Statement of policy of the War Relocation Authority in providing food for relocation centers

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WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY

Washington

A STATEMENT OF POLICY OF THE WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY

in PROVIDING FOOD FOR RELOCATION CENTERS

In recognition of a widespread public interest in the subject

of food praweced by the government to evacuees in relocation centers,

the War Relocation Authority has prepared the following statement of

its problems and policies in this field of its responsibilities.

The Nature of the Population

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The Japanese-American evacuees now in relocation centers number

approximately 107,000. With the exception of a few hundred from Hawaii,

all are former residents of the States of Washington, Oregon, California,

Arizona. All were evacuated by military action in connection with

which the government undertook to maintain the evacuees, if necessary,

for the duration of the war. Approximately two-thirds of the population

are citizens; one-fourth are children of school age. Almost all of the

alien portion of the population consists of men and women over 45 years

of age who are not eligible for naturalization under the laws of the

United State

The General Policy on Food

In relocation centers evacuees are all fed in mess halls operated

y the Authority with the use of evacuee labor. It is the policy of the

Authority to provide the evacuees good substantial food of a oe and

quantity comparable to that available to the general public. Food is pur-

hased for the centers through the U. 0x00A7S. Army Quartermaster ee under

a. cifications established by the Army. It is issued to mess halls under

rcoumstances which provide strict control over the kind and quantity

of food used. All rationing regulations and recommendations applicable

to the civilian population of the United States are applied in the

operation of mess halls in relocation centers. If regulations govern-

ing the population are modified, corresponding modifications will be

made in the feeding program of the relocation centers.

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Current Restrictions on the Use of Food

At the present time the following restrictions are in effect in

relocation centers:

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1. War Relocation Centers are registered with the Office of

Price Administration as institutional users. They are

allotted sugar, coffee, and ration points for processed

foods and meats, fats, and oils in accordance with the

regulations governing all civilian institutions in this

country. Rationing restrictions are applied in the issue

of food from storerooms to mess halls.

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- In centers which do not produce their own inilk and which

are required to purchase in markets where the demand is

already excessive, fresh milk shall be provided only to

infants, nursing mothers, pregnant women, and other per-

sons who, by medical direction, require a special diet.

sts must not exceed 45% per person per day.

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Food Production in Centers

It is the policy of the Authority to provide facilities which

will enable the evacuees to produce as much as possible of the food

required for their own subsistence. On all centers substantial amounts

of agricultural land will be available this year. Vegetable production

to eet all the requirements of the center during the production season

planned at the centers. Production programs allow for shipment from

center to center; for example, vegetables produced in the winter at

Arizona centers are shipped to - in Idaho and Wyoming, which in

exchange will ship summer-produced foods to Arizona centers. Swine and

poultry projects will be ea on all centers during the. present

crop year. in a few centers having the necessary grazing land, beef

cattle will be produced. In centers where the necessary minimum milk

supply outlined above cannot otherwise be provided without serious com-

petition with the general public, dairies will be established. t is

estimated that during the current crop year food equal to one-third of

tne total cost of the ration will be produced by the centers for their

own consumption,

Contribution-of the Evacuees to the National

Food-for-Freedom Program

During the agricultural season of 1942, nearly 10,000 evacuees

were engaged in agriquitural labor, chiefly in sugar beet production.

Their contribution to the nation's sugar supply was substantial, esti-

mated at a yoar's ration for 10,000,000 people. It is contemplated that

in addition to producing a large amount of their own food, the evacuees

will continue to be available for work outside the centers in agriculture

and in other occupations contributing to the war effort.

Mey 7, 1943