The President's Proclamation and the California Situation [press release dated March 3, 1942]

San Francisco: Committee on National Security and Fair Play, 1942. 2p., 8.5x11 inch mimeographed sheets stapled at corner, pen notation at bottom says "Envelope marked Institute of Pacific Relations, 260 California St., Frisco." Issued about two weeks after FDR's Executive Order 9066, the basis for Japanese internment, this press release calls for restraint and for respect of the rights of citizens. "As a group of citizens concerned first and foremost with winning the war, we welcome the President's proclamation of February 20th, placing all residents in vital military areas under the control of the Secretary of War and the military commanders... Freedom of speech is still unimpaired, and we are glad to know that national Government authorities, including the military, desire constructive, non-partisan criticisms and suggestions. In that spirit, we venture to offer a few suggestions to them and to our fellow-citizens...
Let the removal of aliens and citizens be kept at the minimum consistent with military necessity and national security. The uprooting of alien Japanese and Italian farmers living outside vital military areas obviously would reduce production of the food essential to winning the war, and the indiscriminate removal of citizens of alien parentage might convert predominantly loyal or harmless citizens into desperate fifth-columnists...
Engaged as we are in a life and death struggle to preserve our hard-won democratic heritage, we should be traitors if we flouted democratic principles of justice and humanity in our treatment of either aliens or citizens, even under the stress of war. We therefore appeal to our official representatives, municipal, county, State, and National, and to our fellow-citizens of whatever origin, to maintain order under law and the respect for persons summed up in the words 'fair play.'".