THE SENATOR IS RIGHT; SO WERE WE

Senator Chandler proposes in Congress, after a whirlwind inspection of American-Japanese relocation centers, that the camps be closed; that disloyal evacuees be placed in concentration prisons; that the loyal evacuees be released to private industry and agriculture and that the eligible loyal males be drafted for military service.

The Review said as much long, long ago. We opposed the evacuation of our American-Japanese colony from Bainbridge Island on the following grounds: (1) it deprived the nisei (American-born Japanese) of their citizenship rights; (2) it was uneconomical because the move would cost the government too much; (3) it was unsound because it would greatly handicap our food production; (4) it was unnecessary because the Federal Bureau of Investigation is capable of weeding out the disloyal.

The Senator repeats us, almost to the word. He doesn't say anything about citizenship rights, although he implies the right of the loyal citizen to freedom. But he does point out most forcefully that (2) the evacuation has proved most costly; (3) the evacuees are needed badly back on their farms; (4) the F.B.I. should be entrusted with the task of selecting the disloyal from the loyal.

The Senator furnishes astronomical figures tending to show the large number of disloyal members of the camps he visited. We wouldn't argue with him, except on one score: Wed don't believe he is anywhere near correct if he means the Bainbridge Island evacuees. In all our defense of the American Japanese, we never have attempted to speak for any others than our own Island evacuees. We profess to know them. Most of them are loyal.

Regardless, though, of the senator's reasoning, his proposal is sound. Those relocation centers should be closed. The disloyal should be imprisoned and not coddled. The loyal should be given their chance to work and fight for the country they love.