The 'Cast Iron' Registration of Chinese Residents
New, highly restrictive federal regulations under the Geary Act require Chinese laborers to register with the government, using photographs for 'complete identification.'
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 state department will soon enter upon negotiations looking to adjustment of relations with China. The enactment of the Geary law will be regarded as an infraction of the existing treaty. The rules and regulations relating to the registration of Chinese, as prepared by the secretary of the treasury, require elaborate, 'cast iron' certificates. The name, age, local residence, occupation, height, color of eyes, complexion and physical peculiarities must all be given. Each applicant for a certificate is required to furnish two unmounted photographic likenesses of himself or herself, one to be affixed to the original certificate of residence and one to a duplicate. These photographs must be securely affixed to the papers by strongly adhesive paste. Collectors are instructed that class of skilled and unskilled manual laborers, including Chinese employed in mining, fishing, huckstering, peddling, laundrymen, or those engaged in taking, drying or otherwise preserving shell or other fish for home consumption or exportation shall be classed as laborers.
“These regulations apply only to Chinese laborers, since no other class is prohibited from remaining here.”
The Geary Act and its demand for 'cast iron' registration documents represented a major escalation in the state's efforts to exclude and monitor the Chinese population. These policies left a deep mark on the Pacific Northwest, mirroring a long history of xenophobia that contemporary activists continue to address in their work toward social justice.
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