The End of the Geary Act Deadline
Registration for Chinese residents under the restrictive Geary Act concludes, mandating potential deportation for those without federal certificates.
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 time allowed Chinese to register under the Geary law expired yesterday at midnight, and hereafter all Chinese laborers found without certificates will be immediately deported. The total number registered in the Seattle office of the deputy collector of internal revenue is 750. In the rest of Western Washington 653 have been registered, making the total in the western part of the state embraced in the Seattle district 1,403. Deputy Collector Gieseson kept his office open until midnight last night to afford opportunity for any Chinamen to register, but there was no rush at the close.
“Hereafter all Chinese laborers found without certificates will be immediately deported.”
The Geary Act was an extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act that required Chinese residents to carry internal passports. It stands as a dark reminder of the state-sponsored xenophobia that defined 19th-century Pacific Northwest civic policy.
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