Seattle Laborers Call for Organized Removal of Chinese Workers
A crowded meeting of the Liberal League and local labor leaders culminates in a plan to systematically force the departure of Chinese residents from the region.
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.
The announcement that the Chinese question would be discussed under the auspices of the Liberal League Monday evening brought out a very large crowd, mostly men belonging to the laboring classes. Mr. McMillen, of the Knights of Labor, stated that his organization was not responsible for threats sent to citizens, though he characterized the presence of Chinese labor as a form of slavery. Daniel Cronin, a representative of the Knights of Labor, urged immediate action, stating that if the Chinese were not removed, riot and bloodshed would follow as it had in Wyoming. The meeting reorganized as a citizens' meeting and unanimously adopted resolutions to hold a congress on September 28th to formulate a plan to force the Chinese out of all towns, cities, and corporations.
“Just so sure as these Chinamen are not removed there will be riot and bloodshed this winter.”
The rhetoric used here—framing Chinese workers as 'slaves' and the necessity of 'removal' as a civic imperative—laid the groundwork for the 1886 forced expulsion of Chinese residents from Seattle. It serves as a stark reminder of how labor-organizing power was, at that time, heavily leveraged to enforce racial exclusion rather than multi-ethnic solidarity.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.