Knights of Labor Force Displacement of Chinese Workers
The Port Blakely Mill Company agrees to terminate its Chinese workforce following organized pressure from local labor groups.
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 Knights of Labor sent a request to the Port Blakely Mill Company, asking that the Chinamen employed there be discharged, and that white men be substituted in their places. The company notified the organization that on Saturday next the Chinamen employed there would be discharged.
“The company notified the organization that on Saturday next the Chinamen employed there would be discharged.”
This item documents the aggressive push by labor organizations to remove Chinese workers from regional industries, a major precursor to the citywide forced removals later that autumn. It illustrates the 'labor vs. exclusion' conflict that defined much of the Washington Territory’s political climate in the mid-1880s.
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