The Call for Exclusion: A City in Economic Upheaval
Facing a local depression, the Post-Intelligencer demands employers prioritize white workers over Chinese residents to combat unemployment.
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.
To the thinking man—even to the man who does not think—it is evident that we are upon an era. Never in the history of the Puget Sound has there been a time when it was more clearly the duty of the calm to remain calm, of the law-abiding to maintain their respect for law, of the passionate to hold their passions in restraint. The air is full of rumors, and they all mean that the people will soon have to solve for themselves a most important problem. For months the times have been bad. The peculiar industries of this region are all depressed. A market is found for our coal and lumber only with the greatest difficulty. Many mines and mills have been shut down or are running on short time. The inevitable consequence follows. Our towns are full of idle men—of men who are willing and anxious to work at any wages, however low. All that they demand is a bare living for themselves and families. This they must have. Many of the largest employers of labor in this city and in the adjacent coal regions have within the last few days discharged their Chinese employees and substituted for them white men. This movement cannot be too highly commended. It should be taken up by all employers in Washington Territory. Wherever a Chinaman is employed and a white man is able and willing to do the work, discharge the Chinaman and hire the man who calls America his country.
“If there must be suffering, let it fall upon the alien rather than upon the citizen.”
This article captures the volatile climate leading up to the 1885-86 anti-Chinese expulsions in Seattle, a period where economic anxiety was weaponized to codify racial displacement. It serves as a reminder that Seattle’s historical labor struggles have often been defined by who was deemed a 'legitimate' member of the local economy.
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