The Mukilteo Protest
Citizens confront a local lumber company over the hiring of Asian laborers.
Charles Perry Taylor was the speaker at a mass meeting held in Mukilteo last Monday evening under the auspices of the All-American league. He delivered a whirlwind address and stirred the citizens of Mukilteo to a high pitch of enthusiasm. The menace of Japanese labor to the industrial future of the Pacific coast was pictured in a convincing manner, and the men who profited from the employment of Asiatics while white labor was scorned and ignored were unmercifully grilled. It is reported that aroused men of Mukilteo marched the following day to the office of the lumber company to protest emphatically to the local manager against the unjust policy of the company, but the manager had fled. One thing is certain: by some means or other, the citizens of Mukilteo are determined to rid themselves of the curse of Japanese labor. They intend to keep pounding away until a public sentiment has been aroused that the company will no longer dare to ignore.
“The men who profited from the employment of Asiatics while white labor was scorned and ignored were unmercifully grilled.”
This article highlights the exclusionary labor politics pervasive in the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest, where economic anxiety was frequently weaponized against immigrant populations. It serves as a stark reminder of the era's systemic xenophobia and the active role organizations played in institutionalizing discrimination.
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