The Shadow of the Anti-Chinese Movement
An editorial from 1882 captures the local fervor of the Chinese Exclusion era, warning of an economic 'calamity' should the two races continue to mix in the workforce.
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.
Our esteemed neighbor of Port Townsend, the Argus, is a bit cranky on the Chinese question, and it hauls the Post and the Intelligencer over the coals for occupying a position on the subject different from that assumed by it. The position of the two latter named papers, by the way, is identical with that of every other paper on the coast except the Argus, and is one simply in favor of our own people as opposed by the Chinese. The two races will not mix, and if they would, no good purpose could be subserved by their mixing. There is a clash whenever they come together, and both suffer in consequence. The Caucasian dominates the United States, and ever will. He cannot give way to the Mongolian, and will not. Just now, when there is a demand for every species of labor, and for all that can be obtained, but little trouble is occasioned in this way. Let dull times come again, and railroad extension be generally suspended, and we will experience worse times pecuniarily and otherwise than have yet been seen on this coast. The truth of this assertion is recognized by all, and it is the duty of all who can aid in averting such a calamity to lend a hand in season.
“The Caucasian dominates the United States, and ever will. He cannot give way to the Mongolian, and will not.”
This editorial reflects the xenophobic nativism that defined 1880s Washington, mirroring the rhetoric used to justify the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. It serves as a reminder of the historical intersection between economic anxiety and state-sanctioned racial discrimination in the Pacific Northwest.
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