Evening star., 1942-02-06

sBszsV - The police and
Henry MeIsmsrs. military authori-
ties make 1t Q point to see that ths
Japanese are given every CONSIDERS
ton. Americans don't get that out
here any more than they do In your
home town. An American has to
keep his dukes" up to keep swing
ing from the floor to see that he isn't
buffeted around.
But not the japanese. Since the
delightful and charming attack on
Pearl Harbor, the Japanese in Amer
lea have enjoyed a new and COM
Portable status. They are pointed
out. They are enjoying civil hber-
ties they never heard Of before.
In case you think I'm jesting. let
us consider the matter Of japanese
language schools.
Before Pearl Harbor, there were
248 such schools In Southern Cali
fornia. The schools had q combined
attendance of 10000. Immediately
after Pearl Harbor. the japanese
sponsors (these schools are COM
pletely apart from the California
educationan SYSTEM closed the
schools. Every one said, How nice.
how patriotic Of the Japanese.
Every one in California was very
proud of this voluntary response.
s*ss
But that was a few weeks ago.
The smoke has died down from the
bombs In Honolulu. The American
dead have been buried. The treach.
cry has become q slogan. So. what
have the Japanese done? Nothing.
except to try politely to open those
schools once more.
They have contacted United States
Attorney William Fleet Palmer. VIII
liam Fleet Palmer was very stern
with the Hashimuro togos. In q
hard bitten, mean, nasty statement
he was quoted as telling them:
This office certainly will not lend
any encouragement to the reopen
Ing of the Japanese schools"
This hardly seems fair. This
brutal answer to our charming little
friends shocks me.
Here the Japs are doing their best
to take their juvenile American
born offspring and teach them that
Emperor Hirohito is the leading
citizen Of the world, near god and
completely without wrong.
Who are we, as Americans, to dis
courage this sort Of thing? The
fact that we are at war with Japan
and that our national existence de-
pends upon beating Japan certainly
furnishes no excuse for intolerance.
After all, the books that are taught
in these schools are printed In
Japan. My knowledge Of Japanese
is very slight, so slight In fact that
I can't read a word Of the stuff. But
even to such q casual student Of the
language as myself 1t Is obvious that
these books, while they may not
openly rap our United States, bend
over backwards Gas far as books can
bend over backwards) to keep from
putting in plug for this country
Even the pictures don't give the
United States break. You won't
find Mount Vernon or Valley Forge
or Belleau Wood or Dewey returning
from Manila In there. No, sirl You
get q load Of pint-sized mountains
full Of snow, a mess Of fans and two
or three potential fifth columnists
arranging chrysanthemums In q
vase.
The schools have nothing to do
with the California educational
system, as I said before. The chill
dren who attend them are American
citizens, actually, and from 8 until
8 attend the regular public schools,
which are among the best In the
country. But they 90 straight from
the American schools to the jap
anese schools. At $50 10000 little
American Sons Of Heaven whip into
the Jap classes and concentrate on
forgetting the American way Of life
they learned earlier In the day.
But, thank heaven. the Govern.
ment Is not intolerant. Every one
seems to have made up his mind
that this country Is going to remain
q democracy, even at the risk of
having 1t run by O bunch Of rick
shaw operators.
Son. hand me down my rice cakes.
I am OF to break sukiyaki with
one Of the most intelligent, earnest,
well-educated Tin Californias JAP
anese language schools saboteurs
that 1t has been my displeasure to
know.
distributed By MeNaught Syndicate 1ns1