811.52/302½
President Wilson to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I should like to take time to think this over maturely. I have now no comment to make except this preliminary one: that there seems to me to be a danger that the attempt to disperse the Japanese in this country might lead to the very thing we wish to prevent. It might produce uneasiness in the States to which the Japanese were induced to migrate and to popular clamors there which legislatures might not withstand. Would we not before-hand have to canvass the matter with State authorities and work out a programme which we could be sure from the outset we could carry out. Otherwise the offense might grow greater, not less, in case of failure.
Faithfully Yours,