Montana Governors records 1889-1962.

              HOWARD TOOLE
W. T- BOONE
TOOLE 5c  BOONE
ATTORNEYS AND  COUNSELLORS AT LAW
MONTANA   BUILDING
MIS SOU LA, MONTANA
J. W.  RIMEL
April 13,  1942•
Hon. S. C. Ford,
Governor of Montana,
Hele na, Montana.
Dear Governor!
■ > ! 5 i ! i ! 1 ;
I called you by phone yesterday because I was
anxious to stop any possible reaction which might occur
in this community from Dr. Melby's suggestion that Japan¬
ese students might be acceptable at the UTxiversity of
Montana. This community, as you know, has just gone
through considerable discussion, with substantial opposi¬
tion to brirjgirig in Japanese labor in the beet fields.
i/feny people have been opposed to that although I do think
most people are sensible about it and I, among others,
felt that we ought not to oppose the welfare of the in¬
dustry by reason of prejudice against the Japanese.
However, Dr. Melby's statement came out in the
morning Missoulian on the same day when the Missoula
County draft numbers vs^ere announced and in the draft num¬
bers were a great mary young University students, amor^
whom was my own son,who have either been taken out of
college or have voluntarily left in anticipation of the
draft. One woman whose son has a low draft number and is
a Junior at the University thought that her son would be
called immediately before he could finish this year and
she was quite hysterical about the prospect that a Japanese
might be permitted to come here to more or less take his
place. Numerous other people have spoken to me about the
matter and they all seem to feel about the same way.
I have been very much in favor of Dr. Melby be¬
cause I think that he was a fine selection and taking a
difficult job so I have been a substantial booster for him
whenever the occasion arose but I am sure that this kind of
a pronouncement will have a bad effect on the University as
well as on Dr. ifelby.  I am also sure that many people in
Montana will be reluctant to send their children to college