News Release, Statement by Dillon S. Myer

For Imnediate Release Friday, May 14, 1943 OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION OWI-1832 Dillon S. Myer, Director of the War Relocation Authority, made the following statement today: A little more than one year ago, on March 18, 1942, the President signed Executive Order 9102, creating the War Relocation Authority. The Primary function of the new agency was to aid the Western Defense Command of the Army in the reloca- tion ofllo, people of Japanese ancestry, whom the Commanding General had deter- mined should be excluded from the strategic coastal area. The exclusion already had been ordered, on March 2, and voluntary evacuation was taking place. From areas scattered throughout the West came disquieting reports of difficulties which the voluntary evacuees were encountering in settling or along the way to new homes. It became apparent that voluntary relocation was not going to be successful. In collaboration with officials of the new relocation agency, the Army worked out plans for the orderly evacuation of the coastal area, which included at first the western third of Washington, Oregon, and California, and also the southern portion of Arizona. Later, the entire state of California was included in the evacuated TRUMAN area. Liss Objective, Quick Resettlement HARRY ANY U.S. COVERNMENT From the beginning, the objective was to relocate the evacuated people, two- thirds of whom were American citizens, in order that their removal from private live and productive work would be brief. The War Relocation Authority began a search for locations where wartime communities might be established in the interior of the country, land that could be developed for agricultural purposes, water sup- ply, access to transportation, and electric power were among the requirements. An effort was made to find land that could be obtained without displacing large num- bers of people and removing them from agricultural production. Ten sites were found, and Army engineers supervised the construction of ten new communities, two, each, in California, Arizona, and Arkansas, and one, each, in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado. Guards Demanded. Early consultations with state officials indicated that they would not be re- sponsible for law and order in the vicinity of the relocation centers. Accordingl- it was. deemed necessary to have the relocation centers guarded by military police for the protection of the evacuees as well as the public outside. The actual evacuation was carried out in an orderly manner by the military and evacuees at first were quartered temporarily under military supervision in canton- ments hastily constructed within the evacuated area. Later, as construction of the relocation centers was completed, the people were moved by the military authorities to the relocation centers, where they came for the first time under jurisdiction of the War Relocation Authority. The movement to the relocation centers took place over a period of several months, from late May to early November, 1942. Way Stations Relocation centers are not to be confused with internment camps for enemy aliens. For most of the evacuated people, the relocation centers are way stations: places where they can live until they can be reabsorbed into the normal life of the nation. While they are in relocation centers, the War Relocation Authority provid