Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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t Volume 6—N.o. 38 •Npuibrrnj , NEWBERRY, S. DEC 17, 1943 $1 Per Year — New Deal Crack-Pot Wants Japs To Teach American Farmers How To Bathe! (By Edward F. Jones in the Washington Times-Herald) The spectacle of the United '! States Government apologizing t° ; interned Japanese and literally ; pleading with them to accept i; transportation to Midwestern ! States “for the purpose of teach- ' I ing cleanliness and culture to ■ i • American farmers” was reveale 1 ; yesterday with the discovery by the Times-Herald of a n ew under- ;; taking by ihe War Relocation Au- !! thority. “They Do Not Bathe” <! In a new publication which W. i R. A. officials admitted was not - intended to reach the hands of “newspapers or prying Congress- I; men,” American-born Japs now in- 1: terned in W. R. A. relocation cen- - ters are advised: “Believe it or not, some few ten- ; ants and seasonal workers ‘(in ; Ohio and Michigan) do not bathe. !; They think it is unhealthy. We !: need you people to change our ■ ! ideas about this. You have a les- ; son to teach Ohio and Michigan ;» farmers in sanitation. It is a contribution you can make to cur !; way of living.” !| Lauds Jap Faithfulness '! The publication, christened Mid- west Frontiers, lauded the faith- ; fulness of the Jap to his job in contrast to the carelessness rf I Midwestern American workers and 1; in urging more of the Japs to re- ■ ! locate themselves, in Ohio and ■ ! Michigan, pointed out: “We resd your faithfulme's to ycur task, your willingness to i; work, and your depreciation of a \ \ jfrb well done. There are a lot rf s workers in +V>e Middle West, in ■ ! Ohio and Michigan, who are not careful, painstaking, and accurate. This you can teach them. You will do much for your fellow men and much for our sense of the art cf agriculture as well as the science.” Congress Resentful Discovery of the publication, produced and written in the Cleve land office of W. R.- A., brought an immediate resentful response from Members of Congress, oiie of whom declared he was going to' follow up the matter with de mands that this and other types of administration propaganda be junked. Confronted with the fact that the publication had “reached news- ipapers and prying Congressmen,’’ Harry Weiss, editor of the paper, defended the text- of the publica tion and said he “wasn’t afraid to say that.we can learn things from the Japs.” Weiss said the article had been written by Everett L. Dakan. W. R. A.’s relocation officer in Colum bus. The article carried Dakan’s byline. Dakan is on leave .from the Ohio State University Agricultural Ex tension Service, where he heads the poultry division. “Meant As Wisecrack” Weiss said it never occurred to him wen he approved the story that anyone would be riled at the remarks about sanitation “be cause I thought Mr. Dakan intend ed it as a wisecrack.” Dakan c-’nld not be reached last night. ■ In Washington headquarters cf W. R. A., however, officials rmp- ed at the ernortunity to say it was an “inadvertent sta’ement and does not reflect the opinion of the W. R. A. as a whole.” One official said he was “mad as hell,” and admitted that the story should never have appeared, he said the Cleveland office had been ordered to clear all copy for the issue with headquarters here, but had failed to do so. Called Insulting This official admitted that the story was “insulting to every Mid- westerner.” Ohio’s Senator Taft, when shown a copy of the story, de clared: “It must be a revelation to the Middle West farmer to discover that he is neither clean, sanitary, careful, nor painstakng, and must now take lessons from the Jap anese. This patronizing opinion of the American farmer, coming from inside administrat’on sources, perhaps explains the New Deal’s determination to tell every farmer how he must farm and what he must raise. What Ameri can famers need is not Japanese advice, but a new Department of Agriculture in Washington.” Woodruff Of Michigan Angered Particularly angered by the story was Representative Roy O. Woodruff (Republican), of Michi- garl, who vowed to do something about it. Woodruff pointed out that last year the Federal Treasury lost more than $119,000,000 in postal revenue through skyrocketing dis tribution of franked Government mail, and commented that he sup posed the W. R. A. was now going ’o heln boost that loss even high er with more new publications such as the Midwest Frontier.