31-5-B
Poston, Ariz.
Dec. 19, 1942

Dear Mrs. Gates,

Please do forgive me for being so negligent about keeping in touch with you. We do think of you often – and were so delighted to get the happy news of the safe arrival of your baby.

Since October I have been working in one of

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the administrative offices, my particular assignment being student relocation, which is right in line with my past interest in college students' problems. Working full time and being involved in a number of community activities have kept me very much occupied, and time has passed quickly for me.

Recently there was a strike at Poston which seems to have gotten nation-wide publicity – publicity which does not begin to interpret the situation in its true light.

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It's a long story if I try to explain it and so I'll refrain from doing so – but I will say that people on the outside will never be able to understand what occurred without having experienced that sense of complete frustration which has overtaken so many of the residents here as a result of the tragic situation in which they are caught.

WE have been made to understand that the government is not interested in making those W.R.A. projects very comfortable places in which to reside as these projects were not meant to be for resettlement, but rather were intended to be stop-over places until such time as we could individually resettle ourselves elsewhere. However, under the present policy no one is free to

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go out and look around first before settling upon a plan for the future – one must have a job and home arranged beforehand to have one's application for release considered. As the people have hardly any friends or connections in the mid-West or East we cannot see the way clear for any large-scale resettlement without a great deal of help from the outside. Thus the life here is one of merely marking time. In the meantime, however, financial reserves are being drained because very few families earn enough to keep up with their expenses. The wage scale, as you perhaps know, is $12-$19 per month – and at that, the payment of wages is three months in arrears. September wages were paid just this week.

The year just drawing to a close has been a most trying one for us, but our spirits have been sustained by the kindness and understanding of friends like yourselves. If only the world had more people like you and others whom it has been our privilege to know, then we could have "Peace on earth, good will towards men."

Hope this finds yourself in the best of health. Our thanks to you for everything. Sincere wishes for Christmas & the New Year.

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card interior

Christmas Greetings
and
Best wishes
from
The Masudas
and
Mrs. Otari
Poston, Arizona 1942