Report, Informal Report of the War Relocation Authority

senatorial papers (war Relocation Board) VERTICAL FILE April 20, 1942 Japanese in the U.S. INFORMAL REPORT OF THE WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY The War Relocation Authority has been moving rapidly toward an organization capable of handling the total problem of relocating approxi- mately 120,000 Japanese being evacuated from the West Coast military area. Washington, D. C. -- The War Relocation Authority does not as yet have space of its own. Consequently, for the time being it is occupying a few rooms in the Administration Building, Department of Agriculture. M. S. Eisenhower, formerly Land Use Coordinator of the Department of Agriculture, is Director of WRA. Colonel E. F. Cress, of the United States Army, is Deputy Director. Philip M. Glick is Solicitor, John Bird is Director of Information, and Leland Barrows is Executive Officer. San Francisco, California - The western regional office of WRA is located at the Whitcomb Hotel Building, San Francisco. E. R. Fryer, formerly Superintendent of the Navajo Indian Reservation, is Regional Director. The regional office has three major branches: (1) An Economic Management branch under which are the divisions of public works, indus- trial management, agricultural management, site selection - headed by R. B. Cozzens, formerly State Coordinator of the Soil Conservation Serv- ice in California; (2) the Community Lanagement branch, dealing with education, recreation, health, community enterprises, and civic organiza- tion - headed by Harvey M. Coverly, .formerly Assistant Regional Director of the Farm Security Administration, San Francisco. The Services of Supply branch (transportation, provisioning, equipment, etc.) is headed by Lt. Gol. L. W. Foy of the United States Army. Each war-duration project will be managed by a Project Director. The project organization will include community works, community serv- ices, war works, public works, housing, employment, supply, transporta- tion, and plant maintenance. Each project will be as productive as possible, and it will be the policy to encourage the evacuees themselves to develop the highest degree of community services consistent with the situation. Site Selection -- Because of the tremendous pressure to find adequate sites so that the construction of housing and other facilities could get under way, the War Relocatión Authority obtained, immediately after it was established by the President, the cooperation of numerous agencies in the West. With personnel loaned by these agencies, WRA set up four regional teams, each one composed of qualified persons assigned from the Soil Conservation Service, Forest Service, Office of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Farm Security Administration, and Federal Security Agency. Persons on these teams are expertly qualified on questions of water supply, soil, climate, crops, and other physical and economic factors. Removal from Senatorial fapors (Wa. Relocation Bears) 10/15/59 pdl. B250