CALIF. JAPANESE REMOVAL BEGINS

Mass evacuation of 139,000 Japanese along the Pacific Slope began in California today, according to Associated Press dispatches from California, but Army officials indicated that further removal of Japanese from this state would not commence until about April 13.

In Los Angeles, 500 Japanese -- from doll-like babies to elderly shopkeepers -- climbed aboard a special train today for the government's new internment center at Manzanar.

Without exception, the evacuees seemed philosophically happy. Several said that reports from Manzanar, where advance contingents of Japanese tradesmen went last month to prepare the site, have described the pleasant conditions there.

Evidence of wealth were seen in today's group. Luggage for the most part was modern. Six members of the Hori family, which owned a large department store, were first aboard the train. Mike Hori, son of the store's founder, and his bride were turning the trip into a honeymoon.

All Ages Included

Rouged girls of high school and college age mingled with patient grandmothers, some of them bent under bundles of their possessions.

Brother Theophane, of the Catholic Maryknoll School said goodbye to members of his Boy Scout troops, and told them the troops would be reorganized under his leadership at Manzanar.

A statement issued by the Office of Facts and Figures in Washington, D.C., said that 14,000 Japanese in Washington are to be removed, and 120,000 in California and 4,500 in Oregon.

First evacuation in Washington occurred Monday when 237 Japanese were removed from Bainbridge Island.

The statement said that it is estimated the entire movement will take about six weeks. It added:

"Careful arrangements have been made. The Japanese will come from predetermined zones. A control station will be established in each zone, at which those to be removed may obtain full details. Welfare services will be provided. From the control zones, evacuees will be taken to assembly centers.

Skills to Be Listed

"At the assembly centers, where the evacuees may be held from a few days to two or three months, complete care will be provided and they will be classified according to their skills.

"As soon as resettlement areas can be prepared, Japanese families will be sent to them. They will be given every opportunity to do productive work in agriculture, manufacturing and other types of employment. The resettlement areas are in no sense concentration camps."

The dispatch from Washington said that 16 assembly centers will be established in California, the largest being the present one at the Santa Anita race track. It did not mention how many were to be built in Washington.

Center at Puyallup

While the Army has not confirmed it officially, it is known that one center now is being built at the Western Washington Fair Grounds in Puyallup.

Another is expected to be established in the valley south of Seattle.

The Army Engineer Corps headquarters in Portland, Or., is in charge of building these centers.

Application forms were available in Seattle today for those who seek to be excluded from the evacuation and from complying with the curfew regulations.

They may be obtained at the postoffice, at the office of the United States attorney, at the immigration station and at the Wartime Civil Control Administration office, 808 Second Ave.

German and Italian aliens who will be permitted to remain are those 70 years of age or older; those who paid the filing fee on their petitions for final citizenship prior to last December 7 those who either are dependent on a relative who is in the armed forces of the United States or were dependent on a relative killed since December 7 while serving with the armed forces.

German, Italian and Japanese aliens who are in hospitals and too ill to be moved and those who are inmates of orphanages or institutions for the deaf, dumb or blind also are exempt.

Draft boards will consider each application for exemption and will make recommendation to the Army, which will make the final decision.