It's a Free Country

As the time approached, thousands of levelheaded citizens caught the tension on the Pacific Coast, talked of "The Day the Japs Start Coming Back" as though it were in capitals, like a play title. But by the time the Army lifted its 22-month-old Japanese exclusion order last week it was already apparent that there was going to be no westward rush of Japanese-Americans from the camps.

At week's end only 27 had started for the coast. Most of them were men making temporary visits, like Indian scouts moving warily into another tribe's territory.

Many of the Japanese citizens who stayed in...

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