The Pittsburgh Press (April 15, 1942)
Rambling Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
CLOVIS, N.M. – The middle of last month, when I was in California and writing about moving the Japanese farmers inland, one column said:
“The transplanting of these Japanese will produce a vegetable shortage unless some program is worked out for taking over their farms. And I can find no such program. The whole thing is pretty chaotic.”
In the mall today comes word that there is now such a program. It was set up between the time I wrote that paragraph and the time it was published.
The details come in a letter from Dolph Winebrenner, who is with the Farm Security Administration in San Francisco.
The letter is one of the nicest I’ve ever received, and was a pleasure to read, until I got to the end and winced when Mr. Winebrenner signed himself, “Associate Information Specialist.” But I suppose one of his bosses in Washington thought that up, and Mr. Winebrenner is probably ashamed of it himself, so we’ll get on with what he has to say:
“To maintain the volume of vegetables and other crops produced by Japanese and Japanese-Americans, a program has been put into action by the Farm Security Administration at the direct orders of the U.S. Army.
FSA agents control shifting
“This means that a vast double migration is being conducted, of Japs and others away from farms in the defense areas, and a corresponding movement of acceptable farmers to take their places.
“Several hundred FSA field agents, located throughout the evacuation zone, are responsible for seeing that the people who must leave are given a square deal in disposing of their property. They make certain the new owners or tenants are capable.
“To say that an agent must combine the qualifications of interpreter, counsel, custodian, examiner and general overseer barely outlines his work.
“When a farm has been vacated by a Japanese family, the field agent supplies the new operator with any technical assistance he should have, along with help in getting credit. The agent can make special loans, if necessary.
“The scope of this migration is greater than anything of its kind in history. About 150,000 people are involved. Most of the Japanese are second-generation citizens. In California alone, they farm 225,000 acres, worth 70 million dollars. They raise from 35 to 50 per cent of the state’s vegetable produce.
“In the first ten days of our work, more than 500 Japanese offered their farms for sale or lease through our agents, and about 400 applicants registered to take over the land. Numerous deals have been closed and loans already made.
Some crop losses inevitable
“It is interesting to note that we have had to operate so fast that few letters have been written to us from our field agents; the entire job so far has been done by telegraph and telephone.
“What crop losses will occur it is hard to say. Some are inevitable. Floriculture losses may be heavy, since few others than Japanese have the necessary technique. Strawberries may possibly be out for the duration.”
The thing that puzzled me when I was in California was where the new farmers of the Japanese lands were to come from, and who they were to be.
Mr. Winebrenner doesn’t say. I suppose, actually, they are all sorts of people, California is full of retired Midwest farmers who might want to get back to work. And the closing of small businesses is throwing thousands of people out of jobs.
This vast migration, and the transfer of lands, and the inward migration to the farms, had not started when I left California. I wish I were back there again, to follow it through. I hope some newspaper or magazine assigns somebody to do it beautifully. It is, in its way, another “Grapes of Wrath.”
Most of these Japanese are as blameless and as innocent as you or I, and it is a tragedy in their lives. But I don’t feel sorry for them.
I can’t feel sorry for them when, back in Indiana, in our own farm community, straight Americans who have had their land for generations have been kicked out on much less notice than the Japanese, to make way for an ammunition factory. And no place has been prepared for them to go, either.
The war is beginning to touch everybody now.
And how did I get off on this, when we were talking about a vegetable shortage? I’m glad the government has taken over, for something had to be done. Even so, I expected those magnificently green, lush and ridiculously cheap vegetables of Southern California are out for the duration. Now I can cut down on my spinach with a clear conscience.