EVACUATION TO BE CARRIED OUT GRADUALLY 93,000 Nipponese in California Are Affected by Order

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1 EVACUATION TO BE CARRIED OUT GRADUALLY 93,000 Nipponese in California Are Affected by Order The entire California, Washington and Oregon coasts, as well as the Southern sections of California and Arizona along the Mexican border, today were designated Military Area No. 1 by Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt, commanding the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army. From this vast area, General DeWitt announced such persons or classes of persons as the situation may require will by subsequent proclamation be excluded. Eventually this vast area will be cleared of all alien and American-born Japanese, as well as many Italians and Germans, but General DeWitt emphasized there will be no mass evacuation of Japanese, as some state and local officials have suggested. Mass evacuations, said General DeWitt, would be impractical. Evacuation from military areas will be a continuing process, he said. Japanese aliens and American-born Japanese will be required by future orders to leave certain critical points within the military areas first. These areas will be defined and announced shortly. After exclusion has been completed around the most strategic area, a gradual program of exclusion from the remainder of Military Area No. 1 will be developed. 93,000 Affected Unofficial estimates were that 93,000 aliens and American-born Japanese in California would be affected by today s orders and those to follow. While no immediate evacuation order was issued, General DeWitt suggested all Japanese alien and American-born might do well to get out of Military Area No. 1 as quickly as possible. Those Japanese and other aliens who move into the interior out of this area now will gain considerable advantage and in all probability will not again be disturbed, he said. Where to Go? Where they might go, however, was uncertain. All portions of California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona were designated Military Area No. 2, from certain portions of which enemy aliens and American-born Japanese may be excluded. General DeWitt said military necessity is the most vital consideration, but the fullest attention is being given the effect upon individual and property rights and that plans are being developed to minimize economic dislocation and the sacrifice of property rights.

2 Creation of Military Area No. 1 eventually will clear all American-born and alien Japanese and hundreds of other enemy aliens from the coastal section of California in which are located the most important military and industrial establishments. This area is divided into two zones, A1 and B1. Enemy aliens will be completely barred from zone A1, and in zone B1 their movements will be greatly restricted. The proclamation also imposed restriction on persons within the military area and designated postoffices as places where enemy aliens must register every time they change place of residence within the area or by leaving the area. Forms are being prepared. Enemy Aliens in Five Classes Enemy aliens, for greater efficiency, have been classified into five classes and proclamations affecting their future will be forthcoming with these numbers, General DeWitt said. No. 1 All persons suspected of espionage, sabotage, fifth column or other subversive activities. The FBI and intelligence services are rounding them up daily. No. 2 Japanese aliens. No. 3 American-born Japanese. No. 4 German aliens. No. 5 Italian aliens. After the military areas are cleared of Japanese, the general indicated, German and Italian aliens would be next in line for evacuation. However, German and Italian aliens 70 years of age or over will not be required to move except when individually suspected. Also exempted will be the families, including parents, wives, children, sisters and brothers of Germans and Italians in the armed forces, unless such removal is required for specific reason. Area Divided Lengthwise The area of the four Western states named is divided lengthwise into the two military zones. Fronting the ocean and from a distance of three miles off shore to beyond the coast range mountain areas is the prohibited zone A-1. The adjoining territory which in Central California extends as far east as Placerville, thereby slicing the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys down the middle comprises restricted zone-b. In addition there are 97 specific localities and communities containing military installations and utilities which are closed to non-citizens and are marked prohibited zones A2-A99 inclusive. San Francisco and the entire Bay Region as far as Vallejo and Tracy are within the prohibited zone. To the north Highway 101 in general follows the contours of the line dividing the prohibited zone from the contiguous restricted zone.

3 The restricted zone extends approximately from Highway 101 to Highway 99E to the vicinity of Fresno, thence along 99 to where it joins California Highway 198, eastward near the towns of Johannesburg, Daggett, and Cadez, along Highway 66 to Topock, Ariz., past Mathia, Hot Springs Junction, Phoenix, and more or less to the Arizona-New Mexico state lines to Mexico via the towns of Superior, Bowie and San Simon. General DeWitt has announced creation of a special civilian staff headed by Tom C. Clark, Federal alien co-ordinator, to assist the Army in the economic planning made necessary by the evacuations. Protests Over-ruled Informed that governors of nine interior states were protesting any resettlement of Japanese in their areas, General DeWitt said military necessity must take precedence over civilian wishes. The proclamation and the specific evacuation orders which are to follow shortly are culmination of an alien control policy the Government instituted immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. FBI agents seized key Japanese, German and Italian leaders in nationwide raids. Then aliens were ordered to turn in cameras, shotguns, short wave radio sets, binoculars and other materials usable for spying or sabotage. Next all enemy nationals were ordered to register so the Government could check identities and residences. History Traced In January the policy of excluding enemy aliens from strategic areas was developed. The Army and the FBI cleared 147 such districts in the four Western states on Feb. 15 and Feb. 24. FBI agents instituted wholesale raids to seize contraband and potentially dangerous enemy aliens including leaders of Japanese, Italian and German labor, military and naval societies. Thus approximately 15,000 enemy aliens were brought into custody or removed from vital areas. General DeWitt s proclamation seeks to bring all remaining enemy aliens on the Coast closes area to possible Japanese attack under control. Mike M. Masaoka, national secretary and field executive of the Japanese American Citizens League, said today: We are instructing the 65 chapters of our organization in 300 communities to call meetings immediately in their locality to discuss methods by which they can correlate their energies and cooperate extensively in the evacuation process. SECURITY COMMITTEE MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS The Committee on National Security & Fair Play, headed by Dr. Henry F. Grady, former assistant secretary of state and president of the American President Steamship Lines, today urged that care of evacuated persons be committed to civilian government agencies experienced in social welfare.

4 It is said there appear to be only three methods of caring for evacuees" allow their settlement whereby they can work freely and produce for the war or civilian needs; set up supervised work projects or support them in part or whole at public expense. The committee warned that indiscriminate removal of citizens of alien parentage might convert predominately loyal or harmless citizens into desperate fifth-columnists. Thus far, it said, 9000 have been evacuated. The San Francisco News March 3, 1942

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6 Japanese Co-operate An Editorial Japanese citizens, aliens and native born alike, have, on the whole, taken their evacuation orders in good spirit and for that they deserve a word of praise. Particularly commendable has been the helpful attitude of the younger group, practically all of whom are Americans by birth. They are in a position to assert rights guaranteed them by the Constitution, but with most sensible unanimity they have recognized that certain privileges must be suspended in times of national danger. That, we frankly admit, reflects a high order of intelligence on their part. They apparently sense also that the Federal Government is making every effort to perform the evacuation with least possible discomfort to the evacuees. By fostering this helpful attitude within their own groups they can do much to make the whole experience an interesting and perhaps not too arduous interlude in the lives of all concerned. Well Done Your Bit Buy Bonds and Stamps The San Francisco News April 8, 1942 An Editorial When preliminary plans first were announced by Lieut. Gen. DeWitt for evacuation of Japanese from the combat zone we felt confident the task would be performed with greatest consideration for the evacuees, and we gave assurance to that effect in these columns. As the work has been carried out to date we feel our assurance has been wholly justified. Two points must be remembered; one, that the undetaking is of tremendous magnitude, the other that never before has the Army been called upon to perform such a job. The smoothness, speed and kindliness with which it has been executed thus far are a fine tribute to the Army, its command, and the other Federal agencies that have participated in it. The San Francisco News April 10, 1942 Buy Stamps for Victory

7 Japanese Have Faith EDITOR: In answer to Why Discriminate? by P.R. Roberts: Yes, the real basis of the evacuation order is racial prejudice against the Japanese. The one and only objective facing the United Nations is victory. Any and all measures must be taken to prevent disunity and to insure an all-out effort for victory. Because of racial prejudice against the Japanese, their presence on the Pacific Coast is a cause of disunity among the populace of the Coast. In the event of an attempted invasion, it is without a doubt that mob violence would be unleashed against the entire Japanese population. If the Army had to contend with this internal strife as well as the enemy invasion, it would not be able to fully defend our country. Therefore, it is necessary to remove this hindrance to an all-out effort, the presence of Japanese inhabitants on the Coast, before such an emergency. Hence, the complete evacuation of Japanese. Danger from Japanese sabotage is secondary. As their small contribution to the war effort, the Japanese will gladly leave their homes, businesses and careers, and, having the utmost faith in America, will place their lives in the hands of the United States Government. The reason for this racial prejudice is the unthinking, intolerant majority of Americans, stirred up by individuals and groups with selfish interests. Among these individuals are those who have had to compete against the hard-working, earnest Japanese farmers and nurserymen, and Yellow-Peril politicians, as those responsible for the alien land laws. (If the Japanese lowered the standard of living of the farmers, they could have been stopped by more fair ways than the alien land laws.) And so for ultimate victory and a greater America. George Ishida, Japanese American San Francisco News April 13, 1942

8 FIRST JAPANESE READY TO LEAVE COAST Sixty Japanese clerks, nurses, stenographers and other specialists today were packing up their belongings and preparing to leave Los Angeles for Manzanar in the Owens Valley, where they will assist Wartime Civil Control Administration authorities in preparing the Manzanar reception center for thousands of alien and American-born Japanese who must evacuate the Pacific Coast military area. By the end of next week it is expected 1000 more Japanese from the Los Angeles area, all leaving voluntarily, will be at the center which eventually will be the temporary home for 10,000 men, women and children. The answer to the question of how more thousands of Japanese and alien Germans and Italians will support themselves outside restricted areas came in announcement by President Roosevelt of the creation of a War Relocation Authority and Work Corps. The Work Corps would offer employment under Federal sponsorship, to evacuees at pay rates to be determined by the head of the new bureau, Milton S. Eisenhower, former land-use co-ordinator for the Department of Agriculture. Stephen Early, White House [press] secretary, explained there would be nothing compulsory about entering the corps, but that evacuees who do not enlist probably will be on their own. The President s plan was announced several hours before the House committee on defense migration, headed by Rep. John Tolan of Oakland, submitted a preliminary report on results of hearings it conducted recently on the Pacific Coast. The report (drafted before Mr. Roosevelt s War Relocation Authority and Works Corps were created), recommended establishment of a war resettlement board to direct evacuation and resettlement of enemy aliens. Many other recommendations of the Tolan committee appeared to have been covered already by the WCCA set up several days ago by Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt and already functioning in 64 Western communities and by Mr. Roosevelt s program. Mr. Roosevelt s program, in fact, appeared to be largely a complete endorsement of General DeWitt s WCCA program and the addition to it of the Work Corps under Mr. Eisenhower, who already is in charge of WCCA relocation of evacuees. One effect of Mr. Roosevelt s action, observers believed, would be to make the relocation and employment angles of the WCCA program nationwide in scope, rather than confined to the Western Defense Command of General DeWitt. Mr. Roosevelt said the program was designated to set an example of humane and constructive treatment of evacuees. The Tolan committee s report, too, constituted a virtual endorsement of General DeWitt s program for relocation and employment of evacuees. The report commended the conduct of Pacific Coast evacuation operations by the Army, Navy, FBI and Justice Departments. The committee stated it retained a profound sense of injustices and constitutional doubts concerning the evacuation of the Japanese, but declared that no alternative existed.

9 The committee suggested there was a distinction between Japanese and German and Italian aliens, on the ground the latter two are thoroughly americanized and as a group are loyal to the American war effort. It urged that special hearing boards be constituted to issue certificates to all German and Italian aliens now awaiting their second citizenship papers whose loyalty can be established beyond reasonable doubt, and that they be given grace periods to complete citizenship. (General DeWitt indicated, when the Pacific Coast military area was designated more than two weeks ago, that he, too, felt the two groups were distinct. He ordered that all Japanese and Japanese- Americans be evacuated before alien Italians and Germans are cleared out of the area, that there was a hint that members of the Italian-German group, particularly elderly persons, would be given individual consideration.) The Tolan committee opposed incarceration or forced agricultural labor for the evacuated Japanese, urged that jobs outside prohibited areas be provided for all Japanese whose loyalty can be proved, commended that resettlement communities for the others emphasize a diversification of tasks and development of new skills and asked that evacuated Japanese be accorded religious, educational, agricultural and vocational privileges in resettlement communities. (The WCCA announced yesterday that the reception center at Manzanar, and another to be established near Blythe, Cal., will provide such facilities.) Japanese who go to the reception centers voluntarily or are taken to such camps if they fail to clear the military area when a deadline is set will remain at the centers until they can be permanently located in states east of the Rocky Mountains. Japanese leaving the restricted area before the deadline will be allowed to take with them all possessions not on the contraband list. Those who wait for the Army to move them, the WCCA announces, will be permitted to take only clothing, bedding and small personal belongings. The San Francisco News March 19, 1942

10 Bay Area Japs Leaving Coast in Final Rush Curfew and Travel Restrictions Go Into Effect Here Today Hundreds of Bay Area Japanese, convinced at last that the Army is going to carry out its coastal evacuation order, today were leaving for the interior. There was a rush of packing personal belongings and disposing of property that could not be carried in autos or trucks, as the deadline for departure neared. After Sunday night no Japanese alien or citizen may leave the military area voluntarily. Order Halts Scramble The Army explained that the freezing order was issued to prevent indiscriminate evacuations to other states, to protect the Japanese themselves and to insure that proper shelter awaits them at their destination. Another order, affecting all Italian and German aliens, as well as Japanese, became effective today. It directs such persons to remain in their homes from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and to travel no more than five miles from their homes during the day. Only exception is to aliens who must travel more than five miles to confer with Wartime Civil Control Administration authorities on matters connected with evacuation. Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt, commanding the Western Defense Command, emphasized today there will be no exceptions from the curfew law, and this is final. Many Requests He made the statement, he said, because the WCCA has been besieged with requests for exemptions for enemy aliens or Japanese-Americans who are college students, instructors, physicians, nurses, night watchmen, janitors and others employed on night shifts. Such requests he made plain, are useless. However, the matter of exemptions for certain classes of German and Italian aliens from evacuation is a separate matter, he said. But whether or not German and Italian aliens have applied for individual exemption from eventual evacuation, they like the Japanese must remain in their homes between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. and comply with other provisions of the curfew law. Curfew Enforced Strict enforcement of the curfew and other regulations has been ordered throughout the areas affected and FBI officials and local police have worked out plans for co-operation with Army officials along that line.

11 Raids on San Joaquin Valley Japanese continued today with FBI agents and valley peace officers rounding up groups reportedly connected with the Black Dragon, Japanese secret society. Since the raids started late Wednesday, 139 Japanese have been detained in Fresno, Madera, Kings, Tulare and Kern Counties. Seventeen of the arrests were made in the Fresno area. Advice for Aliens Now Available at 500 California-St The Wartime Civil Control Administration offered the following suggestions today to German and Italian aliens and all Japanese: Persons facing evacuation who are having difficulty disposing of property or adjusting claims of creditors should call in person at 500 California-st, where the Federal Reserve Bank has a special staff on duty to handle such matters. Out-of-town residents may secure similar advice and assistance at U.S. Employment Service offices in most Pacific Coast communities. Persons with questions that may be answered over the phone should call KLondike in San Francisco, or ask for information at postoffices in other communities. The San Francisco News March 27, 1942

12 Hundreds of Japs Get Ouster Orders Must Quit Banned S.F. Areas And Go to Manzanar New Roundup by FBI Follows S.F. Ouster Order FBI and police raiding parties were operating again in the Bay Area today, while hundreds of San Francisco Japanese were being given instructions for their evacuation Tuesday to the reception center at Manzanar, in the Owens Valley. More than 35 officers were making the raids, which apparently were a continuation of the drive to take into custody enemy aliens considered potentially dangerous. For the first time since alien roundups were started, raiders this morning visited the University of California campus and took into custody Miss Fumi Asazuma, 32, of 2022 Dwight-way, Berkeley, an art student. She was arrested on a presidential warrant at the request of the FBI in Los Angeles. The warrant, like others served on aliens taken into custody, branded Miss Asazuma as potentially dangerous. She said she was a native of Japan, studied art there, formerly was a language teacher at Hawthorne, near Los Angeles, and was the daughter of a retired banker. Blunt Orders IssuedAfter more than a month of offering advice and suggestions to Japanese in the coastal military area, the Army today was issuing blunt orders to those who failed to leave voluntarily before the deadline last Sunday midnight. Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt designated as the first area to be evacuated. all the portion of the City and County of San Francisco lying generally west of the northsouth line established by Junipero Serra-av, Worchester-av and 19th ave and lying generally north of the east-west line established by California-st to the intersection of Market-st and then on Market-st to the Bay.

13 A Civil Control Station was opened at 1701 Van Ness-av, and General DeWitt directed that a responsible member of each family, and each individual living alone, report there between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. today or tomorrow. At the station, military and other Federal agencies will tell the Japanese (citizen as well as aliens) where to report next Tuesday, what they take with them, and otherwise instruct them regarding the disposal or storage of property and possessions that must be left behind. The Army will transport all evacuees. None will be allowed to go to Manzanar in a private auto. All will be given health examinations. Evacuees must carry with them on departure for the reception center bedding and linens (no mattress), for each member of the family: toilet articles; extra clothing; knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls and cups for each member, and essential personal effects. Government agencies will provide for storage, at the sole risk of the owner, of such household items as iceboxes, washing machines, pianos and other heavy furniture. Cooking utensils and other small articles will be accepted for storage if crated, packed and plainly marked, the Army announced. Facilities Provided On the way to the reception center, and after arrival there, welfare and medical facilities will be provided. The first evacuation from here will not affect persons living in the main Japanese colony, but was designed to clear out, first, the areas along the ocean front and the waterfront. At the same time, General DeWitt ordered an even more extensive areas in San Diego County evacuated by noon Tuesday. From L.A. Too From the Los Angeles area a special train left for Manzanar today with nearly 1000 more Japanese who will join 1000 men who went to the reception center voluntarily last week. A train of 500 Japanese women and children arrived at the camp yesterday. They were the families of men already at Manzanar. General DeWitt has emphasized from the start of the evacuation program that every effort will be made to keep Japanese families together. Eight busloads of Japanese from Bainbridge Island, Wash., reached Manzanar last night, boosting the camp s population toward the 2500 total expected by the end of the week. Tomorrow the evacuation of the Los Angeles-Long Beach area will begin with Japanese leaving in groups of 500 for the Santa Anita racing park assembly center to be moved later to inland reception points.

14 The Wartime Civil Control Administration the Army s evacuation agency announced acquisition of six additional assembly centers for temporary housing of Japanese for whom there is not immediately room at Manzanar. One such center will be at the Salinas Rodeo Grounds. It will care for 3000 persons. Laurence I. Hewes Jr., regional director of the Farm Security Administration, announced that nearly a third of the farm lands operated by Japanese on the Pacific Coast have been transferred to new owners. The Government directed to move to assure the evacuees their assets would be protected and to allay threats of a severe vegetable shortage. Large canners, packers, processors and land companies have expressed a willingness to co-operate with Federal agencies in acquiring and operating the Japanese farms. He said more than 1000 such farms, totaling 50,000 acres have satisfactorily been transferred to new operators, while field agents have registered 6000 farms totaling 200,000 acres. San Francisco News April 2, 1942

15 Manzanar Nice Place It Better Than Hollywood This dispatch, passed by military authorities, is the first close-up report from a newspaperman who has visited one of the Japanese concentration centers in California. The Editor. BY HARRY FERGUSON United Press Staff Correspondent MANZANAR, Cal., April 21. This is the youngest, strangest city in the world inhabited by Japanese who hoist American Flags, put up pictures of George Washington and pray to the Christian God for the defeat of Japan s armed forces. It is a settlement that grew in the magic time of three weeks out of the sagebrush of the Mojave Desert. This is one of the places where the 118,000 Japanese who are being moved out of the strategic area of the Pacific Coast are being resettled. Three weeks ago this was empty land between two mountain ranges. Today it is a city of 3303 population with a fire department, a hospital, a police force, an Englishlanguage newspaper, baseball teams and community recreation centers. It probably is the fastest growing town in the world because soon its population will be doubled and eventually quadrupled. Most of the inhabitants are Japanese who have tasted American democracy and found it good. Probably 95 per cent at least of the Japanese here are loyal to the United States. They are the ones like S. Akamatsu, who moved into Building No. 6 and immediately put up pictures of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and President Roosevelt. Many of the loyal ones came here with fear and doubt in their hearts, expecting a Nazi-type concentration camp. Instead they found comfortable wooden buildings covered with tar paper, bathhouses and showers and plenty of wholesome food. There is no fence around Manzanar now and while U.S. soldiers guard the main gate, there is nothing to prevent a Japanese from slipping away at night except the knowledge that he undoubtedly would be caught. Nobody has tried it. Emon Tatsui who was brought here from Los Angeles, looked around the camp a few days ago and decided to write a letter to his former employer, Murphy McHenry, Hollywood motion picture executive: Dear Sir: Kindly send my money to new address by U.S. Post Office money order. It may be too much trouble for you but we do not have bank open yet here. I like to tell you about this camp. Nice place to live. It better than Hollywood. Snow on mountains. Fresh air. Snow is bright. Every day is 80 to 85. No blackout in here. There are liberty, safe and build up new life. Hundreds of carpenter, hundreds plummer Hundreds so and so working hard to build up. One thousand Japanese coming to this camp

16 almost every day now. Good ball ground. Baseball field. Swimming pool. School building. Danceroom is about start building then movie is next. Yours truly, EMON TATSUI. P.S. Over 300 miles away from your city but still in Los Angeles city limit. No attempts have been made to separate the loyal from the disloyal. Those whose sympathies lie with Japan are keeping quiet about it. Eventually there will be a police force of 75 Japanese and the camp management believes the loyal will maintain surveillance over the disloyal. There are all types of Japanese here rich, poor, old, young; issei, mostly old persons born in Japan; nisei, the younger group born in this country, and kibei, born in this country but sent back to Japan to be educated. Democracy is at work among them. An election has been held to choose block leaders. Eventually from these block leaders will be chosen an advisory committee of five to work with the camp management in preserving order and arranging for the planting of crops. Manzanar hopes to become a self-sufficient community when irrigation is brought to the rich but arid land. The lives of the inhabitants have fallen quickly into the normal pattern of living. The Japanese firemen play solitaire while waiting for an alarm. A baby has been born and named Kenji Ogawa. Howard Kumagai, a mechanical engineer, has fallen in love with Kimiki Wakamura, former beauty shop operator, has proposed and been accepted. Boys and girls make dates for dances and for the movies where James Cagney is extremely popular. Some volunteered to evacuate their homes and come here. Among them is Miss Chiye Mori of Los Angeles, news editor of The Manzanar Free Press, the settlement s mimeographed newspaper. She was asked if she could write a brief statement explaining the feelings of the Japanese who were loyal to the United States. She turned to her portable typewriter and tapped this out on a sheet of paper: If Japan wins this war we have the most to lose. We hope America wins and quickly. We voluntarily evacuated as the only means by which we could demonstrate our loyalty. We want to share in the ware effort. We want o share the gloom of temporary defeats and the joys of ultimate victory. We are deeply concerned with our American citizenship, which we prize above all else. San Francisco News April 21, 1942

17 S.F. CLEAR OF ALL BUT 6 SICK JAPS For the first time in 81 years, not a single Japanese is walking the streets of San Francisco. The last group, 274 of them, were moved yesterday to the Tanforan assembly center. Only a scant half dozen are left, all seriously ill in San Francisco hospitals. Last night Japanese town was empty. Its stores were vacant, its windows plastered with "To Lease" signs. There were no guests in its hotels, no diners nibbling on sukiyaki or tempura. And last night, too, there were no Japanese with their ever present cameras and sketch books, no Japanese with their newly acquired furtive, frightened looks. A colorful chapter in San Francisco history was closed forever. Some day maybe, the Japanese will come back. But if they do it will be to start a new chapter with characters that are irretrievably changed. It was in 1850 more than 90 years ago that the first Japanese came to San Francisco, more than four years before Commodore Perry engineered the first trade treaty with Japan. The first arrival was one Joseph Heco, a castaway, brought here by his rescuers. What happened to Heco is, apparently, a point overlooked by historians. He certain came and probably went but nobody seems to know when or where. Not for another 11 years did the real Japanese migration begin. In 1861, the second Japanese came here. Five years later, seven more arrived. The next year there were 67, and from then on migration boomed. By 1869 there was a Japanese colony at Gold Hill near Sacramento. In 1872 the first Japanese Consulate opened in San Francisco an office that passed through many hands, many regimes, and many policies before December 7, On that fateful day, according to census records, there were 5,280 Japanese in San Francisco. They left San Francisco by the hundreds all through last January and February, seeking new homes and new jobs in the East and Midwest. In March, the Army and the Wartime Civil Control Administration took over with a new humane policy of evacuation to assembly and relocation centers where both the country and the Japanese could be given protection. The first evacuation under the WCCA came during the first week in April, when hundreds of Japanese were taken to the assembly center at Santa Anita. On April 25 and 26, and on May 6 and 7, additional thousands were taken to the Tanforan Center. These three evacuations had cleared half of San Francisco. The rest were cleared yesterday. These last Japanese registered here last Saturday and Sunday. All their business was to have been cleaned up, all their possessions sold or stored. Yesterday morning, at the Raphael Weill School on O'Farrell Street, they started their ride to Tanforan. Quickly, painlessly, protected by military police from any conceivable "incident," they climbed into the six waiting special Greyhound buses. There were tears but not from the Japanese. They came from those who stayed behind old friends, old employers, old neighbors. By noon, all 274 were at Tanforan, registered, assigned to their temporary new homes and sitting down to lunch. The Japanese were gone from San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle May 21, 1942