The Relocation Program

United States Department of the Interior
J.A. Krug, Secretary
War Relocation Authority
D.S. Myer, Director

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C.
Price 35 cents


Events Leading to Establishment of the War Relocation Authority

On December 7, 1941, approximately 113,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of them American citizens, were living in freedom in California, Washington and Oregon. A few months later their freedom was largely restricted and within less than a year all of them were gone from these States.

This report deals briefly with the movement of the people from their homes, under conditions of Government control, to assembly and relocation centers, and at greater length with their eventual movement from these centers back into the normal stream of American life.

Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Department of Justice apprehended and took into custody all persons suspected of loyalties inimical to the interests of the United States. In this group there were many persons of Japanese1 ancestry. Within 2 months after the outbreak of war considerable pressure developed to move the entire Japanese population from the west coast. In February, things began to move rapidly in that direction.

On February 13, 1942, the west coast congressional delegation formally recommended to the President that all persons of Japanese descent be evacuated from the Pacific Coast States. The next day, the Attorney General designated a strip of the California coast 500 miles in length and from 30 to 150 miles in width as Restricted Area No. 1 with a 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew for all enemy nationalities, and restricted all their movements to within 5 miles of their homes, effective February 24.

Five days later, on February 19, 1942, the President signed Executive Order No. 9066 empowering the Army to designate areas from which "any or all persons may be excluded." On March 2, General


Note: This report prepared by staff members of the Relocation Division.

--1--

John L. DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 1 designating Military Area No. 1, consisting of the western half of Washington, Oregon, and California, and the southern portion of Arizona. Later, Military Area No. 2 was established as the remainder of these four States. The proclamation stated further,

"Any Japanese, German or Italian alien or any person of Japanese ancestry now resident in Military Area No. 1 who changes his place of habitual residence is hereby required to obtain and execute a 'change of residence' notice at any United States Post Office. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to affect the existing regulations of the United States Attorneys which require aliens of enemy nationalities to obtain travel permits from the United States Attorney General and to notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Commissioner of Immigration of any change in permanent address."

To the press, General DeWitt said that enemy aliens would be excluded from Military Area No. 1 in the near future. He also promised that American citizens of Japanese ancestry would be excluded and that Japanese would be the first to go. He advised persons in these categories to move out their families voluntarily and thus save themselves even greater troubles in the future, emphasizing to them that it was their patriotic duty to make this move voluntarily and with a minimum of inconvenience to the Government. The Western Defense Command was in effect telling aliens and one certain group of citizens to take their children and leave the coastal region, but was not suggesting where they might go or how they might get there. As a result of these pleas, however, a good many thousands of Japanese started moving from Military Area No. 1. From all of the neighboring States began to come violent protests against receiving a population that California, Washington, Oregon and the Army had discredited. Apparently nobody wanted these refugees. The Japanese people were alarmed by rumors of plans to separate husbands and wives in concentration camps and to separate children from their parents.

In February, Representative John Tolan, chairman of the House Committee on National Defense Migration which was at that time investigating evacuation, wired a recommendation to Washington for the appointment of an Alien Property Custodian for the Pacific coast region and stressed the need of making specific arrangements for giving assistance to the evacuees. Before such arrangements could be made about 8,000 Japanese had been obliged to leave prohibited "spot" areas on very brief notice or had hastily accepted General DeWitt's recommendations. Many of these people had been victimized by land sharks and racketeering second-hand dealers and had no money or place to go. The testimony before the Tolan Committee on February 23 in San Francisco reveals an utter confusion of ideas and the lack of any practical system for handling the problems of the dislocated people.

--2--

By March 2, when General DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 1, it was becoming apparent to the Western Defense Command that voluntary evacuation would not dispose of the entire west coast Japanese population in an orderly fashion or within a reasonable time. Problems of property disposal, finance, employment and public acceptance in other areas were constituting blocks to this voluntary movement. The minor evacuation movements of Japanese aliens in February from prohibited "spots" designated by the Department of Justice had resulted in many bewildered and impoverished families moving in with relatives or friends in already crowded quarters or camping in their back yards in other sections of the same town or city. Some had moved as far as the interior valleys of the West Coast States to the dismay of some of the citizenry of these regions. Very few had been able or willing to migrate east of the State lines. It gradually became clear that controlled evacuation would have to be arranged for those people who could not plan or finance their movements, and that provisions would have to be made for the maintenance of a part of the Japanese population for an indefinite period until more normal resettlement could be effected.

Up to this time, the Army's sole concern in the matter had been with physical evacuation, with clearing the designated military areas of Japanese. It was not considered feasible or proper that the Military should assume responsibility for the thousands of families involved or that it should administer an extensive resettlement program. Such a task appeared more proper for a civilian agency. Discussions were held between representatives of the Department of Justice, the War Department and the Bureau of the Budget,and a decision was made to create a special war agency to assume responsibility for the evacuated population.

On March 18, 1942, the War Relocation Authority was officially created.

Never before in the history of the United States had military decision dictated the exclusion of a largely citizen minority from a section of the country. No previous Government agency had faced the same problems as now faced the War Relocation Authority and no precedent or guideposts were available for devising its policy and program. In the past 125 years, this Government had not even in wartime seriously interfered with the freedom of enemy aliens except insofar as they were individually suspected. The fact that in this instance two-thirds of the people to be evacuated were American citizens by birth enormously complicated the problem. It was agreed that the Executive order creating this war agency should be broad and general. There was neither time nor precedent for initial preparation of a program in detail. How and where the resettlement was to take place were questions that time and experience alone

--3--

could answer. At this stage it was believed that other nationalities beside the Japanese might be evacuated.2

On March 7, 1942, Milton S. Eisenhower, Land Use Coordinator of the Department of Agriculture, went to San Francisco to look into the Japanese situation. He returned on March 15, and 3 days later, the President signed Executive Order No. 9102 establishing the War Relocation Authority in the Office for Emergency Management. At the same time, Mr. Eisenhower was officially appointed by the President to head the agency.

The Director of the War Relocation Authority was "authorized and directed to formulate and effectuate a program for the removal, from the areas designated from time to time by the Secretary of War or appropriate Military Commander under the authority of Executive Order No. 9066 of February 19, 1942, of all the persons or classes of persons designated under such Executive order, and for their relocation, maintenance and supervision."

Fist Plans of the War Relocation Authority

The first actions of the Director were to establish a regional office in San Francisco, to recruit staff, to confer with west coast representatives of other Federal agencies and to devise a tentative program. Offices were established in the Whitcomb Hotel in San Francisco, where the Wartime Civil Control Administration was already located.3

The first plans formulated by the Director provided that the War Relocation Authority would have three principal functions:

--4--

  1. It would provide financial aid for Japanese required to move out of the military area but unable to do so because of lack of funds;

  2. It would establish a great many small work camps similar to Civilian Conservation Corps camps and scattered through the States west of the Mississippi River with the employable population living in camp and working chiefly on farms in the surrounding neighborhood;

  3. It would establish a group of waystations, possibly as many as 50 holding from 1,000 to 1,500 people to serve as dispersion points from which evacuees could relocate to jobs in urban centers or on farms.

The War Relocation Authority began immediately to make a canvass of existing housing which could be utilized by evacuees, investigating particularly the CCC camps, many of which had already been vacated by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

As soon as the San Francisco office was opened, calls began to come in great numbers from sheriffs and other public officials of inland communities protesting the number of Japanese passing through or settling in their jurisdiction. Calls also came from Japanese informing the War Relocation Authority that they were stranded in neighboring States because no one would sell them gasoline or necessary services. There were also frequent calls from the press in areas through which voluntary evacuees were moving. At Klamath Falls, Oregon, several Japanese were arrested to avoid violence. At Yerrington, Nevada, eight were met by hostile citizens and had to return to California. At Swink, Colorado, local residents demanded the recall of evacuees.

By late March, it had become apparent that the resentment of the interior States toward continued voluntary evacuation was based upon a complete misunderstanding of the status of the evacuees as well as upon war=bred fears and prejudices. Sheriffs from these States frequently reported that "California Japanese were escaping" from the military areas. Officials and residents of the interior regions were not aware that the military authorities were urging the evacuees to leave the West Coast States and establish themselves in inland areas. There was also widespread opinion that California, Washington and Oregon were "dumping undesirables."

It was obvious that voluntary evacuation could not continue without widespread disorders and possible risk of physical violence being directed against the Japanese. The War Relocation Authority's first general act was to recommend to General DeWitt that he prohibit further uncontrolled evacuation. The result was Public Proclamation No. 4, issued March 27, 1942, requiring all Japanese to remain within Military Area No. 1 without change of residence after midnight of March 29l. In the 2-day period before the proclamation was issued and before the "freeze" became effective, several thousand persons left Military Area No. 1. Proclamation No. 3, issued March 24 had

--5--

established a curfew affecting all persons of Japanese ancestry in Military Area No. 1, effective between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., during which hours Japanese were obliged to be either in their place of business or in their homes, and could not pass between those places. During the day, they were not permitted to travel more than 5 miles from home.

The Wartime Civil Control Administration, with the growing recognition that a vast majority of the evacuated population could be relocated only gradually and over a considerable period of time, set about establishing assembly centers to receive the evacuees temporarily until more permanent camps could be constructed and the population transferred to the jurisdiction of the War Relocation Authority. Sixteen assembly centers, most of which were set up in former race tracks or fairgrounds, were occupied by the evacuees under the Wartime Civil Control Administration.

Conference With Governors at Salt Lake City

Because of the general misunderstanding of evacuation and the status of the evacuees in Western States, and in order to explore more fully the possibilities of a widespread resettlement program,. a meeting was called at Salt Lake City on April 7,1942, to explain the situation to the officials of the States in which the Authority might be operating. The conference was attended by governors or their representatives, attorneys general or their representatives, State extension service directors, State agricultural war board chairmen, and State Farm Security Administration directors from 10 of the Western States.

The meeting was conducted jointly by Colonel Karl R. Bendetsen, Assistant Chief of Staff in Charge of Civil Affairs, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army; Tom C. Clark, Chief of the Civilian Staff, Wartime Civil Control Administration; and M.S. Eisenhower, Director of the War Relocation Authority.

Mr. Eisenhower described the tentative plans which the War Relocation Authority had devised for assisting evacuated persons to resettle in other parts of the country. He explained in considerable detail the situation and status of the evacuees and requested the cooperation of the people and officials in facilitating their resumption of normal living, pointing out that one untoward incident directed toward evacuees would bring reprisals on Americans who had been interned by the Japanese Government.

--6--

Mr. Eisenhower gave assurance that the War Relocation Authority would conduct its program in a manner which would not cause long-time social, economic and political problems for the communities in which resettlement might take place.

Most of the governors and attorneys general, however, were not sympathetic to the program as outlined. Some expressed complete and bitter animosities toward settlement or purchase of land by an Japanese in their States. Some indicated definite suspicion or conviction that California was using interior States as dumping grounds for an old problem. Some refused to recognize that Japanese, even though United States citizens, had any rights. Some indicated that the temper of the people in their States could not be controlled unless Japanese who had already entered the States were brought under guard. Some opposed Japanese entering private business. Some demanded that the Federal Government guarantee to remove any and all Japanese remaining at the end of the war. Some indicated that the States could operate the program if Federal funds were made available to them. The official conception by State officers of the type of program best suited to the situation was one of concentration camps with workers being farmed out to work under armed guards. Some representatives advocated out and out detention camps for all Japanese.

The governors and attorneys general utilized most of the conference time and, unfortunately, did so to a degree which gave the farm elements present little opportunity to express their need of workers from the evacuated population.l The elements representing the farmers at the meeting did indicate that evacuees were needed for seasonal and other labor, and stressed the acute labor shortage, particularly in the beet fields.

Colonel Bendetsen pointed out the distinction between internment and evacuation, explaining that under the evacuation program, the military commander of an area could determine who would be permitted to remain in the area and under what conditions, who should be removed from the area, or who might enter the area. Outside of designated military areas, citizens of the United States, he explained, were free to come and go. The Army's control over such persons applied only in these designated military areas.

He advised that the guarding by the Army of small camps, such as might be provided by former CCC camps, would be impractical from a military standpoint, and that the Army would not undertake to guard centers housing less than 5,000 persons.

The Salt Lake City conference was extremely disappointing to those who had hoped that favorable reception for the evacuees could be obtained by informing State officials of the exact nature of the

--7--

evacuees' situation. Mr. Eisenhower, in closing the meeting, said that, in view of the attitudes and conditions specified by the governors and attorneys general of the States, immediate requests for evacuee workers would have to be denied.

The Salt Lake City conference was fundamental in setting the character of relocation centers as they finally evolved.

Factors Changing Relocation Plans

In planning the establishment of relocation centers, every possible attempt was made to make them approximate the American small town. Even in the planning stage, it was realized that this degree of approximation could not be close, and once the centers came into being, it was obvious that they could never bear more than superficial resemblance to normal free communities. Perhaps the most noticeable of the deviations from normal living was the absence of cooking facilities in the family unit. Community cooking, community eating, community bathing and toilet facilities which were common to all relocation centers are not common to American living, and they tended to lessen the effectiveness of family relationships. Equally conspicuous and out of the normal pattern was the barbed wire fence patrolled by military police which surrounded each relocation center. This not only limited the movement of residents, but was also psychologically bad.

It was quickly realized that: (1) loyalty would not flourish in an atmosphere of restriction and discriminatory segregation; (2) it was recognized that such wide and enforced deviation from normal cultural patterns of living might have lasting and unfavorable effects on the individuals exposed to them, particularly children and young people; and, (3) that there was an obligation on the part of the War Relocation Authority both to the evacuated people and to the people of the United States to restore all loyal citizens and law abiding aliens to normal useful American life with all possible speed.

Seasonal Leave

The War Relocation Authority had no sooner announced its decision to send all evacuees to large relocation centers following the Salt Lake City conference, than agricultural interests in the Inter-Mountain States began requesting the release of evacuees directly to communities in these States for work in sugar beet fields

--8--

and other types of agriculture. These requests which were advanced with great force were in direct conflict with the governors' and public officials' thinking in these States as expressed at the conference. These requests began to be received about mid-April, and by May, were very insistent.

The Authority recognized that its position would be untenable with a large reserve of workers idle in relocation centers. Executive Order No. 9102 had provided that workers volunteer for the duration of the war and would be placed in private or public employment under the direct supervision of the War Relocation Authority. It had been expected that evacuees would greet the work corps with favor and that most able-bodied young people would wish to join it. The first official attempt to gain recruits for the work corps was in the Portland Assembly Center about mid-May. Workers joining there were to be sent to beet fields in eastern Oregon to help in meeting a severe spring labor shortage. Four men were sent from the San Francisco regional office to the Portland Assembly Center to start the enlistment. They found the evacuees wary of the work corps idea and full of questions for which no answers were ready. The enlistment form impressed the evacuees as bearing too much resemblance to a blank check presented for their signature. No workers were recruited at Portland, and upon the recommendation of the recruitment team, the work corps plan for recruiting seasonal workers was abandoned.

The demand for seasonal workers in the Inter-Mountain States continued to grow. The very governors who had been opposed to the presence of any evacuees in their areas, except under armed guard, were now in the position of demanding that the War Department release evacuees from assembly centers to assist their farmers in the spring work. Finally, at the insistence of several large beet companies and farm organizations, most governors and other public officials were forced to reverse their stand.

IN order to protect the interest of both the evacuees and the general public, the Director of the War Relocation Authority and the head of the Wartime Civil Control Administration, drew up a plan whereby evacuees could be released from assembly centers for seasonal agricultural work. This agreement provided that the State governors and the local law enforcement officials, including the sheriff, county judge, county prosecuting attorney and a county commissioner would sign a pledge that evacuee labor was needed,and that, if released to the county and State, the above officials would guarantee the safety of the workers.This agreement also provided that the employer would provide transportation to and from the assembly center or relocation center, that they would pay prevailing wages, that

--9--

there would be no displacement of local labor and finally that the United States Employment Service in the county would guarantee that adequate housing would be provided, without cost to the evacuee, in the area of employment.

At this time, the great majority of evacuees were in assembly centers under the jurisdiction of the Army, and before the Army would release any evacuee,it was necessary for the War Relocation Authority to accept the responsibility for administering the program. It was also necessary, before any workers were released, for the WRA to forward documentary proof to the commanding general of the Western Defense Command that the State and community had met all of the above conditions. Upon receipt of this proof, the general issued a public proclamation permitting certain evacuees to work in a specific county only. These proclamations were posted in the county in question and prohibited the evacuees from moving from that county without his permission. The first county which complied with these regulations was Malheur County in the State of Oregon. Recruiters from the Amalgamated Sugar Company went into the Portland and Puyallup Assembly Centers with the officials of the United States Employment Service. They at first had very little success in recruiting the number of workers desired. Evacuees were very reluctant to venture into the outside areas where they were still being criticized by many public officials and by the population as a whole. They were also dubious about working conditions, and were afraid that they might be getting into something from which they could not withdraw.

However, on or about May 20, a small party of about a dozen evacuees left the Portland Assembly Center for Nyssa, Oregon. After a few days of exploring the living and working conditions in the area, they reported back favorably to the Portland Assembly Center, and immediately, additional workers were recruited. Numerous counties in Idaho, Utah, and Montana then made application for workers. In most counties and in most States, however, some of the public officials whose names were required on the seasonal work agreement objected to the use of evacuee laborers,or wanted to put special conditions on their use. A great deal of pressure was applied on the Army and the War Relocation Authority to modify the conditions under which the workers would be released to these areas. However, the Authority refused, and eventually most of the Western States and a good share of the counties where seasonal labor was needed,signed standard agreements for the use of evacuee labor. By the end of June, approximately 1,500 workers had been recruited. Attempts had been made to recruit many times this number, and there was a great deal of criticism against the evacuees and against the War Relocation Authority because so few evacuees had volunteered for seasonal work. Farmers and other employers who were desperately in need of getting labor could not understand the fears of evacuees; neither could they

--10--

understand that, out of 113,000 people, only a small proportion were able and qualified to do the work in question.

Many public officials were worried about the treatment evacuees might receive in inland areas. Elements in some of the communities to which evacuees were going were bitterly opposed to their coming. Some threats were made against the evacuees. However, on the whole, there were few incidents and none of these were serious. Word was gotten around in the communities that these newcomers were Federal charges and that anyone acting against them would be answerable to Federal officials. There were instances of fist fights and other minor difficulties, but the speed with which these incidents were dealt with and the fact that inquiries were made by Federal officials discouraged repetition. On several occasions, WRA threatened to withdraw workers from individual communities, and, as a result of these threats, employers saw to it that reception was immediately improved. Public officials who had signed statements offering protection to the evacuees know that they were no the spot, and were generally diligent in quieting opposition. Evacuees won for themselves many friends, which tended to ease tensions. Most employers were high in their praise of the evacuees in comparison to other seasonal laborers. This last fact, coupled with the careful, conscientious job done by most of the evacuees, raised another problem, however, leading to a great deal of bidding among employers for their services. The initial employers had gone to unusual expense to recruit evacuees and pay their transportation. Other employers in the community would then try to lure away these workers by offering better wages and better housing. The public relations program resulting from this labor pirating made it necessary eventually to work out a specific contract which bound both the employer and employee as long as contract conditions were met.

After the urgent need for spring labor lessened, there was in most areas, a slack period, and the problem of keeping the evacuees employed became a major one. Frequently, evacuees after only a day or two of unemployment requested immediate return to the assembly center, leading to dissatisfaction on the party of the employer who had hoped to keep the evacuees in the field during the entire season.

Up to the middle of July, there was only one person in the San Francisco office assigned to the administration of the entire seasonal leave program. Everyone, including law enforcement officers, had come to regard evacuees as being quite special cases. The San Francisco office was flooded with questions. In some instances,local law enforcement officers were reluctant to arrest an evacuee who broke local laws and ordinances, and called the San Francisco office for advice on this and other minor problems. In July 1942, one additional employee was placed on the staff and sent to the field

--11--

to work on local problems. However,during all of the summer months, these two individuals assigned to the seasonal leave program had more work to do than they could properly accomplish.

In early September, the sugar beet companies from the inter-mountain country sent representatives to San Francisco to attempt to work out a larger seasonal leave program for the fall harvest. Six or eight large companies were represented, covering States as far east as Nebraska and North and South Dakota. Most of the evacuees were still in assembly centers and the Army was represented at the meeting. The process of transferring from assembly centers to relocation centers, however, was in full swing and decisions in administrative planning at this meeting rested with the War Relocation Authority. A general work contract was agreed upon and the ground work was laid for a large recruitment program in all assembly centers and in the relocation centers that were already opened. The Authority started recruiting additional personnel to handle the expected large movement of workers and by the middle of October had established offices in Boise and Idaho Falls, Idaho; Helena and Havre,Mont.; and in Salt Lake City,Utah. These offices were to be administered by the San Francisco regional office. Each was staffed with one employment investigator and one secretary. The Denver region employed two relocation officers to work in Wyoming and Colorado.

Shortly following the seasonal work conference in San Francisco, which was to coordinate all recruiting activities, the San Francisco office received applications for tens of thousands of seasonal workers. In addition to the sugar companies, many individual farmers, agricultural companies and industrial concerns applied for evacuee labor. Each of them expected to get labor within a few days' time, and chagrin was expressed over delays and disappointments in regard to employers' requests. By the middle of October, however, approximately 10,00 evacuees were scattered through the Western States helping in harvest work. They made a major contribution in saving agricultural crops in the inter-mountain area during the fall of 1942.

While the seasonal leave program was getting started during the spring, thousands of persons in assembly centers or still "frozen" in their homes, were clamoring to be permitted to leave. Voluntary evacuation under certain conditions was still permitted by the Army even after the order of March 29 was issued which forbade free movement of Japanese out of designated military areas. Subsequent to that date, a relatively few Japanese were permitted by the Military to leave on the basis of "rather thorough investigation." Most of these were the families of persons who had previously found jobs outside the restricted area. Although more than 10,000 persons served formal notices of intention to leave Military Area No. 1 during the period when they might leave on any basis at all, only

--12--

4,889 actually established themselves in free territory during the entire period. Colorado received 1,963, Utah, 1,519, Idaho, 305, eastern Washington, 208, eastern Oregon, 115, with the remainder scattered throughout other States.

About 4,000 persons migrated from Military Area No. 1 to Military Area No. 2 from March 12 to June 30, 1942, when such moves were recorded. About 90 percent of this migration was to Military Area No. 2 in California, which was later evacuated. People who had moved into eastern California voluntarily, and frequently with considerable hardship, in compliance with the requests of General DeWitt that they evacuate from Military Area No. 1, were most bitter when, without further warning, they were involuntarily evacuated from their new homes. While no commitment had been made by General DeWitt to the effect that eastern California might lot later be evacuated, it had generally been assumed by this group that in complying with the general's request they would avoid the hardships of detention,, whereas in fact,they suffered the inconveniences and difficulties of voluntary evacuation plus all of the hardships which would have been their lot had they originally remained in their homes.

In addition to such leaves as the Army permitted for the purposes of seasonal work or for individuals under special circumstances to join relatives east of the restricted area, some young people were permitted to leave the coastal area for the purpose of continuing college and university studies. Almost from the beginning of evacuation, a number of nongovernmental organizations, notably the American Friends Service Committee, had begun work on this problem with the formation of the National Student Relocation Council. In the latter part of May 1942, the efforts of these groups were united and brought into sharper focus. The council, established with the express approval of the War Relocation Authority and the War Department and composed of a number of college presidents and other prominent educators, rounded out its final organization in a meeting held at Chicago on May 29. President John W. Mason of Swarthmore College was elected chairman, and national headquarters were established in Philadelphia. During June, the activities of the council were carried forward by two coordinate groups. The west coast subcommittee operated under the leadership of Joseph Conard, and concentrated its efforts on students interested in transfer and on investigation of their academic fitness and financial status. The eastern group, with President Robbins W. Barstow of Hartford (Conn.) Theological Seminary as executive secretary, meanwhile directed its efforts toward determining which colleges or universities outside the evacuated area would accept evacuee students and how many evacuees might thus be transferred. Clearance of colleges with the War and Navy Departments was handled by the War Relocation Authority.

--13--

At the same time the Authority was exploring with a number of college officials the possibility of extension or correspondence courses in relocation centers so as to provide for the needs of students unwilling or unable to transfer to outside institutions.

Looking to the opening of the fall term at colleges and universities, the War Relocation Authority and the National Student Relocation Council intensified their efforts throughout the summer of 1942 to arrange for the attendance of properly qualified evacuee students at institutions outside the evacuated area.By September 30, a total of 143 colleges, universities and junior colleges had been approved for student relocation by both the War and Navy Departments. In general, these Departments excluded, on the basis of military security, those colleges having Army or Navy contracts. However, those approved included such liberal arts colleges as Swarthmore, such State universities as Nebraska and Texas, such women's colleges as Smith and Radcliff, such Catholic institutions as Gonzaga, such teachers' colleges as Colorado State College of Education, such technical institutions as the Milwaukee College of Engineering, and such specialized schools as the Northern College of Optometry and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Under a tentative leave policy adopted on July 20, a total of 250 students were granted educational leaves from assembly centers and relocation centers prior to September 30. Some of these students left during late July and August to attend summer sessions at various institutions, but the majority went on leave in September and resumed their educations with the opening of the fall academic term.

Early Relocation Policies

During the first months of WRA's existence, a small staff was busy meeting the urgent, pressing problems--problems of getting the first relocation centers into operation; of feeding and housing; and meeting the other minimum needs of the thousands of people arriving in the centers; establishing policies for work in the centers and of assigning evacuees to work; of handling the thousands of requests from western farmers for evacuee labor and of getting the labor out to the farmers; of handling arrangements for individual hardship cases--usually people having families already on the outside--to leave the centers. At this period there became evident what appears to be a complete reversal of national policy in regard to the disposition of the evacuated people. Initially, the Army, in ordering the evacuation, had apparently anticipated that the west coast Japanese would be able, without Government aid, to move to unrestricted areas of the country and continue normal self-support. The adverse

--14--

experiences of voluntary evacuees and the unfavorable community attitudes shown in many, if not most, sections of the country to which they had gone, the bewilderment of the uprooted people and the fears which many of them so plainly showed toward resettlement, had caused most concerned people to be of the opinion that relocation centers would need to be maintained as havens of refuge for the duration of the war for the majority of the evacuees. It was not forgotten, however, that regulations had to be established under which those evacuees who wanted to leave the centers for seasonal work or for other purposes could be permitted to do so. The establishment of these regulations presented a problem of conflicting needs. The legality and desirability of detaining evacuees, particularly the American citizens among them, was questionable. However, the hostility, doubts and fears of the public at large, engendered by the evacuation towards this group of people, had to be recognized as did the fears and doubts of the evacuees themselves. Consequently, WRA decided that it would have to work out a program of controlled relocation which would permit the relocation of a majority of the population as fast as the fears of the public could be allayed.

Early Procedures

The primary concern of the War Relocation Authority at this time was the meeting of minimum physical needs of people arriving in the relocation centers. Little time was available to plan and work out any kind of relocation program. However, because of extreme pressures, by the early summer of 1942, a general policy had been established for seasonal agricultural leave. The first general leave regulations for permanent relocation issued by the War Relocation Authority were contained in a tentative leave policy dated July 20, 1942. Only American-born evacuees who had never lived or studied in Japan were permitted to apply for leave under these regulations, and leave was granted only to applicants who had definite offers of employment outside the area under jurisdiction of the Western Defense Command. It must be remembered that, at this time, the majority of evacuees were still under Army jurisdiction in assembly centers and that many remained under the Army's control until November 1942. It was consequently necessary to get Army permits for these individuals to leave. The Army was generally extremely reluctant to release individuals. Many permits requested by the War Relocation Authority were turned down by the Army.

Caution in planning these first leave regulations was also inspired by instances of violence and threats against the Japanese which occurred during the voluntary evacuation period and by statements which were still being received from many parts of the country

--15--

that the evacuees were not wanted. Ignorance of the program and lack of previous contact with Japanese had led to individual evacuees being molested, and communities in which they had arrived, unannounced, being upset. The first leave regulations were consequently cautious ones and were aimed to release only individuals who could be expected to adjust most readily to early resettlement conditions.

Even as these restricted regulations were being initiated, more liberal ones were being worked out, and considerably more comprehensive set of regulations which would permit leave for broader sections of the population became effective October 1. By this time, most of the evacuees had been transferred to relocation centers and were under the sole jurisdiction of the War Relocation Authority. Also, the outstanding success of the seasonal leave program, distinguished by an almost complete lack of major disturbances and the acceptance of evacuees by residents of communities which had been originally hostile, indicated that relocation and private employment in other parts of the country might be feasible. The Chief of the Employment Division made several trips through the Middle West during the fall to canvass relocation possibilities in that part of the country. While there had been some instances of protest from midwestern communities, he became convinced that if the program were judiciously handled resettlement of evacuees in this part of the country was practical.

Under these new regulations, any evacuee, citizens or alien, could apply for leave to visit or reside in any locality outside the evacuated area. Three types of leave from relocation centers were provided for in the regulations.

1. Short-term leave was intended for the evacuee who wished to leave the center for a period of not more than a few weeks in order to consult a medical specialist, negotiate a property arrangement, or transact other personal business. It was granted by the project director for a definite period after careful investigation of the applicant. If the project director denied an application for short-term leave, appeal could be made to the National Director whose decision was final.

2. Work-group leave (laster called seasonal leave) was designed for evacuees who wished to leave the center for seasonal agricultural work. Like short-term leave, it was granted by the project director for a definite period (which could be extended) and was subject to investigation at the center. Wherever possible, a record check was made with FBI and the intelligence services on applicants for this type of leave. However, the project director had the power to grant such leave without this check if he felt that circumstances warranted.

--16--

3. Indefinite leave was granted to evacuees only by the National Director and only if four specific requirements were met: (a) the applicant for such leave had to have a definite offer of a job or some other means of support; (b) there must be no evidence in the applicant's record either at the relocation center or with the several Federal intelligence services indicating that he would endanger the national security; (c) there had to be reasonable evidence that the applicant's presence would not be unacceptable in the community in which he planned to live; and (d) the applicant had to agree to keep WRA informed of any change of address.

The first of the four requirements for leave was to reassure communities to which evacuees might be going that they would not become public charges and had reasonable assurance of self-support. The second was to reassure the receiving community of the newcomers' loyalty. The third requirement was made in order to give reasonable assurance to the evacuee regarding the reception which he might expect in the new community. It was also intended to give the WRA time to prepare the community for his reception. THe need for such preparation was clearly evidenced by the unfortunate experiences of voluntary evacuees going into communities which did not understand their situation. Once an unfortunate incident occurred, it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get that community to accept other evacuees. The fourth requirement in regard to notice of address change was to enable the War Relocation Authority to serve the evacuee.

Within the centers, during the first few months of their operation, facilities were not well developed for assisting the evacuee in his plans to relocate. Staff was frequently inadequate in numbers, and inexperienced in its new job. The handling of leave applications and of advice to evacuees in regard to relocation plans was originally made a part of the functions of the employment division in the center which, at that time, had as its most immediate function the assignment of workers to job within the project itself and the recruitment of workers for essential project jobs. Commonly, the same appointed staff member in the center was in the position of having to choose between advising an evacuee engineer, for example, who services were badly needed on the project, to take this project job at the same time that openings might exist for the same individual in communities outside the center. The employment division staff was also responsible for the assignment of housing in the center. During the summer of 1942, this was a critical assignment, and frequently precluded much time being spent on relocation.

--17--

Early Relocation Progress

The movement of evacuees out of the centers and back into life in outside communities began very slowly. Prior to October 1, 1942, fewer than 273evacuees (including students) had gone out of the relocation centers on indefinite leave under the policy of July 20. By the end of the year, 2,200 applications for advance clearance had been file,d but only 250 applications for indefinite leave had been granted and only 866 evacuees had actually left the centers. It should be pointed out,however, that, in addition to the 193 persons who left relocation centers on indefinite leave, approximately 750 persons who left assembly and relocation centers on seasonal leave did not return to a center.

The slow progress of the relocation program was due to many factors. The procedures governing leave clearance were cumbersome and time consuming. Applications had to be assembled at the centers and forwarded to Washington.In Washington they had to be sent to the intelligence agencies to be checked against their files; then they had to be reviewed and returned to the centers.

In addition to the procedural difficulties, there were adverse psychological factors. Many evacuees were reluctant to leave the sanctuary of the centers and face a public which might be hostile. Others were bitter because of evacuations and decided they would not leave until they could return to their own homes with all of their civil rights restored. An unmeasurable but important factor was the amount of misinformation circulated at the centers. Some of these rumors, most of them without any foundation in truth and some of them calculated to arouse extreme fear, were deliberately concocted by trouble-makers. Some influence against relocation was also exerted by individuals who had acquired prestige in the new communities and were anxious to retain not only their leadership but the continued presence of the people they were leading.

Stories were whispered to the effect that relocating people would be used as slave laborers, would be underpaid and uncared for. There were occasional tales of individuals and even groups having been murdered. Minor incidents and unpleasantnesses experienced by a few of the early resettlers were exaggerated or misunderstood and grew into fanciful tales of extreme hardship. In the atmosphere of distrust and confusion existing at the centers, each of these rumors was likely to assume grotesque proportions. In addition, a number of the Caucasian appointed staff were innocently or otherwise guilty of opposing plans for relocation, and of contributing to the mass of misinformation. A small percentage of the Caucasian staff members were

--18--

was designed to speed the procedures of leave clearance, collecting in one operation personal data on all evacuee residents over 16 years of age.

The third step was the adoption in mid-March of a policy providing for limited cash grants to needy evacuees going out of the centers.

The fourth step was the decentralization of the leave clearance machinery so that in the majority of cases indefinite leave could be granted at the relocation centers without referral to Washington.

The Opening of Field Offices

To administer the seasonal work program, seven field offices had been opened in the Inter-Mountain States. While these offices were established because of the seasonal leave program, as early as November 1942, they began to devote a good share of their time to promoting permanent relocation among seasonal workers, and were successful in helping many seasonal workers to remain outside the centers at the end of their work contract. In December, plans were made to open field offices in the Middle West and East to effect permanent resettlement.

Even before relocation offices were formally opened, resettlement committees had been established in many midwestern cities. Groups of concerned individuals representing many interests in the community, particularly the churches, had formed resettlement committees in Chicago, Minneapolis, Madison (Wis.), Cleveland and other cities, as a result of visits by the Chief of the Employment Division during the fall of 1942, and through the efforts of the Federal Council of Churches. At first, these committees had chiefly concerned themselves with assisting voluntary evacuees who had come into their cities. Later some of the committees began correspondence with center residents with a view to assisting individuals to relocate.

The first midwestern relocation office was opened in Chicago on January 4, 1943. In rapid succession similar offices were set up in Cleveland, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Milwaukee, New York, and numerous other key cities throughout the Middle West and East. By the close of the fiscal year 1943, there were 42of these offices scattered from Spokane, Wash., to Boston, Mass. For the next 2 years, offices showed only a slight increase, but there was substantial shifting in the location as the general trend of relocation moved eastward. Thus offices in the inter-mountain region

--19--

distrustful of the Japanese population in the centers, regarded them as "the enemy," and regarded themselves as jailers. This small group naturally opposed relocation planning both from a policy standpoint and in their contacts with evacuee workers. A second small group of Caucasian employees were overly sympathetic to evacuees and honestly shared with them their fears of unpleasantnesses to be faced outside the comparative safety of the centers. Because of the obvious genuineness of persons in this second group and the friendships which they were able to build up with evacuees and the consequent influence they exercised, their effect on relocation planning was probably the greatest deterrent effected by appointed staff members. A third and smaller group of Caucasian staff members were chiefly interested in maintaining their jobs and saw in relocation planning the eventual loss of employment. In general, the influence of the first and third groups ceased to be effective among most evacuees as the basis of their opposition became apparent. Many members of these two groups were weeded out as the program progressed.

Other factors, too, tended to hold back evacuees. They were seriously hampered by remoteness from places where there were jobs. Unable to make direct contact with potential employers some residents had no effective way of knowing where jobs were, what types were available, or how to apply for them. Also, having lived for a few months in the centers without earnings, many evacuees lacked the cash necessary to establish themselves in new communities.

With all of the centers operating and the physical needs of the residents met, a heightened awareness developed of the need to promote relocation actively. The destructive effects of center life on the evacuees' morale was considerably more obvious after a few months of center living. Pressure for manpower throughout the country also compelled recognition of the large untapped manpower resources in the centers and of the excellent opportunities available to evacuees in most communities. The successful use of 10,000 seasonal workers in the fall of 1942 proved that large scale relocation was possible.

In the early months of 1943, the War Relocation Authority took action in a number of ways to accelerate outward movement. The first step was the establishment of field offices in a number of key cities throughout the Middle West and East to facilitate contact between private employers and evacuees at the centers and to develop widespread community acceptance for evacuees.

A second step was a large scale registration program carried out at the centers in February and March of 1943. This registration

--20--

closed or were consolidated while new offices appeared in such cities as Grand Rapids, Mich., and Buffalo, N.Y.

Relocation offices were of two kinds, area offices and district offices. Each of the eight area offices was headed by a relocation supervisor and was generally responsible for relocation work of a rather broad geographical area. District offices, on the other hand, functioned under the general guidance of the relocation supervisor and in the immediate vicinity of the cities in which they were located. Area offices were maintained in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Little Rock, New York and Boston.

Both types of offices were assigned essentially the same basic functions. They served to provide the public in local areas with information about evacuees and the War Relocation Authority program. They solicited job offers, analyzed them and forwarded satisfactory ones to the relocation centers. They provided the War Relocation Authority with important information on public attitudes toward Japanese Americans in communities where relocation was contemplated. They fostered the establishment of new resettlement committees and collaborated with those already in existence to help resettling evacuees in a wide variety of ways to become satisfactorily established.

In the early months of their existence, the relocation offices were primarily concerned with creating favorable community acceptance and with finding suitable jobs that evacuees might fill. As a means of affecting community attitudes, relocation officers gave talks to business, professional, social, civic, church and fraternal groups; met with employers individually and in groups, enlisted the aid of unions when possible, and spoke to employees in plants where employment of Japanese was contemplated. Newspapers were provided with information in regard to the program. This public relations program was sufficiently successful so that in most communities opposition did not crystallize or become an organized movement. In those few communities in which opposition did organize, sufficient support for the program had been developed that, almost without exception, relocation continued to be possible and satisfactory. As a result of these efforts, job offers quickly piled up in relocation offices in greater quantities than they could be filled. As an example, the Chicago office by July 1, 1943, had offers which would have required more than 10,000 individuals to fill. These offers represented a wide although not all inclusive range of occupation. War plants and employers seeking domestic help were the most numerous and they were the most insistent upon getting the help which they had requested.

--21--

The early excess of job offers over takers from the centers led to a rather serious public relations problem, particularly in small communities and rural sections. Many employers had counted definitely on securing the help which they had requested and some of them had gone to considerable lengths to prepare for the advent of Japanese workers. Failing in most cases to get the requested help, employers' attitudes ranged from simple disappointment to unreasonable anger and in some cases, particularly in rural sections, to a condemnation of the Japanese group for its failure to leave what was regarded by some as a life of ease in the relocation centers and to accept wartime employment. While bitterness of this sort was most common among domestic employers, it was more serious when coming from essential war plants and agriculture.

Sending job descriptions to the centers in volume was not very satisfactory. Evacuees who accepted employment on the basis of these usually scanty job descriptions and without a real knowledge of the job or personal contact with employers often found themselves unsatisfactorily place and there was a tendency to change jobs as soon as better opened up. Similarly, employers were sometimes disappointed in the individuals hired by correspondence or through the relocation officer as intermediary. In many instance, employers had advanced funds to evacuees for their relocation. This made the problem more serious.

Leave Clearance Registration and Army Recruitment Program

The War Relocation Authority registration program and the program of recruiting for military service by the Army were carried out simultaneously at all relocation centers in February and March 1943. These programs were hastened by Secretary of War Stimson's announcement of January 28, 1943, that the War Department would create an all-Nisei combat team composed of volunteers from relocation centers in the United States and from Hawaii. When the War Relocation Authority was informed that the Army was planning a recruitment program in the centers, it was already developing plans for a mass registration of all adults to speed up the leave clearance procedures. The Army and the War Relocation Authority needed much the same type of background information about the people in the centers, and consequently the decision was made to combine Army recruitment and leave clearance registration in one large-scale operation to be carried out jointly by the Army and the War Relocation Authority.

It was believed that residents would welcome news of the formation of a Nisei combat team as an initial step toward the

--22--

restoration of citizenship rights. It was consequently expected that registration would proceed smoothly. However, the initial reaction of many Nisei in every center was one of resentment, because the proposed combat team was to be a segregated unit. The saw in the Army's program another instance of discrimination rather than one of restoration of rights.

In each center, the registration program produced high emotional tension, and in some centers a crisis situation. It raised issues of major importance in the lives of evacuees--equality of citizenship, the obligation of military service, and Issei status. In addition the objection of many Nisei to the segregated nature of the proposed military service, many felt that they were being forced to volunteer for military service, whereas other Americans normally were waiting to be drafted. This belief that they were being forced to volunteer for military service was at least partially due to a misunderstanding of the wording of one of the questions on the registration form which required male Nisei of military age to state whether or not they were willing to serve in the armed forces.While it was the intention of this question simply to ask whether or not the individual was willing to serve if required to do so by Selective Service, it was not so interpreted by most Nisei. Some of the appointed staff were also not sure of the meaning of this question. To add to the confusion, it was at the same time that the Army's recruiting sergeants were bringing pressure to bear on the Nisei to enlist for the combat team. There is no question but what many of the negative answers and qualified answers to this question were the result of failure to understand it. Many Nisei also faced a not unnatural parental resistance to volunteering for service in advance of the normal action of Selective Service.

Prospective volunteers were concerned about what might happen to their Issei parents if they were killed in battle. They knew that their parents could not inherit real estate under the laws of the States in the evacuated area. They wondered if their enemy alien parents would be eligible for GI allotments. They knew that their elders, especially where they were non-English speaking or becoming infirm because of age, would face more than average difficulty if they were eventually forced out of the centers and into unfamiliar parts of the United States without their grown children to help them. One question on the registration form which Issei were required to answer was interpreted as, in effect, causing them to renounce Japan and embrace the United States, which country's laws prohibited them from securing citizenship status. Answering this question in the affirmative, in the understanding of it, would have left them men without a country.

--23--

The registration and recruitment programs are told in greater detail in reports of other divisions of the agency. As far as relocation is concerned, it had this positive result. The War Relocation Authority now had accumulated an extensive background of information on virtually every adult resident in the centers. For the first time, data required in connection with leave clearance was readily available on practically anyone who might apply for indefinite leave. The ground work had been laid for faster processing of leave applications, decentralization of leave procedure, and segregation of those whose loyalties seemed to lie with Japan.

While registration clarified leave for most of the evacuees, it also complicated leave for many others. Under circumstances of confusion, misunderstanding, bad advice, and parental pressures, many answered loyalty questions with qualifications. Others, under duress and distress, expressed a lack of loyalty to the United States which they did not really feel. Persons falling into these last two groups, when time came for them to apply for leave clearance, found themselves at least temporarily and sometimes indefinitely blocked by elaborate procedures and repeated hearings with resultant delays. These people in turn tended to delay the relocation of family members and friends.

Changes in Leave Procedures

During the early months of 1943, as the relocation field offices began functioning and the old indefinite leave program began gaining tempo and broader scope, it became necessary for the War Relocation Authority to make a number of changes in its basic leave regulations. These changes were made primarily to speed up and simplify leave procedures by transferring to field offices and relocation centers several functions which had been previously exercised in Washington. Under the basic leave regulations which became effective on October 1, 1942, two actions were of central importance: (1) the application for leave clearance, and (2) the application for an indefinite leave permit. The first of these applications was submitted on a form somewhat similar to the questionnaire used during registration. Its purpose was to provide personal background data that could be used in determining eligibility for indefinite leave from a standpoint of national security. The application for an indefinite leave permit was made at the time the applicant was actually preparing to leave the center. It called for the specific destination of the individual, a description of the arrangements which had been made for employment or support outside the relocation center, and an agreement to keep the War Relocation Authority notified of changes in address.

--24--

Until March 1943, each of these applications, whether made simultaneously or separately, was submitted to the Washington office for final action. In processing applications for clearance, a careful examination was made of information collected about the applicant at the relocation center, and a check was made against the files of Federal intelligence agencies. If there was no evidence from either source that the applicant might endanger the national security or interfere with the war effort, clearance was granted. Processing of applications for indefinite leave involved ascertaining that the applicant had a definite destination and means of support, usually a job, and checking as to whether or not public attitudes in the community to which he was going were such as to insure his safety. Prior to establishment of the field relocation offices, the check on public attitudes was usually made by writing to key officials and leading citizens in the community to which the evacuee was going. This check by correspondence was almost invariably unsatisfactory since,until public relations work was done in most communities, reaction of public officials was commonly negative.

The first really important change in these procedures was made in tentative form on March 3, and clarified in greater detail on March 20. As finally worked out, the new procedure provided for decentralization of the handling of applications for indefinite leave.The purely mechanical function of issuing leave permits in cases where clearance had been granted was transferred to the relocation center. The important function of checking community attitudes was made the responsibility of the relocation field offices. The net effect was to accelerate handling of indefinite leave applications, to give field offices some control over the timing of the movement of resettlers into their districts, and to give them time to set in motion favorable public opinion.

The second significant change was adopted on March 24, 1943. It set up a system of providing financial assistance for evacuees leaving the centers on indefinite leave. Such assistance was limited to cases of actual need and was provided only to evacuees who were leaving the centers for the purpose of taking a job. It was not provided to those going out on student leave or those with independent means. The scale of grants was established at $50 for evacuees leaving the center without dependents, $75 for those leaving with one dependent, and a maximum of $100 for those leaving with two or more dependents. It was necessary to limit the size and number of such grants quite strictly since the Authority had at that time no money in its budget allocated specifically for this purpose. Later modifications adopted in April and May provided that grants might be made to the families of men in the armed services regardless of the purpose for which they were leaving the centers, and that evacuees going out to live temporarily in hostels for the

--25--

purpose of seeking employment after arrival would also be eligible. Later in the year, a further change in schedule of leave assistance grants was made to stimulate family relocation. The ceiling per family unit of $100 had proved an obstacle to the relocation of larger families. The new ruling reduced the grant for the individual going out alone to $25,but allowed $25 per capita to family groups regardless of size. Coach fare and $3 per diem while en route to destination were provided in addition to the fixed cash grant.

A third major modification of the leave procedures and regulations was made on April 2, 1943. Once registration was completed and all dockets processed through the intelligence agencies, the War Relocation Authority was in a position to speed up clearance as a separate step in the leave procedures. The amendment of April 2 authorized project directors to grant indefinite leave permits without referral to the Washington office and in advance of leave clearance, provided certain basic requirements were met. The most important of these requirements were: (1) the applicant must have answered loyalty questions during registration with an unqualified affirmative, and 92) the project director must be satisfied, on the basis of evidence available at the relocation center, that the applicant would not endanger national security or interfere with the war effort. Issuance of permits in advance of leave clearance, however, was specifically prohibited in the case of (a) those who had applied for repatriation or expatriation to Japan, (b) those whose application for leave clearance had previously been denied, (c) Shinto priests, (d) aliens released on parole from internment camps by the Department of Justice, and (e) those who were planning to relocate in one of the eastern seaboard States in the Eastern Defense Command.

Japanese American Joint Board

The Japanese American Joint Board established by War Department order dated January 20, 1943, was composed of one representative each from the War Relocation Authority, Office of Naval Intelligence, Army Intelligence and the Provost Marshal General's Office. The board was created specifically to assist in determining the loyalty of American citizens of Japanese ancestry, and to determine their eligibility for war plant employment. Early in 1943, the Joint Board agreed to consider the cases of all evacuee citizens 17 years of age and over, and to make recommendations to the War Relocation Authority on the granting of indefinite leave.

Recommendations of the Joint Board, according to terms of the agreement, were not binding on the War Relocation Authority. However,

--26--

the War Relocation Authority was guided by these recommendation to the extent of making further investigations in all the cases where the Joint Board had failed to recommend the granting of indefinite leave. The War Relocation Authority, at the request of the Army, agreed for a period not to issue indefinite leave for relocation within the Eastern Defense Command and the coastal areas of the Southern Defense Command to any individual whose case the Joint Board disapproved. Up to December 14, 1943, the War Relocation Authority kept this agreement. However, the length of time consumed by Joint Board clearance had in many instances cost eligible evacuees to lose desirable job offers in the Eastern States. After the last movement to Tule Lake of those evacuees whose loyalty did not seem to lie with America, the War Relocation Authority withdrew from this agreement.

Early in 1944, the Joint Board dissolved, returning to the War Relocation Authority about 1,000 cases upon which it had taken no action. From them on, clearance for war plant employment was handled by the Provost Marshal General's Office. The Joint Board had functioned more as a deterrent to relocation than as an aid as had been hoped. The following are statistics of the board's operations after it had operated for 1 year and shortly before it was dissolved:

Total number of cases referred by the War Relocation Authority           37,425
Approved for Eastern Defense Command but not investigated for war plant employment   21,167
Approved for Eastern Defense Command and war plant employment.   491
Approved for Eastern Defense Command but referred to Western Defense Command   2,485
Disapproved   11,728
No action taken   489

In the case of those few persons who were cleared for war plant work, the long delays before clearance forced most of them into less essential employment. The actions of the Joint Board, in the minds of the evacuees, furnished one more case of discrimination. The psychological block thus formed proved one of the greatest deterrents to relocation.

Leave Clearance Investigations

As a result of Joint Board actions and adverse intelligence information on specific individuals, approximately 12,000 cases were returned to the centers for further investigation before July 1, 1944. The purpose of such investigation was to develop by individual hearing

--27--

factual information concerning the evacuee's attitude and loyalty in order to resolve to a reasonable degree any questionable factors regarding the issuance or denial of leave clearance. Leave clearance was never denied except on the basis of individual hearings at the center, and was denied only by the National Director of the War Relocation Authority. Most of those who were denied leave clearance were transferred to the segregation center at Tule Lake.

In order to establish a procedure which would operate uniformly, it was necessary to promulgate an appropriate administrative instruction to the relocation centers and field offices. The project director at each center established a hearing board, and in September 1943, the Director set up a review committee in Washington with the Head of the Leave Section as chairman. The function of this committee was to review objectively the project hearings and to make independent recommendations for or against leave clearance to the Director. About 20 staff members recruited from various divisions of the Authority served in either full time or part time capacity on the committee.

At the time the Joint Board returned the cases upon which its action had been unfavorable, the Leave Section prepared transmittal letters and assembled material essential for project hearings on each of them> Evacuees whose cases had been unfavorably reported were placed on a "stop" list and could not be granted leave by the project director until a hearing was held and leave clearance approved by the Director.

In many months of association with the evacuee population, the War Relocation Authority accumulated a large amount of information about each evacuee 17 years of age or older. The Leave Section files contained information on such topics as the individual's education, employment record, relative sin Japan, knowledge of the Japanese language, investments in Japan, organization and religious affiliations, and special aptitudes and hobbies. Reference letters were enlightening as to th evacuee's history and his social and economic environment. Intelligence reports disclosed contributions made to pro-Japanese organizations, or affiliations with organizations considered inimical to the interests of the United States.

After the hearing at the center, the case was returned with a transcript, the project director's recommendation and any additional relevant information. The docket was then prepared for the review committee by the Leave Section.

The Leave Section's individual files on evacuees classed as adults (past 16 years of age) were continuously used for administrative [purposes and were available to authorized representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Provost Marshal General's Office, the Civil Service Commission and other Federal agencies.

--28--

Progress of Review Committee Action

On June 30, 1944, after 10 months of functioning, the project hearing boards had held hearings on 9,177 individual cases and the review committee had acted upon them in the following ways: 7,187 were approved for the granting of indefinite leave, 1,524 were denied leave clearance, and the individuals were listed for transfer to Tule Lake, 50 cases were deferred, and 436 were returned to the project for rehearings.

As of December 31, 1943, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had completed and returned a total of 77,037 record checks made since it began checking records for the War Relocation Authority, leaving 2,101 pending. This balance was cleared up early in 1944.

The extensive and intensive leave clearance programs may in retrospect seem to have been excessive in that aliens of other enemy nationalities and citizens of other enemy-nation extraction were not generally so carefully screened. There were, however, many pressures making thorough check of this particular group of persons necessary and desirable. Some of these reasons were entirely aside from any special suspicion of this group as compared with others which were categorically similar. The Army required the setting up of the Joint Board. The Civil Service Commission place in force special discriminatory regulations limiting the employment of Nisei by the Government. A small but violent section of the press had created particular suspicion of this group in the public mind. It was therefore necessary for the War Relocation Authority to "clear" as individuals persons condemned as a group by a portion of the public and by some Government agencies. Special clearances were also necessary in order to safeguard the relocating evacuees by giving positive assurance to the general public that each one of them had been individually and thoroughly checked. These assurances proved of particular value in effecting war plant placement. The thoroughness of checking was extremely valuable in creating favorable public relations in communities where resettlement was to take place in that it gave ammunition to answer and effectively block the numerically small but vocally loud voices of rabble rousers attempting to make capital of the resettlement program.

The stigma placed on these people by evacuation made absolutely necessary, from the standpoint of present and future public acceptance, that they be cleared individually and collectively. Not until relocation had actually been accomplished on a broad scale, and an excellent record thoroughly established by Japanese as good Americans in civilian as well as in military life, was it possible to say that the suspicions attached to the group originally were largely erased from the

--29--

public's mind. The elaborate and sometimes onerous checking system was a necessary preliminary to the reeducation of the American people in regard to this particular minority.

Reevaluation of the Relocation Program

By early summer 1943, the flow of evacuees from the centers was gaining momentum. It was steadily draining the centers of the young and unattached but was leaving almost intact the substantial group of older people with family responsibilities. It was recognized that reevaluation and redefinition of the War Relocation Authority's relocation objectives were in order, and in the first week of July, the key relocation people from the field and centers met in the Washington office to discuss the problems they faced in carrying out the relocation program. The conference clarified and unified thinking on the entire subject of relocation, and it produced practical definite recommendations, implementation of which had by the end of the year carried the relocation program to a point where it was reaching a more complete cross-section of the population of the centers.

Previously, the slow-moving machinery for establishing leave clearance had retarded the advance of relocation, but as of July 1, 1943, the large majority of evacuees had been processed and were eligible for indefinite leave. Allowing for the segregation of those ineligible for leave clearance and their dependents, it was apparent that the War Relocation Authority would be left with approximately 85,000 people still in the centers. Thus far, the relocation program had resulted in the resettlement of fewer than 10,000 people. A great majority of the relocated persons were in their early 20's and were either single or young couples without family responsibilities. Few families were actually leaving the centers. It was necessary to determine what was holding families back and then to remove such deterrents, whether the obstructions were actual and material, or whether they existed only in the minds of the evacuees. The overcoming of obstacles to relocation would require,it was realized, a revitalized education program directed at the evacuee in the centers. It was agreed that greater evacuee participation in relocation planning was essential to the future success of the program.

During the summer, surveys were made at several centers to find out what was preventing the families from relocating. The most complete of these surveys was made at Granada where the questionnaire submitted produced 2,587 replies. Evacuees were asked when they wanted to relocate and what their reasons were for hesitancy about resettlement. Only 5.9 percent were interested in leaving the centers

--30--

within a few months, 27.1 percent said they were willing to leave only after the end of the war, 33.2 percent were undecided as to whether or not they should attempt relocation. The principal reason for hesitation was "uncertainty of public sentiment"; other prevailing reasons were lack of funds against an emergency, lack, of information about conditions outside the center, fear of being unable to support dependents, and fear of being unable to find proper living quarters.

One principal deterrent which was difficult to classify was that many people had become institutionalized, their wants were taken care of, they knew where the next meal would come from and that they would be looked after in an emergency. Many of the older men who had worked hard all their lives could now sit and play cards all day. The women, whose social life had been limited by tradition and who had labored hard most of the lives, had found pleasure in the meetings and leisure to which center life had introduced them. Even though living conditions at the centers were not too satisfactory, they were comfortable and were better than the majority of evacuees had had before evacuation.

With the termination of the harvest work in 1942, most of the seasonal workers returned to relocation venters. However, there was a substantial number who did not wish to return and were permitted to apply for indefinite leave and stay in the area in which they had been working. An arrangement was made between one major sugar company and transcontinental railway in northern Montana for the railroad to take over as many seasonal employees as would stay for winter employment. Several hundred workers accepted this plan. In all areas some farmers retained evacuees for year-round work. Warehouses employed some of the evacuees, who had been working in the fields, for winter warehouse workers during the winter months. It is estimated that approximately 500 workers out of the 10,000 remained out on permanent relocation. These workers were processed under the indefinite leave procedures that were by then established.

The War Relocation Authority had no sooner terminated its 1942 fall seasonal leave program than it started to get inquiries from agriculturists concerning its 1943 seasonal program. During the 1942 season, a great deal of confusion had existed in many areas because of overlapping of the War Relocation Authority seasonal leave program and the Department of Agriculture's farm labor program. Consequently, the War Relocation Authority suggested to the department of Agriculture in January 1943, that the seasonal leave program for evacuees be handled by the Department of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture officials were sympathetic, but their program for 1943 was still in the planning stage, and they could offer nothing concrete in the way of a program for evacuee workers. The Authority delayed its seasonal work program

--31--

as long as possible. However, by March 1943, the pressure had become so great that it was necessary to announce a seasonal leave program separate from the Department of Agriculture's program. Seasonal leave was handled in 1943 much the same as it had been in 1942. The Authority had a field organization, however, in 1943, and spent a great deal more time trying to work out seasonal leave arrangements which might develop into permanent relocation.

During this season, there was increased competition between communities for evacuee services, and it was necessary to retain the county travel restrictions simply to keep peace between communities which were trying to steal each other's workers. Communities near relocation centers insisted on letting workers live in relocation centers and commute daily to and from the work fields. In fairness to more distant communities, and in order to run an orderly center, it was necessary to abolish this practice of commuting. This caused a great deal of resentment on the part of evacuees as well as on the part of nearby communities, and the Authority was besieged with protests.

As the 1943 seasonal leave program progressed, it became apparent that while the seasonal leave program was a major factor in promoting relocation, it also had its retarding effect. Many able-bodied evacuees found it very convenient to leave all their dependents in a relocation center where they would be cared for at Government expense while they were on seasonal leave at high wages. They could then return to relocation centers, securing free maintenance for themselves during slack seasons of employment. This worked out to the apparent advantage of the evacuees, and appeared to be a better paying proposition than permanent relocation. In order to meet this situation, it became necessary to insist that evacuees going out on seasonal leave remain for the entire period of their leave, rather than commuting back and forth, as many of them had done.

By December 1943, approximately 3,900 persons had relocated in the Salt Lake area, and 3,000 persons in the Denver area, as against 11,000 persons in all of the rest of the country. It was thought that the seasonal leave program plus the proximity of the centers were chiefly responsible for this overemphasis of settlement in the Denver and Salt Lake districts as compared to other parts of the country which seemed to offer better prospects for permanent relocation.

There were other factors contributing to a lag in general relocation. One factor suggested by the evacuees was that the Authority refused to readmit relocated evacuees for permanent residence in relocation centers until its appeared to be to the evacuee's best interest. It was necessary for the Authority to place such restrictions

--32--

because early experience showed that many of the relocates became discouraged or homesick immediately after arrival and in many cases went back to the center before giving relocation a fair trial.

A prime retarding factor and an outgrowth of the segregation plan was the establishment of the leave clearance "stop" list. The removal of a name from the "stop" list could be accomplished only on the basis of painstaking hearings. At the close of 1943, there were still some hundreds of cases on which a final decision as to eligibility for leave clearance had not been reached. Some of the evacuees affected were not only eager to relocate, but also were heads of family groups, with the result that upon their own relocation was contingent the relocation of the entire family. These persons also frequently encouraged friends and relatives to delay their relocation until they themselves were released.

Consistently discouraging throughout the program of relocation were the hindrances thrown in the way of evacuees by other Government agencies, such as certain divisions of the Army, the Navy and the Civil Service Commission.

There were a number of developments favorable to relocation in the fall of 1943 and early in 1944. By August 1943, public relations work had been so effective in many communities that it was no longer necessary to give advance approval to a relocation plan. Project directors were told to encourage relocation on the basis of a community invitation in these communities. This saved a great deal of time and gave assurance to the evacuee of community welcome. Hostels operated by church groups in Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Des Moines, at that time, offered living accommodations to evacuees at a reasonable price. These hostels, the first of which was established in Chicago in January 1943, were designed to be waystations in which the newcomer to a community could make prior arrangements for temporary housing and usually meals during a brief period on arrival in the new community. This afforded his initial security and an opportunity for orientation. Under the community invitation plan, the hostel provided a base for seeking employment as well as housing.

In November 1943, relocation supervisors and officers were advised to reduce the number of job offers being sent to the centers as the number of these offers had become more bewildering than enlightening. It was recognized that a different kind of information was needed by center residents, most of whom knew little about any part of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

During the summer of 1943, reports officers were employed in several of the area offices chiefly to meet this need for information

--33--

existing among evacuees. Selected on the basis of newspaper and writing experience, these information specialists were primarily concerned with providing the centers with factual information in regard to their areas. Information provided included pamphlets describing the geography and economy of different States and districts, newsletters, booklets on farming characteristics of various agricultural sections, and first hand accounts of what earlier Japanese residents had accomplished. Later, pamphlets dealt with welfare services available to evacuees, tips on starting a small business, opportunities for Issei, etc. Reports officers also kept the War Relocation Authority personnel posted on newspaper story possibilities. They contacted newspapers and radio stations to secure the cooperation of these media in promoting community acceptance. By then, however, reception was generally favorable enough in the Middle West and East so that the chief emphasis was on convincing the evacuee that it was desirable for him to relocate.

In March 1944, a new leave procedure authorized a trial ;period of indefinite leave. A rider on the indefinite leave permit of the person desiring a trial period permitted him to return to the center at the end of 4 months or at any time between the beginning of the fifth and end of the sixth month. The evacuee on this type of leave was to remain in a specific area and was expected to remain with the employer from whom he first accepted employment. This restriction was necessary because of the acute public relations problem which had been caused by so many evacuees jumping jobs contrary to the existing War Manpower job freeze regulations. Changes could be approved where the evacuee was not making a satisfactory adjustment. Any infringement of the War Manpower job freeze regulations placed the evacuee on indefinite leave and in the same status as any other worker. Under trial indefinite leave, the evacuee paid his own transportation costs except that, any time he decided to give up his trial status and accept regular indefinite leave, he could be reimbursed for travel and receive an assistance grant or other privileges usually granted only to persons originally leaving on regular indefinite leave. Trial leave was introduced because center residents had requested some such arrangement which would enable them to try out relocation before severing all ties with the center. It was not too successful since in practice most of the center residents who had been unwilling to relocate in indefinite leave proved also unwilling to make a bona fide attempt under the trial leave program.

Early 1944 also brought changes in the seasonal leave program. In February, it was decided to grant seasonal leave for periods up to 7 months with the privilege of a 2-months' extension, and to prohibit the seasonal worker's return to the center for the duration of his contract. Only two seasonal leave periods yearly were allowed. These provisions made seasonal leave less attractive to the worker, as they

--34--

eliminated frequent visits to the center. It was hoped that these changes would encourage some of the seasonal workers to take their families with them on indefinite leave.

In January 1944, the Authority again tried to tie in the seasonal leave program with the Department of Agriculture farm labor program. This time, the effort was successful and the Office of Labor of the Department of Agriculture agreed to treat all evacuees as interstate labor and handle them on standard interstate contracts. The Office of Labor agreed to handle all details in connection with the actual employment while the War Relocation Authority agreed to handle public relation factors. In February, the seasonal leave program was modified to provide for the issuance of seasonal leave only to persons recruited for agricultural work through the Office of Labor, and employment was authorized only in counties approved by relocation officers.

These new regulations providing better controls over the seasonal leave program removed direct pressure on the Authority from farm employers, and facilitated the systematic granting of leaves to meet the more critical manpower shortages. It was possible this year, as in previous years, to supply only a small fraction of the demand for seasonal workers.

Federal Agency Rulings Limiting Employment

Upon the dissolution of the Joint Board, responsibility for war plant clearance passed on to the Provost Marshal General's Office. Before discussing the method of PMGO procedure, it may be well to examine the attitude of the evacuees toward war work. Many thought such work would prove their loyalty and clear then of the stigma attached to them by evacuation. Other evacuees, hearing of the high wage rates being paid for war work, were interested because of this factor. Still others used the restrictions limiting employment of Japanese in war plants as a reason for not leaving the centers for this or any other purpose.

The PMGO procedure called for a system of preclearance before an evacuee could start work in a war plant. It also originally called for the removal from war plants of those who had been hired before it assumed jurisdiction of such hiring. This last requirement led to vigorous protests both from the evacuees working in war plants and from their employers. Because of these protests, the PMGO removed this requirement and allowed current employees to remain pending clearance. However, many who had rendered months of faithful service were removed after the PMGO investigation and this was taken by the evacuee group

--35--

as an indication that they did not have a chance for successful relocation.

PMGO investigations took so long to complete that it was not successful in enabling a great many evacuees to secure war plant employment. In August 1944, the Cleveland area office made a tabulation of applications for war plant clearance then outstanding in the Detroit district. There were 172. Of that number, 146 had been pending 2 months and some as long as 9 months.

Not only were evacuees discouraged and disheartened by these delays, but employers who filed the long and cumbersome forms could not hold jobs open for as long as was required. The whole procedure discouraged many if not most employers from even attempting to hire Japanese Americans.

Another complicated aspect of the PMGO procedure was in the lack of uniformity in which different military districts interpreted the plants which were to be restricted. In one district, a food producing plant would be permitted to hire evacuees in advance of clearance, and in others, a similar company would not. The same disparities existed in connection with various war manufacturing or supplying operations; for example, a railroad in one command would be permitted to hire track workers without any clearance, but the same railroad in another command would not. The WRA protested these inequities frequently but the problem was never satisfactorily resolved.

Another example of Government interference resulted in the prejudicial treatment of east coast merchant seamen by the Navy and State Departments. They decided to restrict persons of Japanese ancestry from sailing in the Atlantic without a passport in advance of signifying an intention to get a passport. This ruling barred the Nisei seamen from the Atlantic. An ironic situation arose when Japanese seamen were removed from ships as they returned from war zones, many of them victims of torpedoing and all of them having risked their lives to hep deliver goods to our allies. After a great deal of negotiation, the restriction was finally modified before the end of the war in Europe, and most of the Nisei seamen were permitted to resume their sailing.

Still another example of governmental obstruction came on June 23, 1943, when the Civil Service Commission prior to appointment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry to positions in Federal agencies. This was the only group for which such investigation was required prior to hiring. Many Nisei were rejected for Federal employment, and many

--36--

more were discouraged and did not apply; some were given third degree investigations and kept in suspense for months thereafter. Some of those already on the payroll remained on their jobs pending completion of an investigation and others were immediately removed.

Evacuee Participation

By the latter half of 1943, field offices had established that satisfactory relocation plans could be made for almost any individual or family group, regardless of any special problems the individual or the family might present. The relocation centers, however, had continued to work primarily with those individuals obviously best able to relocate, and even among this group they had worked chiefly with those strongly desiring to leave the centers. It was necessary, consequently, to change the emphasis in the centers and to interest families less sure of themselves or more lacking in knowledge of outside communities.

Throughout the last half of 1943, increasing emphasis was placed on evacuee participation in relocation planning. As early as July, several of the centers had relocation committees composed of residents. These were now strengthened, in some cases, by being brought within the authority of th evacuee community council, or by being given a definite relationship to appointed staff committees on relocation. By the end of the year, two centers had functioning combined evacuee-staff relocation committees, while at all other centers the evacuees had formed their own relocation planning commissions which maintained relations with responsible members of the appointed staff. Issei were well represented in these groups. The committees took their responsibilities seriously, assembling the questions which needed to be answered before the greater relocation movement could get under way, and formulating recommendations.

Group Relocation

About 43 percent of the evacuated people were farmers, and it was expected that they would want to continue in agricultural work. Having sustained heavy financial losses in the course of the evacuation, many families did not have money enough to start farming in a new region. Pooling of resources of several families might partially overcome this difficulty. However, many who did have sufficient money or who could arrange for financing were unwilling to risk their small capital in new fields. Good land available for lease or sharecropping was not easy to find, and farm machinery as difficult to secure under

--37--

wartime conditions. A great many people believed that some of the difficulties of reestablishing farmers could be overcome by securing opportunities for groups of families to leave the centers and brave the hazards of unfamiliar soil and climate together. In relation to group farming ventures, it was considered imperative that responsible representatives of the group be allowed to go out and investigate the opportunity before they committed themselves.

In November 1943, the following suggestions were sent to all projects to assist group relocation: stimulation of credit unions to provide resettlement loans; aid to evacuees in securing loans from Federal and private financing agencies; exploration of group relocation opportunities by relocation officers, with particular regard to agricultural possibilities; and arrangements for evacuees representing bona fide groups to make exploratory visits.

Like trial indefinite leave, this program did not result in any considerable relocation. Only a few scattered families attempted rural relocation outside the inter-Mountain States where farming methods were similar to those on the west coast. Considerable numbers of the seasonal workers who had gone into the Inter-Mountain States did succeed in establishing themselves as independent farmers. Seabrook Farms in New Jersey attracted a large number of evacuees for labor work, and the Becker Farms in Michigan also stimulated the relocation of agricultural workers considerably.

Welfare Counseling

Surveys made during the summer showed that greater emphasis had to be placed on individual and family counseling if families were to be relocated. It was realized that to accomplish the relocation of families who were hesitant about relocating, It was decided to establish a separate welfare counseling unit at each center with a view both to breaking down the rationalizations of reluctant families and to gathering information which would enable WRA to plan realistically its future program.

Social Security Agreement

An agreement with the Social Security Board by which relocated evacuees were eligible for service and assistance under the program for aliens and other persons affected by restrictive governmental action became operative in this period in all States except Colorado. This

--38--

program gave assurance to evacuees that emergencies would be adequately met in communities to which they might be planning to go. Most States have residence laws relating to welfare assistance, requiring from 1 to 3 years' residence before public welfare assistance can be given, and assistance given through the Social Security Board lent assurance that assistance would be available during the period in which evacuees would be nonresidents. While the number of evacuee applicants for such service was not large, the designated State agencies cooperating with the Social Security Board did provide assistance in a number of areas of emergencies, illness, and other contingencies, and assumed responsibility in a smaller number of instances of continuing need.

National Housing Agency Agreement

During the summer of 1943, an agreement was concluded with the National Housing Agency designed to assist relocation officers in one of their most critical problems. By the terms of this agreement, the relocation supervisor of a specific area was to advise the NHA regional representative of current and anticipated in-migration trends. In return, the NHA would "assist WRA in determining the acceptablilty of evacuees for housing in the locality," and also "be prepared to suggest the names of localities where the opportunities for housing evacuees were most promising." This did not work out very well since, where housing was easily secured, other relocation factors such as employment were not favorable. The agreement was not specific a=enough in practice to be of direct value, but did encourage many local units to cooperate. However, not until 1944 did many war housing projects accept evacuees, and even then many experienced difficulty in meeting war housing requirements which commonly included a rather low income ceiling and the requirement that the occupants be engaged in war work.

Dissemination of Relocation Information

In recognition of the fact that the movements of evacuees out of the centers was im a sense dependent on a steady flow into the centers of accurate information concerning job opportunities and living conditions on the outside, two techniques for accomplishing that end were stressed toward the end of 1943. Specific information from the area offices, including listing of job offers and personalized accounts of actual relocation experiences were sent directly to the centers. Personal experiences of resettlers were sometimes submitted in letter form and sometimes in informal reports or in the publications issued by area offices for center distribution. The second plan provided for sending to the centers individuals or teams of individuals

--39--

thoroughly conversant with conditions in specific localities in order to give interested evacuees personal contact with people able to answer their questions. At first, these visits were made largely by individual relocation officers, but in November, arrangements were made for an experimental relocation team, consisting of two relocation supervisors, a member of the Washington relocation staff, and a member of the Washington Reports Division, to visit Rohwer Relocation Center. Considerable preparation was made by not only the members of this tea, but by the entire relocation field staff to make sure that the team would be provided with every available informational tool. Relocation kits were prepared in some communities, bringing together every form of informational printed matter that could be prepared or secured describing the district or area. Dozens of movies descriptive of occupations and districts were viewed and some of them selected for the team's use. District offices prepared for the team full descriptions of their more attractive relocation opportunities. The team members addressed large general meetings and smaller meetings of specific project groups, and in addition, conducted numerous interviews with individual evacuees seeking gurther information. The effect of this team's visit resulted in plans to continue the practice of sending relocation officers, especially specialists in specific fields such as agriculture. It was also decided to continue to have relocation tams make a tour of all the centers during the early part of 1944.

In addition to the efforts being made by the War Relocation Authority itself to inform evacuees of resettlement opportunities and conditions, another group of center visitors at this time was serving much the same purpose and with even more obvious immediate results. Employers planning to hire large numbers of evacuees sent recruiters sometimes to one center and sometimes to all of them. The recruiter, when he was an able man, frequently achieved excellent results since he had the advantage over representatives of the Authority of being able to concentrate on one job and one community which he knew extremely well. By this means, the confusion could be avoided which sometimes developed in the evacuees' minds when presented with not one, but hundreds of communities and jobs. Recruiters were employed successfully by a wide variety of employers and from many sections of the country. They ranged from wealthy individuals visiting a center to attempt to hire one or several domestic servants to large industrial employers, such as the International Harvester Company, seeking to employ hundreds of factory workers. Hotels were among the more successful and persistent recruiting organizations, the Stevens Hotel in Chicago, for instance, having hired several hundred evacuees by this process. The largest scale recruitment by a private concern was done by Seabrook Farms in New Jersey, which offered not only large scale group employment, but also group living which proved particularly attractive to Issei. Railroads recruited for track laborers, frequently offering family housing as well as employment. Government agencies

--40--

also participated in the recruiting of workers in the centers. The Office of Strategic Service, the Army Map Service, and Army and Navy intelligence schools carried on vigorous recruiting programs in all of the relocation centers. They recruited hundreds of workers. The Ordnance Department of the Army, beginning in the late summer of 1944, also recruited several hundred evacuees for arsenal work. These arsenal jobs effected considerable family relocation since they offered family housing. The War Hemp Administration recruited more than a hundred men for middle western jobs in Government operated plants processing hemp. While the numbers recruited by these Federal agencies were small in comparison with the total number of people to be relocated, these recruitments provided a great impetus to the relocation program. The utilization of evacuees in essential war employment by these agencies provided good public relations material to stimulate the use of evacuees by other essential employers. These recruiting campaigns also served to reduce the psychological barriers which were being built up in the minds of many evacuees.

Particular stress was laid in the field at this time on securing and bringing to the attention of the centers jobs which offered housing together with employment for one or more families. Large private estates and public and private institutions proved particularly able to provide this type of job and housing combination.

Planning for Community Adjustment

From the beginning of the relocation program, many church groups and other interested agencies had been active in creating local interest in the WRA program, and in many communities they provided the relocation officer with local sponsors to whom he could turn for advice and assistance. as the program broadened and more persons relocated, it became evident that a broader cross-section of community cooperation was essential, not only to assist WRA in matters of employment, housing and public relations, but also to provide in the community a solid foundation for the acceptance of evacuees on the same basis as other residents. There was need to implement locally national agreements worked out by WRA and other public and private agencies, and to coordinate the efforts of other groups so that the resources they possessed might be available for the use of evacuees. in recognition of this need for more far-reaching planning in community adjustment, persons on the staff of the area offices were designated to specialize in the organization of community resources.

There were two main objectives in this painstaking work with local committees and agencies; (1) to east the transition of the evacuee from the isolated and socially artificially centers to life in a normal community by meeting the resettler with an understanding of

--41--

his situation; (2) to encourage relocate evacuees in assisting their family members and friends to relocate. The youth and inexperience of these very young people who had gone out from the centers, usually alone, to adjust to life and work in a completely strange environment, pointed more and more to the need of having their families join them. During the fall of 1943, there was evidence that young people in Chicago, New York, and certain other localities were beginning to bring their parents out of the centers. Where this happened, the infusion of the older generation made for a more stable and better integrated social situation among the newcomers.

Administrative Reorganization for Relocation

A significant development during the latter half of 1943 was the growing conviction that the relocation program was a cooperative one to which all divisions of the Authority had a contribution to make. Originally, the handling of the relocation program, both in the national office and at the centers, was the function of the Employment Division. It was not long before the conflict between project employment and relocation was apparent. As relocation progressed, the dual obligation of this division to maintain center operations and at the same time to urge all the efficient workers to leave center employment for relocation kept the division in constant conflict within itself and with other center operations. It was understood that project employment must be subordinated to relocation. The fact remained that the Employment Division was being called upon to build up a community with one hand and tear it down with the other. Relocation committees, consisting of representatives of the employment, reports, and community management divisions, finally were set up in the Washington office and at the centers. The work of these committees in some measure relieved the Employment Division, but there was increasing awareness that relocation interests could best be served by a special division created to devote all its energies to relocation. On the basis of discussions held in the Washington office and of suggestions received form the field, the Relocation Division was organized in November 1943. The new division was assigned all functions previously performed by the Employment Division, except that at the project level, project employment and housing was made a function of personnel management, and in the national office, leave clearance was made the responsibility of the Administrative Management Divisions. The new division also took over the functions of the Relocation Assistance Division except those involving evacuee property, which were assigned to the Administrative Management Division.

With this reorganization, a greatly increased staff in Washington, the field, and at the projects was assigned to relocation. By the

--42--

close of 1943, the division of responsibility between the various divisions of the Authority had been clearly established, and the Relocation Division was working toward closer relationships with other Federal agencies and private organizations at the national level. The strengthening of the relocation staff at the centers and expansion of the field program gave added emphasis to adjustment or evacuees in communities of relocation, and to exploring increased opportunities for family and group relocation.

From the Washington office, arrangements were made with the Travelers' Aid Society and the Family Welfare Association of America to provide the cooperation of their branch offices and affiliated agencies in virtually all large communities where relocation activities were in progress. Other relationships, previously established with public and private agencies, were reviewed and modified, where necessary, to tie them more closely into the relocation program.

There had been repeated requests by organization of center residents and by some individuals for information in regard to the availability of loans for the establishment of small businesses and the resumption of farming. During this period, the Authority made various attempts to secure agreements with such Federal agencies as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Farm Security Administration, and the Federal Land Bank to finance evacuees who wished to reestablish business or farming operations. Token assurances of cooperation were forthcoming, but few, if any, loans were ever actually negotiated by evacuees from these sources. One of the difficulties was that of getting an evacuee with reasonable prospects for a loan to go through the process of actually applying for one. Most evacuees were unwilling to leave the center and work out a business plan as was required by loaning agencies unless they could receive definite assurances that they would get such a loan. In many instance,s it appeared that evacuees were using their demands for easy loans as a rationalization for not leaving the enters. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation's regulations were not clear as to aliens' eligibility for loans and no Issei would apply. It was found that the Farm Security Administration had more pending applications than funds available for loaning purposes. Some evacuees were able to establish a basis for securing loans and did secure them generally through normal private banking organizations. There were also a few instances in which loans for the establishment of businesses were made by private welfare organizations, and in at least one instance, through a fund established by a resettlement committee.

At the relocation centers, the program of relocation counseling, which was to have been the responsibility of the welfare section, was revitalized and was divided between that section and the relocation division. Welfare counselors were assigned to interview families with

--43--

welfare problems already known to that divisions. the relocation division assumed responsibility for all remaining families. This counseling program which was completed during 1944 gave a wealth of information concerning the problems and the thinking of evacuees in regard to relocation.

The greatest difficulties in relocation planning arose with families which presented dependency problems or serious social maladjustments. In such cases careful planning with outside social agencies was indicated. It was also necessary to make special plans for the relocation of unattached children as well as to assume the guidance of youths of 17 and 18 in their new communities by church groups, social agencies, or responsible relatives.

For those families and minors definitely planning relocation, but obviously requiring continuing financial assistance or social guidance, a plan was worked out under which definite responsibilities were assumed by local social agencies prior to movement of the family or individual from the center. Detailed family summaries were prepared in the relocation center and submitted to the area office having jurisdiction over the community in which the individual or family planned to relocate. The area supervisor or area adjustment officer then presented these summaries to the appropriate local welfare agency, securing either an acceptance of the case or a refusal of the case, with reasons for such refusal. This plan not only served to reassure the persons relocating under it, but also provided the social agency with a wealth of background material enabling them to be of greater assistance to the resettler.

WHile the need for more effective evacuee participation had been recognized previously, it had been extremely difficult to get responsible evacuees to take active part as relocation was not too popular at the centers. By June 194,4 however, relocation planning commissions, composed of evacuee representatives, had been organized at most of the centers. They were calculated to exercise an important influence not only in the day-to-day planning of relocation activities, but also in graining acceptance for the program among the evacuee residents. These evacuee commissions were sometimes helpful in disseminating information about specific relocation opportunities and interpreting WRA policies. At several centers they sponsored the interviewing program and recommended several important changes in policy to stimulate wider interest in resettlement. At other centers, the commissions proved ineffective because of differences of opinion between groups and leaders in regard to the desirability of relocation.

To encourage the relocation of families, several significant modifications were made in the leave assistance program. The limitation was removed on the weight of personal property which relocating

--44--

families could have shipped at Government expense. Shipment, not previously available at Government expense, was authorized for the equipment, tools and fixtures essential to an evacuee's trade, business or professions (not to exceed 5,000 pounds), when replacing them in the area of relocation was not feasible because of wartime shortages. Pullman accommodations were made available for the sick and the infirm relocating with their families, and coach fares were authorized for the representatives of evacuees selected for the purpose of making a final investigation fo relocation opportunities, when such trips were approved by the relocation officers concerned.

In the relocation field offices, as well as in the Washington office and at the centers, special efforts were made to get more families and older people to relocate. Evacuees already relocated were encouraged to plan with counselors from social agencies and the WRA field representatives for resettlement of their families and friends.

During the first half of 1944, 10 district offices were closed and 4 new offices were opened. Most of the offices closed were in the Inter-Mountain Area, where the assumption of responsibility for seasonal workers by the Department of Agriculture eliminated the need for these WRA offices. Two of the new offices were established in Savannah and New Orleans to pioneer the development of relocation opportunities in the South.

With the opening of offices in the South, relocation was being offered in all parts of the country, excepting in the evacuated area. Without bringing undue pressure on individuals as to selection of their destination, the Authority did encourage as broad a distribution of Japanese as possible and was proving reasonably successful in securing their dispersal throughout a great many sections of the country.

The total project population had been sufficiently reduced by relocation that the Director decided to eliminate one of the relocation centers and to transfer remaining residents to available quarters in other centers. It was realized that some step had to be taken to affect the complacency which was making many individuals and groups in the centers resistant to relocation. It was hoped that closing one center and indicating that other centers would gradually be closed would have this desired effect. Announcement was made on February 22, 1944, that the Jerome Relocation Center, in Drew and Chico Counties, Arkansas, would be closed on June 30. Jerome was small at the time, having only 6,600 residents. It was close to Rohwer, making transfer of many of the residents easier. The center was closed on schedule. While the center and all field offices made great effort to relocate its residents, the immediate effect on relocation either form Jerome itself or from the other centers was not as great as had been hoped for.

--45--

The closing of relocation centers on an individual basis was not continued, since before further center closures became practical, it began to appear that the exclusion order might be lifted in the near future and that it would lead to the general dissolution of all relocation centers.

Relocation Progress

During the first half of 1944, despite the increased attempts to stimulate relocation, only about 10,000 people relocated as compared to approximately 8,000 in the previous 6 months. The surprisingly small increase was disappointing since this had been the first period in which field and center relocation staffs had been adequate to handle a much greater number of people. One favorable aspect was that a greater percentage of the people relocating were Issei.

Up to December 1944, relocation progress was continuing in much the same pattern as it had in earlier months, except that during the last half of 1944 about 2,000 less people relocated than during the first half. Field offices had, in general, completed their job of creating favorable acceptance in most communities. Jobs were available in a tremendous range of occupations, and earnings were high in many communities. Cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland and New York not only had a great surplus of all ordinary types of jobs, but could give reasonable assurance to an evacuee with even the most out-of-the-way skill or profession that employment in his own or a related field could be obtained. Many communities in which employment was readily obtainable could also give assurances that adequate housing was available.

The job, however, in the relocation centers was becoming more and more difficult, since for the most part the adventuresome, unattached young people and the more confident and self-reliant families were gone. Many with large families were fearful as to their ability to support their dependents on the outside as well as they were being supported by the Government in the centers. No amount of successful relocation by families with similar problems seemed to convi