Harropian Books

[Nisei] 1943 "Speed the Victory" : War Bond Solicitation of Interned Japanese Canadians

SHOYAMA, Tom [Thomas Kunito] (Editor & Publisher)

Kaslo, BC: Tom Shoyama, 1943. Newspaper Advertisement. Of interest, and related to the treatment, evacuation and internment of Japanese Canadians, this ad dates from the middle of the Second World War. It is a poster-sized ad published in the Sunday, Oct. 16th 1943 issue of "The New Canadian" wherein, it asks Japanese Canadians to use their savings to buy Canadian War Bonds to "Speed the Victory" - the irony of which seems very striking, considering how abruptly and disjointly the community was displaced. A single sheet, folio size (18-1/4 inches tall), printed on both sides, with some toning, fold lines, 6 glue spot abrasions on verso from a previous scrapbook mounting and some closed tears noted. An original, and very frameable piece of Japanese Canadian internment history. Very Good. Item #4662

"Why I Am Buying Victory Bonds (from THE NEW CANADIAN, October 30, 1943) In the midst of Canada’s fifth and biggest Victory Loan campaign, the average Canadian citizen can give me many reasons for purchasing Victory Bonds. They are blazoned at him at every turn. To Speed the Victory, To Bring Johnny Home Again. To safeguard the sanctity of a Loved Home. To Preserve Rights of Freedom, Equality and Justice. To Buy All the Good Things That Peace Will Bring. But most of us who were born in Canada of Japanese parentage, perhaps, cannot voice these same reasons with unequivocal enthusiasm. Especially is this true of those who have been uprooted from homes and subjected to the full weight of the many restrictive decrees, regardless of our complete innocence in the matter. No ‘Johnny’ is over there to come marching home to us, for from the outset we have been barred from enlisting in the forces. What sanctity is left of a well-remembered home? Do we stand on free and equal footing with other citizens, or even enemy aliens in the land? Will our investments mean anything to us if we are to be driven and harried from point to point, or even from the country? These are the questions which rise to the mind. And the answer to them is therefore of supreme importance. I think it lies in their own insignificance, and in the crux of the whole international conflict. It is the one which prompts me, in spite of the questions, to do what I can in the Fifth Victory loan. Briefly it comes to this. Through education and experience we have come to value a vision of social and economic democracy as the ultimate hope of human society. Those of us who spring from an ‘ international’ background, and to whom the meaning of democracy has been brought home chiefly through the denial of it, should realize more vividly than anyone else how great and overpowering is the need to work toward the realization of such a vision. And today, my conviction is that victory for the cause of the United Nations, not overlooking for a moment its international or local inconsistencies (such as are evident in our questions), offers by far the better hope that we may progress slowly along a path leading upward to the vision of peace, dignity and freedom for all, rather than one leading downward to the violence, oppression and tyranny of a political dictator or a ‘master race.’ " Tom Shoyama, Publisher & Editor.

Price: $325.00 CAD  other currencies