Railroad workers fire Chinese employees
The assistant superintendent of the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad initiates the firing of Chinese laborers along the line to make way for white workers.
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.
T. J. Milner, Assistant Superintendent of the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company, has authorized the discharge of all the Chinese along the line of the road, in order that their places may be filled by white men. The recent closing of the coal mines threw quite a number of men out of employment, and this action is taken by Mr. Milner to afford work.
“T. J. Milner... has authorized the discharge of all the Chinese along the line of the road, in order that their places may be filled by white men.”
This event took place during the height of the anti-Chinese exclusion movement in the Pacific Northwest, which culminated in the forced expulsion of Chinese residents from Seattle in 1886. It shows how private corporations used the hiring of white workers as a tool to appease public anti-immigrant sentiment.
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