The Shadow Over Seattle's Waterfront
As the anti-Chinese movement spreads through the Pacific Northwest, agitators in Seattle and Tacoma organize a campaign of expulsion, claiming the city's prosperity is at risk.
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.
The anti-Chinese movement is rapidly extending to other cities and towns on the Pacific. Meetings have been held at Stockton, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Nevada City, and other places in California, and reports have been received from Tacoma that a strong feeling prevails throughout Arizona against the Chinese, who little by little have absorbed nearly all the small trading stores, restaurants, and laundries. Reports received from Seattle and Tacoma have intensified the anti-Chinese feeling existing in this city.
Mr. J. H. Holmes of Seattle said, 'It was high time something was done in our town to prevent the spread of the Chinese. You cannot conceive how they have almost gained control of the town. I remember not many years ago when there were comparatively few Chinese in the place, and everything was booming. Business was good, money was plenty, and the prospects of Seattle were excellent. Then the Chinese began to increase. The railroads that were being built were instrumental in bringing the major portion of them. They were brought into the country by hundreds to work as laborers upon the railroad, and as work became slack they were let out. Of course, they settled into various channels of business. It was the old, old story. The whites were gradually crowded to the wall. Now, however, the people are aroused, and have sent forth their fiat that the Chinese must move.'
When asked about the methods of this movement, Holmes added, 'I know for one there is a secret organization in Seattle, composed of some of the best citizens of the place, and the sole purpose of that organization is to expel the Chinese... I am a member of the society, but I must not divulge its secrets. But I will say: we are not incendiaries. We do not intend to torture the Chinese with rifle or torch. The people of Tacoma have acted sensibly in giving the Chinese notice that they must quit the town in so many days.'
“It was the old, old story. The whites were gradually crowded to the wall. Now, however, the people are aroused, and have sent forth their fiat that the Chinese must move.”
In 1885, Seattle and Tacoma saw a wave of organized xenophobia that culminated in the forced expulsion of Chinese residents from both cities. Today, the rhetoric of 'economic displacement' remains a recurring, if evolving, trope in local debates regarding housing, labor, and the identity of Seattle as an inclusive city.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.