Seattle Rallies Against Chinese Labor at the Standard Theater
An overflow crowd packs the Standard Theater to demand the total exclusion of Chinese laborers and the termination of the Burlingame Treaty, revealing the deep economic anxieties of the era.
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Nothing more attests to the depth and sincerity of the feelings of the people of Seattle on the Chinese question than the fact that large audiences can be brought together almost without effort when it is announced that this question is to be discussed. Although it had been announced for only a short time that a meeting would be held at the Standard Theater last evening, the auditorium was filled to its fullest capacity.
The resolution recited the evils under which the people of the Pacific Coast labor on account of the presence of Chinese in their midst and urged the people to persist in refusing to employ them. When the resolutions were put to a vote, a thundering 'Aye!' which made the rafters of the building fairly tremble, was the response. A solitary 'No,' uttered in a loud tone in which sarcasm and defiance were curiously blended, was the response, leading to shouts of 'Put him out!' before the chairman brought his gavel down.
Judge Goode, taking the platform, argued that he was an American who did not wish to see the higher civilization of America encroached upon by the lower civilization of China. He argued that the power to drive the Chinese from the country rested with the people but must be exercised through the ballot box. Following him, Mrs. Kenworthy spoke, expressing her own deep discouragement with the cycle of poverty and vagrancy, stating: 'Hungry, ragged, shoeless, they wander from place to place, and then they are arrested for being vagrants. My God!—if there is a God, I begin to believe there is not... Why does he not usurp the powers of a God and right these terrible wrongs?' The meeting concluded with a call for a great demonstration to be held in the future, involving the miners from the surrounding coal camps.
“My God!—if there is a God, I begin to believe there is not... for if there is, why does he not usurp the powers of a God and right these terrible wrongs? My God! Will it never end?”
This meeting captures the volatile, xenophobic climate of 1885 Seattle that preceded the anti-Chinese riots of early 1886. The rhetoric of 'protecting' the white working class from foreign competition and the economic desperation expressed by attendees mirrors the enduring tension in Seattle's history regarding labor displacement and housing affordability.
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