The Senator and the Exclusion Act
In 1892, Senator Watson Squire argued before the U.S. Senate for the formal registration and continued exclusion of Chinese laborers, framing the policy as a defense of 'American manhood' and societal stability.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In the debate on the Geary Chinese exclusion bill in the Senate today, Senator Watson Squire delivered a speech in favor of the restriction of Chinese immigration. Squire reflected on his time as Governor of Washington Territory, recalling the intense hostility of the 1885-86 period, including the burning of Chinese dwellings in Tacoma and Seattle. He argued that the presence of Chinese laborers, while once necessary for railway construction, had become deleterious to society. He criticized the federal government's inability to police the northern border, noting that approximately fifty Chinese individuals crossed into the United States via British Columbia each week in defiance of existing laws. Squire advocated for a rigorous system of registration, including certificates with photographs, to prevent fraud. He concluded that the nation should not take a step backward in citizenship, famously declaring, 'America for Americans, and for those who adopt our institutions, who assimilate with us and become a part of our great national fabric.'
“America for Americans, and for those who adopt our institutions, who assimilate with us and become a part of our great national fabric.”
Watson Squire’s rhetoric regarding 'foreign incursions' and the need to protect the 'national fabric' echoes a long and painful tradition of exclusionary political discourse in the Pacific Northwest. While the specific legal mechanisms of the Geary Act have long been dismantled, the tension between labor-market anxiety and xenophobic policy remains a potent, recurring thread in Washington's political history.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.