Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

Let's see, by the grace of God, good friends, the WRA and an understanding public, I left your gates on May 8 and have been here since May 25, having spent some time in between at Camp Savage, en route to Cleveland, Outside of about five weeks "on duty" in Washington, D.C., I have been in Cleveland.

The Sentinel has kept us atune to the relocation question, segregation, etc., -- "from the inside" -- as though we were a camera man with the black camera hood enshrouded over him, peering through a camera lens. The social and leaves news too are greatly appreciated by those of us at a distance now from those we came to know by rubbing elbows over our daily tasks at the center. Each paper eagerly passed on among our new co-workers, is certainly a morale builder for those who have relocated.

Bill Hosokawa's articles from Des Moines have been very good and he has touched upon many points which I also have thought of, but unlike a "newshawk" never put them into print. Those little pointers about street car fare, barber, beauty shops, etc., save a great deal of embarrassment and vexation.

Life in this industrial town moves at a fairly good speed. Street cars are crowded, start out before the doors are closed; people "crowd" traffic lights and line up for groceries, movies and everything. Monday late evening is as bad as the Christmas rush at many pre-war towns we knew. There's nothing like it for "getting close to people."

Without a car, shopping takes plenty of time. Some butchers hand out order number tags so that the customers won't fight each other hen he calls out -- "whose next?" That's where Doris' mother comes in mighty handy; she does our shopping and housework, as Doris is now employed by the army map service too. Doris' mother knows just about enough English to "get around" and maneuvers the balance on "horse sense" and knowledge of American ways.

The night English or Americanization classes in the center would do well to teach issei housewives everyday shopping language, rather than academic English. The short expressions necessary in shopping are things they can use most.

The relocation committee might gather city maps and street railway information of various places so potential relocates could get some rough idea of the set-up before getting off the train. Luggage should be brought well ahead; [illegible] and hard to get. Complete ration books should be given out to each person [illegible] explanation of how the ration book works. Most stores [illegible] and prices clearly. [illegible] "how many points?" [illegible] "how much?" People were told about the postal [illegible] in metropolitan cities [illegible] brief explanation of the telegraph service, [illegible] in time, and an idea of rates is helpful, especially for issei.

Families, unless well-subsidized financially, should receive the main support and the family head should come out along first. Housing is too tough to find anywhere. Some housing will be almost as bad as that at the center. If they are a childless young couple with only one child and willing to put up with just a room for a few weeks, then they might "brave" it. Prejudice will be encountered when seeking housing due in part to our newness and the ignorance on the part of the owners.

Deductions in pay for "this and that," as you know, are the worst ever. Living costs are way up. But for all that, freedom of movement, freedom of enterprise, freedom of though and independent action are priceless. One feels the "surge" of the activity and the awful upheaval due to war's dislocation and the satisfactory feeling of being a contributor to Uncle Sam's war effort no matter how little may seem the daily task.

I regret very much that individual circumstances of many families make relocation, to them by necessity, a far-off subject.

I have rambled enough for now; please remember us to your swell staff, our mutual friends, and fondest regards to you from both of us.

Tosh Hoshide,

Cleveland, Ohio.

Eisenhower Looms as Chief Of West Europe Invasion

LONDON, Dec. 22 (AP) -- A grand division of the allied command appeared possible Wednesday night, with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander in chief for the western European invasion, a British officer commander in chief for the Mediterranean and General George C. Marshall, retaining a high and perhaps heightened staff position with both the European and Pacific wars.

General Eisenhower's emergence as likely top commander for the leap from the west coincided with disclosure of General Marshall's tour of the southwest Pacific war theater.

This inspection, on which Marshall went directly from the middle east conferences of the supreme allied leaders in a trip around the whole of the world, sharply emphasized his global position, and particularly his responsibility for a phase of the war in which American public interest exceeds the British at present -- the war against Japan.

Marshall initially had been headed for the command in the western European theater.

But the impression here Wednesday night was strong that Eisenhower was accepted at Teheran as an alternate and that he finally will be designated -- perhaps after complete recovery of Prime Minister Churchill from his illness -- barring some change of circumstances, to which the whole situation is, of course, subject.

The matter of assembling a grand allied command has been one of tremendous complexity and delicacy, reflected, for example, by the fact that both American and British censorships here have been extraordinarily exacting regarding everything touching upon the subject.

Just as the demands of the Pacific war on Marshall's professional ability appear to have been involved in consideration of the appointment of a western European commander, so the demands of the Mediterranean campaign had beyond question arisen as to Eisenhower's future.

When his name was first mentioned for the western European command post, the point arose as to whether his transfer would not give rise to a feeling that the Italian campaign had been sidetracked.

Wednesday, however, it was pointed out competently that there still would be General Sir Harold Alexander, British leader, who is intimately familiar with Eisenhower's plans and purposes.

It was pointed out, too, that the Mediterranean area is of greater long-term British interest than of American interest, and, that the main weight of military force there is British. There is, in fact, much to indicate that the battle there will become more and more a British enterprise.

In western Europe the situation is the reverse. As to subsidiary invasion commands, however, all indications are that they are going to be British -- both on the sea and in the air.

Other Editors are Saying:

High executives of the war department are proud of the way in which Japanese American soldiers have responded to the call of American patriotism and done a good job in the Army.

Enlisting American-born Japanese in the U.S. Army was frankly an experiment and many old-line officers were very skeptical. However, Under-Secretary of War Patterson and Assistant Secretary Jack McCloy insisted that they be given a chance. The performance of Japanese American troops in battle has more than justified this confidence in them.

Reports from Italy pay tribute to the bravery of one Jap-American battalion which was under heavy fire. Most of its men were recruited from Hawaii. They fought with great heroism and the casualty lists were very heavy.

When Under-Secretary of War Patterson was in the Southwest Pacific not long ago, General Oscar Grisfold asked him to meet his intelligence unit. Patterson stepped into the intelligence tent and there met five grinning Japs. They were not prisoners, but Hawaiian-born, and were entrusted with the vitally important job of translating intelligence information picked up from the enemy.

The Japanese Americans are all carefully investigated before they enter the Army, but in no case has one of them, after entering the Army, betraying trust.

WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND, By Drew Pearson.

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"It is not easy to see how a resolution of the State Board of Agriculture, either for or against an eventual return of the Japanese to California, can effect that situation a particle. A resolution approving a return adds nothing to the right of American citizens of Japanese or any other descent to live where they choose in the United States and follow any lawful pursuits they like. Nor could a contrary diminish that right. Under pressure of war emergency the Army may move such or any other citizens from areas where it judges national security requires their absence, but when the emergency is over the rights of citizens again rise supreme.

"A good deal of the present argument reminds us of the time when some California counties imagined they could exclude immigrants from east of the Rockies whose social or economic statutes did not please. These counties had to learn that the Constitution of the United States is superior to their likes or dislikes; that an American citizen can go and live where he chooses in this country. Some of them were surprised to learn that their measures were actionable and laid them liable for damages.

"That experience ought to have taught a thing or two about the rights of citizens. Apparently, however, some Californians still think the rights of citizens apply only to citizens they happen to like. One realistic member of the State Board of Agriculture was A.J. McFadden of Santa Ana. He did not vote on the resolution, saying that while he did not believe we can afford to abridge the rights of any racial group of citizens. No telling who might come next."

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

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Already there is considerable pressure upon members of the United States Congress that the Japanese be deported en masse and returned to Japan. If the reasoning behind such a move is that we are fighting the Japanese and thus all people of Japan ancestry should be deported, then we may expect to see many Germans and Italians leaving the country at the same time. If we had used the same logic in the War of 1812, the country would have been left to the Indians.

Certainly you cannot hold American citizens of Japanese descent accountable for the actions of the emperor and company no more than we can hold Americans of German descent accountable for Hitler and company.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TROJAN

Chinese Forces Battle to Trap Japs Retreating in 'Rice Bowl'

CHUNGKING, Dec. 16 (AP) -- Aided by almost continuous activity by Brigadier General Claire L. Chennault's Sky Dragons, Chinese troops in the rice bowl area west of Tungting lake are pressing their efforts to surround Japanese remnants still retreating from Changteh.

The Chinese high command announced Thursday that several Japanese detachments already had been trapped near Lihsien (Lichow) and declared, "Their annihilation is merely a matter of time."

Severe fighting has developed in the suburbs of Ansiang and Nanshiang, two lakeside towns which the Chinese are attempting to recapture.

Forms New Cabinet

TEHERAN, Iran, Dec. 16 (AP) -- A new cabinet, officially described as "now adapted to new conditions following the tripower conference," was formed Thursday by Premier Ali Soheily.

Roosevelts Will Spend Yule at Hyde Park

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (AP) -- For the first time since they came to the White House in 1933, the president and Mrs. Roosevelt will spend Christmas at their family home at Hyde Park, N.Y., and two of their four sons will be home from the war to celebrate with them.

Presents will be opened Christmas afternoon around a tree in the library of the old stone and stucco mansion overlooking the Hudson river, and Mr. Roosevelt will carve the turkey at a family dinner in the evening.

White House officials said the president didn't want his gifts wrapped because that would save two or three barrels of paper. And the presents he will distribute to the White House staff from his office desk Thursday morning won't be done up in fancy paper and ribbons either.

The president and first lady will receive the household staff and their families and children tomorrow afternoon in the east room of the White House.

They will be in Hyde Park Friday and from there, in midafternoon, the chief executive will broadcast Yuletide greetings to the nation and the men and women in the armed services around the world. His address will be piped back to Washington, where traditional ceremonies will be held around a national Christmas tree on the south lawn of the White House.

After the speech, the president and Mrs. Roosevelt will receive the people who live on their 1200-acre Dutchess county estate. In the evening, as he always does on Christmas eve, Mr. Roosevelt will read Dickens' Christmas Carol to the family.

The members of the family who will be present are a daughter, Mrs. John Boettiger, and three children, Eleanor, Curtis and John; Lieutenant and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and children, Franklin D. III and Christopher; Lieutenant and Mrs. John A. Roosevelt and Mrs. James R. Roosevelt, widow of the president's half brother. Two old friends of the family, Major Harry Hooker and Mrs. Trude Pratt, have been asked to come over for the holiday.