How American Military Government is Working

in Mariana Islands

NOTE : The following article was written in July, 1945: rE efficiency of military governments set up by the US Navy on liberated Pacific Islands is seen in the dimin ishing death-rate on these islands.

In September, 1944, a few months after US forces first stormed ashore, 508 civi lians died on Saipan and 108 on Tinian.

Since that time, despite supply problems, Japanese harassments and the threat of deadly epidemics ever-present on war ravaged land, death figures have dropped sensationally. In November the Saipan figure was 98 and the Tinian total 36. In December, 1944, the losses had dropped to 65 and 14 respectively.

These figures are more than monu ments to the skill of the officers and men of the medical service; behind them is the story of swift solution by the US Navy’s military government organisation of the problems of feeding, clothing, and sheltering inhabitants of the islands, and then helping to re-establish them in civi lian pursuits.

Health and sanitation, to he sure, are the prime responsibilities of these mili tary governments, but by no means are they the only ones. Opening schools, set ting up police forces, providing recrea tional facilities, developing agriculture, establishing a new monetary system— these are but a few of the reconstruc tion problems which must be met in areas liberated from the Japanese.

Life on Saipan, Tinian and Guam is gradually returning to normal. Bv last December, a total of 12,785 civilians already had found gainful employment.

On farmland once pock-marked by battle,

265 tons of crops are being harvested each month. From coastal waters fishermen are collecting 36 tons of fish monthly for civilian consumption. Cigar and candy factories and a bakery are going full blast on Saipan. And 30 retail stores, run by civilians, are doing land-office business on Guam.

The officers and men of the military governments of these islands came ashore highly skilled in their assignments, and eager for their duties. They were fitted for the *work by their civilian pre-war backgrounds, and had been trained in the Naval School for Military Govern ment and Administration at Columbia University in New York City. They had received intensive courses in anthro pology, geography, languages, military law, public health and international law.

AN island commander heads each military government. He has desig nated qualified members of his staff to, head such departments as economics, labour, legal, supply, civilian welfare,

agriculture, public health, intelligence, education, engineering, transportation, foreign economic administration and camp administration.

Guam’s military government consists of 61 officers and 255 enlisted men; Saipan’s, 32 officers and 126 men; and Tinian’s, 25 officers and 100 enlisted men.

The tasks that faced the military gov ernment staffs in the Marianas were stag gering. More than two-thirds of the civi lian dwellings on Guam had been ham mered into rubble; entire towns —Agat, Agana, Sumay, Piti—were wiped out. On Saipan and Tinian civilians had to live in caves. Food and medical care were practically non-existent. Many civilians were wounded. Most suffered from mal nutrition. And nearly all had dysentery, or some other disease. From 30 to 50 per cent, of the entire population of the islands was afflicted with one or more types of intestinal parasites.

Until the military situation was well enough in hand to permit transports to enter the islands’ harbours with supplies solely for civilian use, military govern ment authorities had to rely mainly on military rations and captured Japanese stocks to feed the civilian populace* Since

there was something like 49,618 civilians on the three islands at last count, this was no easy problem.

Immediate steps were taken to make the islands as self-sufficient as possible.

One month after Japanese resistance ended 2,214 lb. of seeds and 12,000 plants had been distributed to farmers on Guam and 431 acres of soil had been tilled and planted. By the end of December, 1,157 acres had been developed on that island.

With agriculture making similar vast strides on Tinian and Saipan, food stocks are now ample in the American-held islands of the Marianas Group.

Many of the civilians who stumbled through American lines while Japanese garrisons were being hunted down were clothed in rags, and some were even naked. Clothing depots were set up immediately and military supplies distri buted. Later, the American Red Cross provided considerable clothing.

The housing problem was far from

simple. When the last Japanese com batant had been ferreted out, only a frac tion of the houses on the three islands was habitable. Nearly all civilians had to be harboured in temporary camps.

Four huge camps were needed on Guam alone. But so swiftly did the military governments work, that by December one of the four Guam camps had been closed and only 3,235 civilians remained in the other three. Already all of the civilians on Tinian and Saipan have been provided with homes of wood and tin.

THERE are 5,607 civilians earning their keep on Guam, 3,178 on Tinian, 4,020 on Saipan. Of those gainfully employed on Guam, 792 are farmers and 213 are private businessmen.

Wages on Saipan and Tinian are set at 35 cents per day for unskilled labour ers and 50 cents per day for skilled work ers Professional men ana women are paid by the month. On Guam wages are considerably higher. As an American territory, pre-war wage levels on Guam were considerably above those on the other two islands, which were adminis tered by the Japanese as a mandate according to Japanese economic stan dards. . /V Private enterprise on the three islands is fully encouraged to the fullest extent practicable. All repair and service shops (barber, tailor, etc.) are in private hands.

Guam has a soap factory and its farmers co-operative markets in Agana and Agat did $5,887.62 worth of business in Decem ber. Local handicraft is producing tidy incomes for many workers.

Postal service and banking facilities aie operating smoothly on Guam. All Jap anese money on the three islands has been collected and exchanged on the basis of 20 yen* to one Hawaiian dollar, with $5O being the maximum that could be paid to an individual. War bonds are offered for sale at the post office and bank and a total of $158,995 already has been subscribed and paid for.

Schools on Guam are now open as before the war. There are 4,420 children attending the 11 elementary and high schools. Because Saipan ana Tinian are former Japanese mandates, attendance at school on these islands is not compulsory But, on Tinian, 73.5 per cent, of the Jap anese children and 91.5 per cent, of the Korean children are attending.