The 'Freezing Out' Campaign of 1885
As anti-Chinese sentiment reaches a fever pitch in Seattle, the local press advocates for a 'peaceful' campaign of economic exclusion to force the Chinese community out of the city.
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.
There are few who are unwilling to admit that the anti-Chinese movement, so far as it has gone in Seattle, has been productive of good. The number of those who have left the city in consequence of it is large. A visit to the Chinese quarter will convince anyone that those who remain will not stay long. Idle and aimless, they wander about the streets or lurk in the sun, while the bustle and activity which of old characterized the quarter is totally lacking. It is evident that if the present state of affairs continues, the entire Chinese colony must be withdrawn from Seattle within a short time. In the mills and factories where Chinese were formerly employed, only white workmen are now to be seen. The same amount of work is being done, and it is evident that where Chinese have stepped out, Americans have stepped in. The benefit of such a change is not confined to the workingmen alone. It is felt by the people of every class—by the merchant, the manufacturer, and the professional man. Business has felt no shock in consequence of it, and looking back over the month's agitation, one cannot fail to see that the result is a happy one. The rejoicing over such a condition of affairs must be all the greater in that this result has been accomplished without the slightest violence. There has been no panic; the process has been principally one of 'freezing out.' Arguments have been presented to employers of labor which induced them to dispense with the help of Chinamen, and unable to find work, the next thing for the foreigners to do was to leave.
“The process has been principally one of freezing out. Arguments have been presented to employers of labor which induced them to dispense with the help of Chinamen, and unable to find work, the next thing for the foreigners to do was to leave.”
This 1885 report documents the organized 'freezing out' of Seattle’s Chinese residents through economic pressure—a precursor to the violent riots that would follow in early 1886. It reflects a chilling period in Pacific Northwest history where 'orderly' displacement was framed by the media as a civic triumph, mirroring how exclusionary rhetoric today often masks the deeper, systemic costs of displacement.
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