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Japanese people aren't so had after all, according to three students who live in Hawaii and have known many intimately. Freshmen Frederic B. Withington, Jr., Irwin E. Spalding, and Robert I. Curts agree that Japanese, or at least those living is Hawaii, are "just like Americans."
Withington, whose father is a minister on the outlying island, of Kapal, has lived with Orient is all his life and went to a school that and five white boys in a class of 50. He emphasized the similarity between the naturalized Japanese and all other U. S. citizens, saying that both are interested in the same things.
Possibilities of an active fifth column in the islands are no greater than on the mainland, he said. The naturalized citizens are probably more loyal to the United States than to the Empire, although some of those who are still aliens might becomes saboteurs.
"New Race" Possible
"The war may bring about a permanent split in the Japanese people, with the Hawaiian group becoming a sort of separate race," said Withington. "They have always been very clannish, and are the only Orientals in Hawaii who don't mix with the others, and breaking off with the home country won't make them mingle any more. Of course, the tremendous power of ancestor worship may work against this, but I think that the new patriotism is stronger."
Having lived in the city of Honolulu all his life, Spalding presented a different viewpoint. He had Japanese friends, but disliked them as a race. Son of a banker, he went to a school with almost no Japanese.
Spalding was more concerned with the possibility of a fifth column, because of his general distrust of the Nipponese. He had not heard anything definite about sabotage, but said that it was very possible. This might be done by the aliens, but not by the naturalized group, which is definitely Americanized.
Families Safe
Both Withington and Spalding had received telegrams from their families saying that they were all safe. Neither was worried, for their homes are far from any military objectives.
Curts' father, however, is a Commander in the Navy, a Fleet Communications Officers, and has recently been shifted from his station at Pearly Harbor. His present whereabouts cannot be revealed. Curts received a letter from him yesterday morning, saying that the whole family was safe, and that his mother and younger brother had been evacuated from their home near Pearl Harbor.
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