvs The physical standards of life in the relocation centers have never been much above the hare subsistence level. For some few of the evacuees, these standards perhaps represent a slight improvement over thf>se enjoved before evacuation. But for the great majority of the evacuated people, the environment of the centers — despite all efforts to make them livable — remains subnormal and probably always will. In spite of the leave privileges, the movement of evacuees while they reside at the centers is necessarilv somewhat restricted and a certain feeling of isola- tion and confinement is almost inevitable. Housing is provided for the evacuee residents of the centers in tarpaper- covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cook- ing facilities of any kind. Most of these barracks are partitioned off so that a family of five or six, for example, will normally occujjy a single room 25 by 20 feet. Bachelors and other unattached evacuees live mainly in unpartitioned barracks which have been established as dormitories. The only furnishings provided by the Government in the residence bar- 6 racks arc standard Army cots and blankets and small heating stoves. One bath, laundry, and toilet building is available for each block of bar- racks and is shared by upwards of 250 people. Food is furnished by the Govermnent for all evacuee residents. The meals are planned at an average cost of not more than 45 cents per person per day (the actual cost, as this is written, has averaged about 40 cents), are j)repared by evacuee cooks, and are served generally cafeteria stvle in mess halls that accommodate between 250 and 300 persons. At all centers. Government -owned or Government -leased farmlands are being operated by evacuee agricultural crews to produce a considerable share of the vegetables needed in the mess halls. At nearly all centers, the farm ])rogram also inclufles 2 )roduction of poultry, eggs, and pork; and at a few, the evacuees are raising beef and dairy products. Every evacuee is subject to the same food rationing restrictions as all other residents of the I nited States. Medical care is available to all ev acuee residents of relocation centers without charge. Hospitals have been built at all the centers and are manned in large part by doctors, nurses, nurses’ aides, and technicians from the evacuee population. Simple dental and optical services are also ])rovifled and special care is given to infants and nursing mothers. Kvacuees requesting special meerties are highly" valuahle in the yvar production effort, the ^ ar Relocation Authority is actively assisting them to keep their 10 commercial ami agricultural properties iu productive use through lease or sale and is helping them in connection with a wide variety of other property problems. To carrv out this work, the Authority maintains an Evacuee Property Office in San Francisco with branches in Los Angeles and Seattle and emplovs an Evacuee Property Officer on the staff at each relocation center. Two principal types of service are rendered. In connection with personal properties, such as household furnishings, the Authority provides — at the option of the evacuee owners — either storage in a Gov- ernment warehouse located within the evacuated area or transportation at Government expense to a point of residence outside. In connection with real estate, commercial holdings, farm machinery, and other similar properties, the Authority acts more in the role of intermediary or agent. At the request of evacuee j)roperty-holders, it attempts to find potential biivers or tenants, arranges for the rental or sale of both commercial and agricultural holdings, checks inventories of stored personal goods, audits accounts rendered to evacuees, and performs a varietv of similar services. Anv person who is interested in buying or leasing the propert^ of evacuees should communicate with the nearest Evacuee Property Office in the Vi est Coast evacuated area. The locations of these offices are: \\ hitcomh Hotel Building, San Francisco, Calif. Room 955, 1031 South Broadway, Los Angeles, Calif. Room 6609, Vt bite Building, Seattle, Vi ash. W herever possible, these offices will try to j)ut potential buvers or tenants in touch with potential sellers or lessors among the evacuee pop- ulation. It should be emphasized, however, that the Vi RA has no authoritv to recpiisition the jtroperty of evacuees and cannot force anv resi- dent of a relocation center to sell or lease against his will. Final agree- ment on terms is solely a matter between the parties