Anti-Asian Sentiment and Fear in the Labor Journal
The official organ of the Everett Trades Council argues against Japanese labor competition, citing fears of invasion and industrial displacement.
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.
It is a pity that those who preach 'peace at any price' could not be forced to live in California for a few years and compete with Japanese labor for a livelihood. California is not the only state suffering from this competition; it exists in our own state, where white section crews on the Great Northern Railway system have faced wage reductions while Japanese crews received increases. In Spokane during panicky times, white labor walked the streets in idleness while every Japanese person in the city was working. Congressman Hayes has noted that despite the immigration act of 1907, there is little attempt to exclude them; they simply slip across the border from Canada or Mexico. Many believe we are living over a volcano, and that this labor competition, combined with fears of military mobilization, will eventually plunge the nation into war.
“We are living over a volcano. Our people who have on this coast come into direct competition with the Japanese in a struggle for existence will not always endure the unequal struggle.”
This article reflects the pervasive and exclusionary rhetoric prevalent in Pacific Northwest labor journalism of the early 20th century. While it focuses on the economic anxieties of the Trades Council, it illustrates how systemic racism was institutionalized within labor movements of the era, contrasting sharply with the modern city's stated values of diversity and inclusion.
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