Evacuee Council Head In Plea To Sec. Byrnes

Seattle - The Rev. U. G. Murphy, chairman of the Evacuees Service council, 305 17th Ave., south Seattle, has written the following letter to the Hon. James F. Byrnes, secretary of state, Washington, D.C., regarding return of Japanese evacuees:

"We have had quite a considerable amount of correspondence with the secretary of agriculture relative to the employment of foreign laborers in sections where organizations have opposed the return of Japanese evacuees, both aliens and citizens, to their former homes on the west coast.

"Although the department of agriculture has requested that fair treatment be given these returning evacuees, there are still many places on the coast where they fear to return because of threats and intimidation. These places are largely farming sections and in the majority of cases the people who oppose the return of the Japanese to their former homes are those who are asking the U. S. government to furnish them outside labor.

"Where these requests for foreign labor are granted and the government pays the traveling expenses of such labor, it would seem to make the government a party to the exclusion of permanent residents. As you are aware, this type of agitation is based largely on race prejudice, hence completely un-American in principle.

"For this reason we hope that, in the future, your department will refuse to negotiate for foreign labor to be used in sections where intimidation is keeping out residents of Japanese ancestry."

Source: Watsonville Register-Pajaronian , page 8
Date: 1945-10-04
Type: NEWS; DOCUMENT
Coverage: 1940s
Rights: Copyrighted by the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian. Reproduced by permission.
Identifier: LN-1945-10-04-1039

Collection

Citation

“Evacuee Council Head In Plea To Sec. Byrnes.” Watsonville Register-Pajaronian , page 8. 1945-10-04. SCPL Local History. https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/items/show/134730. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.