The Pacific Coast’s Fear of ‘Asiatic Hordes’
A look at the xenophobic political rhetoric fueling defense spending and exclusionary sentiment in 1909 Washington.
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 attention of the country has been drawn to the proposed anti-Japanese legislation in California and other Pacific coast states. Not only in California, Oregon and Washington, but in British Columbia as well, the white population is determined that their country shall not be overrun with Asiatic hordes. Eastern people have small appreciation of the seriousness of this matter. The Pacific coast feels that it is a life and death struggle and must constantly keep the matter to the fore as a means of directing public attention to the peril. The slackness of the national government in making the necessary military and naval preparations on the Pacific further illustrates the necessity of constant agitation. Everyone must recognize that such a situation with a nation like Japan presents a far greater peril than with countries like Great Britain, Germany or France. Japan is a young giant that has become aware of its strength; she lacks the steadiness which comes from long possession and use of power.
“Not only in California, Oregon and Washington, but in British Columbia as well, the white population is determined that their country shall not be overrun with Asiatic hordes.”
This editorial captures the height of anti-Asian sentiment in the Pacific Northwest, which culminated in the organized expulsion of Chinese residents from Tacoma in 1885 and continued into the 20th century with virulent anti-Japanese propaganda. It serves as a stark historical artifact of the state's exclusionary history and the role of fear-mongering in policy making.
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