The Northwest Times

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 9—(JACL)—The new administration plans to retain its present personnel and policies in its evacuation claims program, the Washington office of the Japanese American Citizens League announced today.

This assurance was given to Geo. J. Inagaki, national president, and Mike Masaoka, Washington representative, by Warren E. Burger, new assistant attorney general in charge of the claims division of the Department of Justice, which supervises the evacuation claims section.

When the national president from Venice, Calif., visited the East recently, he was invited along with Masaoka to meet with the new Eisenhower appointee and to discuss the evacuation claims program.

Both JACL officials praised the administration of Enoch E. Ellison who has directed the evacuation claims program for the last few years and instituted the highly successful compromise settlement program two years ago.

Ellison was commended for his cooperation with the JACL, his efficient and effective over-all administration of the program, and his friendly attitude toward the program within the limitation of the 1948 law.

It was at this point that assistant attorney general Burger promised that Ellison would be retained in his present capacity even though he is a holdover from the Truman administration.

During the discussion, it was learned that Burger became familiar with the problems of the evacuee and persons of Japanese ancestry when he was president of the St. Paul Council on Human Relations during the early days of the relocation program. He expressed his personal interest in the evacuation claims program and promised to do everything possible to expedite the processing of the remaining claims.

He also expressed his concern over congressional efforts to reduce the administrative and other appropriations for the program. "Without the necessary funds, the program will be slowed up administratively and those whose claims have been settled may have to wait for some time to receive payment of their awards," he said. But he promised to use his good offices to persuade Congress to appropriate as much as is needed both for administrative and payment purposes.

After the meeting, Inagaki said that he was heartened by the sympathetic interest shown by the new administration in the program. He added that it was now up to Congress to appropriate enough money to carry out the objectives of the original law which the Republican 80th Congress passed five years ago.