They'll Keep the Faith
Japanese Courier

The problem of evacuation bulks larger day by day. What to do and where to go are questions for the Japanese and the government.

No responsible Japanese, so far as we are informed, has questioned either the right or the motive of the government, although it means the end, at least for the time being, of their way of life, which coincides exactly with the American way of life. No group of people has contributed more liberally, according to its resources, to the national defense program. Around 4,000 of their young men are in uniform, They have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars for defense bonds, and given heavily to the Red Cross.

The two most pressing arguments that we have heard supporting evacuation are: That they may have saboteurs among them, and that removal is for the personal safety of the Japanese themselves.

Only recently J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, was quoted as saying that no single instance of Axis-directed sabotage has been found in the United States. Riley Allen, editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and well known in Seattle, has declared there was no civilian sabotage in Hawaii. This was confirmed lately by the chief of police in Honolulu.

As for personal safety, leaders among the Japanese-Americans, so-called, have emphatically stated that such was a matter of secondary consideration with them. The first is "national" safety.

All of this, we insist, constitutes a record of which any people may justly be proud. And they'll keep the faith.

Still, the Japanese must realize that the most difficult days are yet to come. There will be sacrifice and suffering beyond description. In so gracefully bowing to the inevitable they already have made a contribution to their beloved land. Let them be prepared to suffer and to sacrifice still further on the altar of liberty.

These people are being tried as by fire. The dross will be eliminated and the pure gold remain. It will be this nugget of patriotism of which they and the entire peoples of the democracies may be proud after the dark days are over, and Japan and other aggressors have been beaten to their knees. God speed the Day!