The Campaign to Exclude Chinese Workers
In 1885, a newly formed committee of Seattle citizens launched an aggressive effort to purge Chinese labor from the city, circulating petitions to prevent property owners from leasing to Chinese residents.
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.
Tacoma, W.T., Feb. 28. In regard to the Chinese problem, the committees have appointed committees to collect statistics on the subject, to investigate the sanitary condition of the Chinese quarters, and to circulate papers for signatures pledging property owners not to sell or lease to Chinese, and pledging citizens not to hire or employ them in any capacity. They will ask the City Council to pass stringent ordinances to rid the city of the nuisance, or confine it to outside localities. The Committee on Statistics are Mayor Weisenbach, K. F. Kadebaugh, and Rev. Mr. Ward.
“They will ask the City Council to pass stringent ordinances to rid the city of the nuisance.”
This 1885 report documents the organized xenophobic agitation that defined the 'Chinese expulsion' era in Washington. It serves as a stark reminder that modern debates over urban zoning and housing often have deep, painful roots in exclusionary efforts that sought to dictate who had the right to occupy space in Seattle.
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