W.R.A. OFFICIAL HITS NISEI FOES

Groups fighting return of Nisei to their homes here were criticized sharply yesterday by Florence West, area reports officer of the War Relocation Authority, who spoke amid frequent applause at a meeting of the Young Men's Democratic Club.

She aimed her censure primarily at the Japanese Exclusion League, which recently held a mass meeting in the Bellevue area, and asserted the W.R.A. here "will do everything in its power" to protect the constitutional rights of the Nisei, "regardless of what some of these individuals might have to say."

17,000 Fighting for U.S.

Pointing to the fact that more than 17,000 Nisei have fought for this country, many of them giving their lives, she asserted that fair-minded Americans "who know the meaning of true democracy believe they should be allowed to return here to their homes."

"On the other hand," she said, "some men are collecting $10 from individuals who are willing to pay membership fees to hate Japs. In return the organizers are promising to educate the whole country so the Constitution can be amended to permit deportation of all persons of Japanese ancestry."

Only 300 Return Here

She predicted that it "will be rather hard for these individuals to gain the backing of other sections of the nation in legalizing of racial hatreds."

She pointed out that out of 110,000 Japanese who were evacuated from the Pacific Coast, 40,000 have settled elsewhere. Of 10,100 evacuated from King County, only about 300 have returned. This, she said, would not seem to constitute a "peril," as the loyalty of each has been proved to the Army.