Evening star., 1938-01-02

A ARTICLE by Mr. Upton Close re-
~ Gently published In The Star is
remarkable for its misstatements
and for its apparently prejudiced
opinions.
This article seeks to challenge the loy-
atty of the Territory of Hawaii in event
OF war because of its japanese population.
To prove this, he utiliZes incorrect figures.
and in a casual and misleading manner,
He states that NEARLY so per cent of the
island chains population are Japanese
10000 or more" The fact is that Hawaii's
population is 396,7l5, of which 1882 are
alien Japanese. Many of these doubtless
would be American citizens if the natural
ization laws permitted
Aliens Constitute 38 Per Cent.
There are 1929 persons of japanese
ancestry who are American citizens by
birth. About IS per cent Of these are
minors-many Of them babes in arms
while Is per cent are adults of both sexes.
Taken together, the alien Japanese and
the American citizens of japanese ancestry
comprise SO per cent of our population
1t is perfectly ridiculous to say that our
people of japanese ancestry have been
CONCEALED into sullen, brooding unit by
Washingtons denunciation of their mother
land That simply is not true In the
schools, in social and business life and in
every way those persons of Japanese an
cestry are no more concerned than the
people of any other part of our country.
Furthermore, must protest Mr.. Closes
use of the term Americans as If it applied
only to those of mainland birth. To apply
his meaning of the term to the mainland,
only the Indians would be Americans The
remainder would be English, Irish, German,
the many thousands Of persons of Ha-
waiian, part Hawaiian, Spanish, Portuguese
and Puerto Rican ancestry the right to
consider themselves Americans.
Mr.. Close states that $4,000 of the 5000
odd managers, operators and tenants on
the 100000 acres of the worlds richest
sugar and pineapple lands are Japanese"
This is absurdly false. There are more
than 100000 acres of Hawaiian land
planted to sugar and pineapples, with more
than 10000 operators, employers and ten
ants
Similar errors of fact are numerous, and
also demonstrebly false, notably that the
Army keeps ready wire Enclosed stockades
roomy enough to intern 10000 insurrec-
tionists, and plans for gathering them in
overnight; also that "the Navy is rushing
to completion its costly plant for making
fresh water from the sea-"
If Mr.. Close knows these facts he knows
much more than one who spent 20 years
in the Navy and served as district intelli-
gence officer on the staff of the comman-
dant in Hawaii, as did The people Of
Honolulu have an ample supply of artesian
water and certainly are not as he says
'at the mercy of a few storage tanks"
Mr.. Close talks Of sugar cane burning
like prairie grass" and of how a cane crop
'can be destroyed by blowing up an irri-
cation flume or dropping a match" That
is arrant nonsense. As a matter Of fact,
cane is always burned before it is har-
vested in order to simplify the process.
Irrigation fumes are portable and may
be moved many times in season.
Hawaii is just as strongly loyal as any
other part of America. Its people through
long association with Army and Navy per-
sonnel are very service minded" and
have demonstrated that they are directly
behind Congress and the President in
event Of war with perhaps less mental
reservation than those of other sections
Cites Evidence Of Loyalty.
In the World War Hawaii exceeded it's
draft quota and oversubscribed every Lib
erty loan and other patriotic fund-raising
campaigns In military service and all other
forms of support of the national effort the
Japanese group, both citizen and alien, took
its full share.
Hawaii had National Guard out Of all
proportion to its population. Had the
mainland maintained the National Guard
at the same proportionate strength it would
have numbered over 100000 men instead
Of several hundred thousand
Mr.. Close may be an expert on matters
in Japan and China. But may say, as
one who knows Hawaii from end to end,
that in his article on Hawaii his facts were
wrong and that his opinions, not tied to
verif1able facts, are not shared by those
who are better qualified to speak
SAMUEL WILDER KING,
Delegate in Congress from Hawaii,