The Chinese Must Go by Beth Lew-Williams

Author:Beth Lew-Williams [Lew-Williams, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2017-11-15T08:48:58+00:00

THE EXCLUSION CONSENSUS

181

Chinatown Fire in San Jose, California. Five thousand onlookers came to watch as

Market Street Chinatown burned on May 4, 1887. Following this act of arson, Chinese

residents relocated to the outskirts of the city, building Woolen Mills Chinatown and

Heinlenville Chinatown. History San Jose Photographic Collection, 1997-300-1683.

Courtesy of History San Jose.

duced eight bills with the purpose of strengthening the Chinese Restriction

Act, but none earned widespread support. There were only a few legislators

ready to abandon the possibility of a diplomatic solution and the coopera-

tive open door. Senator John H. Mitchell, a Republican representing Oregon,

became the spokesman for congressmen who were unwilling to wait for the

long- promised treaty. Claiming to speak for the people of the Pacific North-

west, he introduced a bill “abrogating all treaties . . . [that] inhibit the

United States from absolutely prohibiting the coming of Chinese to the

United States.”

Mitchell was aware, he informed the Senate, that “men hold up their

hands in holy horror” at even the suggestion that Congress should violate

existing treaty agreements and the delicate trust built between the two na-

tions. But unlike his fellow statesmen, he did not hold high hopes for the

China Trade. Armed with financial reports, he argued that “the balances

182 EXCLUSION

are all against us and the benefits with China.” China produced many prod-

ucts that Americans wanted to buy, but the United States produced few

commodities that sold well in China. The result was an imbalance of trade

and power. While Amer ica could risk losing the transpacific trade, Mitchell

observed, China could not. Mitchell wagered that China would never close

its ports to American merchants, no matter what insults Congress inflicted,

because of these stark economic realities. Therefore, he urged immediate

unilateral exclusion and presented a bill to that effect. West Coast represen-

tatives echoed his opinion. In the summer of 1887, a Senate foreign relations

subcommittee heard evidence from five senators and seven representatives

from California, Nevada, and Oregon. The congressmen asserted, without

exception, that 90 percent of their constituents would abandon all commerce

with China rather than accept Chinese migration. Most of the West Coast

was willing to sacrifice the cooperative open door for the sake of Chinese

exclusion.37

Many other congressmen, however, viewed Mitchell’s assessment of the

China Trade as shortsighted and his call for abrogation reckless. The Senate

referred his unilateral exclusion bill to the Committee of Foreign Affairs,

where it languished. Though white vio lence had convinced many skeptics

that exclusion was necessary, Congress remained committed to a diplomatic

solution. Senator John Sherman, an Ohio Republican and chair of the Com-

mittee on Foreign Relations, had been one of the holdouts in 1882, urging

limited restriction and diplomatic caution. But Eureka, Rock Springs, and

Tacoma made him into a ready advocate for exclusion in 1886. “[I]n the

opinion of the committee [on foreign relations], and I may say in the opinion

of the Department of State and of the Trea sury Department as well,” he de-

clared, “the time has come when the exclusion must be absolute.” Still,

Sherman, along with the majority of Congress, believed that the burden fell

on the executive branch. Congress earnestly and repeatedly petitioned the

president for a new treaty “to absolutely exclude Chinese laborers from this

country.

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