1914 Bid to Let Noncitizens Own City Land
Voters prepare to decide if resident aliens should be allowed to own property within city limits.
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.
An amendment to section 33, article 2 of the state constitution, enabling alien residents of this state to acquire by purchase and hold lands within municipal corporations, and providing for the escheat of such land to the common school fund in case the owner thereof becomes a non-resident of the state for a term of five years. The ownership of lands by aliens, other than those who in good faith have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, is prohibited in this state, except where acquired by inheritance, under mortgage or in good faith in the ordinary course of justice in the collection of debts. Provided, however, that this section shall not apply to conveyances of lands lying wholly within the limits of municipal corporations when made to resident aliens.
“The ownership of lands by aliens, other than those who in good faith have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, is prohibited in this state.”
This 1914 referendum highlights Washington's long, complicated history with exclusionary land laws aimed largely at Asian immigrants. Similar debates about foreign ownership of agricultural and municipal land continue to surface in state politics today, echoing these century-old legislative attempts to control demographic and economic presence through property rights.
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