(Editorial foreword: The Navy’s accomplishments in initiating and administering civil government in the former Japanese Mandate are to be critically examined by a Joint Committee of Congress which will inspect Guam, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory in the near future and will submit recommendations as to legislation which is required.)
On July 18,1947, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands came into being with the announcement by the President that a Trusteeship Agreement, which designated the United States as Administering Authority, had been ratified by the Security Council of the United Nations and by the Government of the United States.
These islands of the Western Pacific in the Caroline, Marshall, and Marianas groups had been wrested from Japan by assault during the war, or surrendered to American naval forces upon the final collapse of the Japanese empire. Until the Trusteeship Agreement became effective they had been under Military Government administered by the Navy.
The President ordered Military Government ended and Civil Government established immediately. He directed the Secretary of the Navy to administer this government, pending transfer “to a civilian agency at the earliest practicable date.” He also commissioned the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Area, as High Commissioner of the Trust Territory. The Secretary of the Navy then directed the High Commissioner to institute civil government in accordance with the terms of the Agreement. He also authorized the High Commissioner to appoint a Deputy and the necessary Governors and Administrators.
This presented the Navy with the startling necessity of living up to its wartime motto of “Do your best with what you have.” And there were two strikes on us from the start. An “interim” status of indefinite duration presented a real obstacle to the long range planning which was obviously necessary. A second major difficulty, arising from the interim status, involved the task of persuading administrators of the type we needed to accept assignment in a specialty which had no naval future.
Upon the other hand the Navy had qualifications which no other branch of the government had: a half century of experience in administering the affairs of Pacific Island people in American Samoa and Guam; a large body of officers, principally reserves, trained for, and experienced in, governing the people of the Trust Territory; experienced inspectors; and a reservoir of able executives such that replacement could quickly be made of any incumbent who did not measure up to required standards. Of course the Navy, as a military organization, had a primary interest in this area which the Agreement itself designated as strategic. The Navy operated the only systems of supply, communications, and surface and air transportation in the area.
Those who have not examined the Trusteeship Agreement will be surprised to learn the extent of the commitments that the United States voluntarily made. As might be expected, we agree to enact necessary legislation; to provide the status of “citizen of the Trust Territory” for the inhabitants of the islands, and to furnish them diplomatic and consular representation and protection; to guarantee freedom of conscience and, subject only to the requirements of public order and security, freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly as well as freedom of worship, of religious teaching, and of migration and movement. But in Article 6 we become much more specific as to what is to be done:
Article 6
In discharging its obligations under Section 76 (b) of the Charter, the administering authority shall:
1. Foster the development of such political institutions as are suited to the trust territory and promote the development of the inhabitants of the trust territory toward self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of the trust territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned; and to this end shall give to the inhabitants of the trust territory a progressively increasing share in the administrative services in the territory; shall develop their participation in government; shall give due recognition to the customs of the inhabitants in providing a system of law for the territory; and shall take other appropriate measures toward these ends.
2. Promote the economic advancement and self-sufficiency of the inhabitants, and to this end shall regulate the use of natural resources; encourage the development of fisheries, agriculture, and industries; protect the inhabitants against the loss of their lands and resources; and improve the means of transportation.
3. Promote the social advancement of the inhabitants, and to this end shall protect the rights and fundamental freedoms of all elements of the population without discrimination; protect the health of the inhabitants; control the traffic in arms and ammunition, opium, and other dangerous drugs, and alcoholic and other spirituous beverages; and institute such other regulations as may be necessary to protect the inhabitants against social abuses.
4. Promote the educational advancement of the inhabitants, and to this end shall take steps toward the establishment of a general system of elementary education; facilitate the vocational and cultural advancement of the population; and shall encourage qualified students to pursue higher education, including training on the professional level.
The whole tenor of the Agreement is that government of the territory shall be in the interest of the people governed and in accordance with their wishes. All changes which are required must be so accomplished as to benefit the people of the islands rather than the administering nation.
Fortunately for the new naval administration of civil government, the Agreement required no major reorientation. In 1945, soon after the surrender of Japan, Admiral Spruance, as Military Governor of the area, had consolidated and revised outstanding directives and issued a new statement of policies to be followed in government. The Agreement so closely parallels this policy letter that it is evident that the one was largely derived from the other. Persons who have the fixed conception that naval officers are not mindful of civil rights and of the welfare of people under their control will probably not believe the evidence of their eyes when they compare the two documents. However, the fact remains that for almost two years prior to ratification of the Agreement the Navy had been earnestly trying to accomplish just what the Agreement now requires.
The High Commissioner, upon receipt of his appointment and instructions, decided to retain in his own hands only broad policy control, and to delegate responsibility for development of details of policy and for the actual executive control of government to the Deputy whom he promptly appointed. Headquarters of the Deputy were established in Guam, which is not included in the Trust Territory, but is the center of communications and of logistic support for these islands.
The High Commissioner also appointed a Governor of the Marshall Islands, with the Civil Administrators (abbreviated title CIVADS) of Kwajalein District and Majuro District under him; a Governor of the Eastern Carolines, with CIVADS Truk and Ponape Districts; a Governor of the Western Carolines, with CIVADS Palau and Yap Districts; and a Governor of the Northern Marianas, with CIVAD Saipan District. The governors function only in the fields of policy control and coordination. Actual administration of government is in the hands of the CIVADS.
In recent months it has been found possible to economize by combining the Yap and Palau Districts, and steps are now under way to consolidate the two districts in the Marshalls.
Although experience gained in administering American Samoa and Guam has been of real value in handling Trust Territory matters, the problems of the Trust Territory people differ fundamentally from those of the other areas under Navy supervision. One basic difference is that Samoa and Guam are American territory, whereas we do not have full sovereign rights in the other islands. Most of the other major differences stem from the isolation of the small communities which make up the Trust Territory. Centuries of separation from their fellows, and an extreme variation in exposure to alien cultures, have resulted in unbelievable differences among the native populations in everything that goes to make up a way of life.
Unless an administrator is fully aware and constantly mindful of the profound differences which exist, he is definitely in for trouble. He may patiently study the native people of one particular locality, such as Koror, until he finally feels some confidence that he understands their social organization, their language, their beliefs, and their customs. But if he then moves to another group such as Yap, which is less than 250 miles from Koror, he learns that none of the information which he has acquired is of use to him. He cannot understand any word of the language; and the people’s customs, standards, and social organization differ as much from those of their neighbors as they do from our own. Eventually one learns that the only safe generalization about the Trust Territory is that all generalizations are dangerous.
Our predecessors in government in the Trust Territory doubtless found the same difficulty that we have had in understanding the problems of the native people, but our task has been enormously complicated by the destruction and disintegration of war. All major settlements in the islands were completely destroyed by bombing, bombardment, or assault. Harbor facilities were demolished; floating craft, including small boats and canoes, were sunk; commerce was suspended for years; and large numbers of the native people were displaced from their homes and deprived of their normal means of livelihood.
From the varied observations and reports of its Military Government units in different localities, however, the Navy had at least acquired a knowledge of the immediate needs of the people, and an inkling that important basic differences existed within the area.
During hostilities the need to devote all available resources to winning the war limited the aid given the native people to the barest essentials of shelter, food, clothing, and medical care for the few who were under our control.
Following the surrender of Japan, it was necessary to repatriate the vast number of Japanese nationals, both civilian and military, who were in the area and who were depriving the natives of locally-grown food. Before this task was well in hand our hasty demobilization was upon us and our Military Government units were denuded of personnel. Most of us will remember the period of nonavailability of shipping which followed, and the world-wide shortages of both capital and consumer goods. It was impossible to get supplies to the islands, and the decimated governmental units had a desperate struggle to prevent further deterioration of the situation.
A low point was reached at a date about midway between the surrender of Japan and the inauguration of the Trust Territory. When Military Government was succeeded by Civil Administration, responsible officials could note with assurance that a good ground work had been laid, and that progress, although slow, was definitely being made.
The officers of the staff of the Deputy High Commissioner were originally those who had been performing similar functions for Military Government. They were graduates of the School of Naval Administration at Stanford University, or of the Schools of Military Government conducted at Columbia, Princeton, and the University of Virginia. These officers, largely Reserves, had varied civil-life backgrounds of business, law, education, municipal administration, etc. Practically all of them had served in Military Government units in the islands. During the existence of the Trust Territory, additions to, or replacements on, the staff have had similar backgrounds and training, and have demonstrated proficiency in Civil Administration units in the field.
The staff of the Deputy could not function if members were required to confine themselves to rigidly defined specialties. For one thing, one or more members are always away from headquarters attending to necessary business in the field, and the others must carry on in their absence. For another, some have specialized personal knowledge about particular areas which must be used when any phase of government activity in such areas is being considered. More important, a department such as Health and Sanitation, Education, Commerce and Industry, Political Affairs, or Law usually finds that solution of problems in its own specialty requires complementary action from one or more of the other departments. In practice, extreme flexibility of organization has been found essential.
Although we have had to operate under the handicap of “interim” status in doing a job that is inherently a long time one, encouraging progress has been made all along the line.
Health and Sanitation, which have always been matters of first interest to the Navy, received early attention. We inherited a sad picture, for such progress as the Japanese had made was principally in the vicinity of their large settlements, and these settlements no longer existed. Most of the natives had had no medical care for years, and endemic diseases, particularly yaws and those stemming from malnutrition and intestinal parasites, were rife. A complete medical survey is now being made. We will not know the exact magnitude of our problem until it is finished, but much has been done in the meantime.
Small hospitals, officially styled dispensaries, have been established at each of our Civil Administration centers. These make modern surgery and medical care available to the people of the district. Selected men and women from each inhabited community have been trained in sanitation and first aid, and in administering prescribed medication and injections. They then returned to their home islands, where simple dispensaries were set up and equipped. They render particularly valuable service on those remote islands where visits by our travelling medical teams can be made only bi-monthly.
Due largely to the presence of trained men competent to give repeated medication which the doctors prescribe, the tropical disease yaws, which previously disabled so many of the people, has been conquered. The knowledge of sanitation of these same trained men, and their ability to give routine treatments, is also contributing much to the progress being made in eliminating infection by intestinal parasites.
Patients requiring medical treatment or surgery beyond the capacity of the district dispensaries are transferred to the Medical Center at Guam. That institution also includes schools for medical and dental practitioners and for nurses, where bright and ambitious young men and women from the Trust Territory are being prepared to render much needed service to their own people when they return to their homes after completion of the courses.
A leprosarium has been established on Tinian for all Trust Territory sufferers from leprosy. Modern medicine has made such progress in treatment that we hope to be able to cure most of the present patients— approximately one hundred in number—and return them to their home islands.
On Saipan the dispensary has been expanded so that it can accommodate tuberculous patients from all of the islands whose condition is such that surgery is required. We are a long way from having conquered tuberculosis in the Territory, and it now seems probable that in the future this disease will require more attention than any other part of the medical program.
Education has been a challenging problem in which we started almost literally from scratch. The Japanese provided three years schooling for native children who lived within walking distance of the principal Japanese establishments, but little or nothing for others. Operation of all schools had long been suspended when we acquired control.
There are at least nine distinct languages spoken by the different groups in the Trust Territory. Some of these had been reduced to writing, but the work was done by persons not trained in linguistics, and the results are generally not acceptable as a base on which to build. There is no lingua franca—no commonly understood tongue which can be used for accurate interchange of ideas between Americans and natives, or even between one group of natives and another.
Obviously education was a matter of immediate urgency, and an essential for the accomplishment of the many improvements in all phases of native existence that we have undertaken to effect. But it was also obvious that American curricula would not serve the true end of education, which is to prepare a people to meet most effectively the problems which their environment will present to them.
We could not even find any elementary text books which contained the names of articles in daily use by the natives; and as to teachers, there were no teachers who had any knowledge of modern teaching methods. We needed teachers to teach the teachers, but there were not in the entire Trust Territory a score of persons who had a working knowledge of English and who also spoke at least one of the native languages.
Fortunately we had several professional educators with determination and imagination among our Naval Reserve personnel. Also we have been greatly assisted in the development of a reasonable and workable program by the sage council of the Advisory Committee on Education in Micronesia. This group of residents of Hawaii, which was organized at the request of the High Commissioner and of the Governor of Guam, consists of experts in education, agriculture, anthropology, and other lines important to island people. The members of the Committee have given their time most generously in studying and advising upon our problems.
A beginning in providing education could not await completion of a program, so we necessarily improvised. Teachers were given a sketchy training as best we could. Elementary word lists and simple sentences were mimeographed and distributed to the teachers when they returned to their home islands. Enthusiasm upon the part of both teachers and pupils has accomplished something in spite of great difficulties.
Meantime two excellent Teacher Training Schools have been established and staffed with carefully selected American educators. Text books particularly adapted to the use of the island people have been prepared and issued, and the printing presses which we had to set up to do the job are now operated principally by natives. School buildings have been erected or reconditioned, in each inhabited community, and competent native graduates of the Teacher Training Schools are now available in limited numbers. The schools will be continued until needs are met.
It is fully realized that the educational program which now seems best will have to be revised as experience is gained, but it is comforting to know that our competent Advisory Committee thinks that we are on the right track.
Commerce and Industry were principal objects of interest to the Germans and Japanese, but neither of these nations derived any over-all financial profit from possession of the islands until the Japanese finally developed successful commercial fishing enterprises. This industry was entirely in the hands of Japanese nationals, and the natives were allowed no part in it, hence they now know nothing about offshore fishing. Furthermore the shore facilities of the fishing industry were destroyed. Much time and a considerable investment of capital will be required to develop this potential source of income in such a manner that the major benefits will go to the natives.
The land resources of the islands are meagre, and agricultural possibilities are limited. The Japanese had some extensive plantings of sugar cane and tapioca on some of the larger islands, but the native people took small part in this activity. The plantations have been abandoned, and it is improbable that operation could be profitably resumed except by the use of peon labor, which we will not permit.
Native subsistence has always depended largely on the few plants which thrive on the low sandy islands or on the coastal areas of the high islands. Breadfruit, taro, and arrowroot are important items of food locally, but they are unimportant commercially. The coconut, upon the contrary, not only furnishes food and drink, but is the principal source of cash income. Sun dried coconut meat (copra) has throughout the years been the major item of export produced by the natives.
Revival of the copra trade has been phenomenal. Despite the destruction of large numbers of trees in the war, the islands are now producing more than they ever did before. Fortunately this accomplishment has been accompanied by spectacularly high prices, so that in the past year the islands have had a total income which gave them a purchasing power at least equal to the highest that they have ever had in the past.
This development was desperately needed. What little cash and capital goods the natives owned had been lost as a result of the war. The yen in their possession, or which they had deposited in banks or postal savings accounts, were worthless. Our government may eventually appropriate funds to compensate the natives in whole or in part for their losses, but nothing has been done as yet. The few native businesses had been destroyed and those investments lost. Capital goods were urgently needed to establish a sound economy, but prices of manufactured goods were at an all-time high. Copra helped to save the day.
Uncertainty about land ownership has also delayed recovery. Doubt exists as to title to lands which were taken by the Japanese in forced sales at less than fair value. Land records have been destroyed. No provision has been made to compensate native owners for war damage or for lands taken and still retained by the United States. It may be assumed that payment will eventually be made, but that is no help to the native owner who is trying to get on his feet now.
Recently authority has been received by the High Commissioner to make decision in cases of disputed land title, and to dispose of government owned land to natives. The job will be a long and slow one, but it must be pressed to completion. What sensible man will clear land and plant coconut trees unless he knows that the fruit of his labor will be his?
Some natives are showing business ability despite the fact that they were formerly denied opportunity to engage in profitable business enterprises. Many native owned retail stores and small businesses, and some wholesale concerns, are in operation. Initially all were set up with U. S. Government assistance and guidance. Now many have recovered from their initial bewilderment and confusion and are operating successfully with little outside assistance.
Lack of adequate shipping for personnel and material has plagued us constantly, but the small naval vessels available for this service are now rendering much more reliable and frequent service than was available in the recent past. The government has assisted in the purchase of several small sailing vessels with auxiliary power which are now furnishing limited inter island service under native ownership and management. More are needed, and construction of similar boats with local labor has been started. Plentiful low cost transportation is recognized as an essential for sound economy in the islands.
Political affairs reach a peak of complexity in an area of extreme variations in customs and culture. It is evident that we cannot take any ready-made package developed in our own environment and use it without change here. Our obligation is to “promote development toward self government” in accordance with “the freely expressed wishes of the people” and “with due recognition for the customs of the inhabitants.”
Past experience convinced the native people that expressing their wishes freely in the presence of government officials was a very unhealthful occupation. It takes much time and patience to convince them that we really are interested in what they want, and that no harm will result if they speak frankly.
As a start along the road to self government we created local units which for want of a better term are called “Municipalities.” A Municipality includes all of the people on a small island or atoll, or those on a large island who live closely enough together to make ready communication possible. We have not specified how such a unit shall be organized, beyond requiring that someone shall act as a magistrate and someone else handle the unit’s finances. Usually the people have chosen a pattern familiar to them. In some Municipalities the magistrate, often an hereditary chief, has much executive and judicial authority. In others, decisions are made by a council of elders. Still others govern by a system resembling a New England Town Meeting.
The Municipalities have responsibility for preserving local order and sanitation. They have authority to raise local taxes and to spend them for local benefit. All of this is new to the people, and it is only natural that they have made, and continue to make, mistakes. But they definitely are learning.
In attempting to create anything approaching representative government for an entire Administrative District, we encounter more serious difficulties. Means of rapid communication do not exist, and are not to be anticipated in the near future. Language barriers within a district perpetuate suspicion of the stranger, even though his skin be brown. The very conceptions of democracy, equality of men, and government by the will of the majority are so new to the Trust Territory that they are not automatically accepted as normal and proper relationships. In the districts which have a somewhat homogeneous population, encouraging progress has been made in turning some administrative responsibilities over to native leaders. It is evident that, even in these, much time must elapse before full representative government can function well.
The factors which retard development of self government for the districts operate even more effectively to prevent establishing such government for the entire Trust Territory now. It would be pleasant to think that there is a shortcut to the goal, but no one has discovered a substitute for the slow process of education and growth.
Law and Justice, in the forms familiar to us, are utterly strange to the natives, and most of our legal concepts cannot even be expressed in the limited vocabularies of the native languages. We have issued codes of laws and established courts of justice in which natives function as judges, but the road ahead is long and rocky. How, for example, is an American administrator to review a case of alleged injustice when all parties to the trial speak a language that he does not understand, and when they have prepared no written record for the good reason that none can write?
Great good judgement and tolerance are required in law enforcement. Fortunately we have been singularly free from persons with the type of mind that believes that the letter of the law, as we understand it, is all important.
The forthcoming investigation by the Congressional Committee can result in much good or much evil for the people of the Trust Territory. If members of the Committee devote the time and endure the physical discomforts necessary to visit all of the Civil Administration centers, and at least some of the remote islands, they will gain some understanding of the problem which will serve as a reasonably correct basis for legislation.
Past experience with visitors to the Western Pacific has shown that most of them assume that they can get a correct picture of conditions in the Territory from the relatively comfortable and accessible viewpoints of Guam and Saipan or Truk. Unfortunately this is not true. Representative samples of islands with widely different problems might be studied in a month of hard travelling within the Territory, but I would not undertake to do it in less.
Those who know the intelligent and competent brown skinned folk of Micronesia admire the way that they have adapted themselves to their surroundings. It is not our duty to disturb that adaptation, but rather to help them handle their own affairs. To help them most we need conscientious, sympathetic, and competent administrators who are given much freedom of choice as to methods to be used in arriving at goals which are already prescribed.
The best insurance against unwise legislation that we could hope for would be members of Congress who have seen for themselves that assumptions which we have always accepted as facts appear absurd when viewed from the remote coral shores of Sonsorol, Lib, Lamotrek, or Nukuoro.
Vice Admiral Wright entered the Naval Academy in 1908 and served continuously on active duty until his retirement on October 1, 1948. He was awarded the degree of Master of Science (Chemistry) at George Washington University in 1920, and in 1921 completed the ordnance course at the Navy Post Graduate School. For the past two years, as Deputy High Commissioner, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, he has been engaged in administering the affairs of the people of the former Japanese Mandate.
*The opinions or assertions in this article are the private ones of the writer, and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the naval service at large.