When the American labor unions accumulated partisan power, the Chinese
became a political issue. This was the greatest evil that could befall
them, for now racial persecution received official sanction and passed
out of the hands of mere ruffians into the custody of powerful
political agitators. Under the lurid leadership of Dennis Kearney, the
Workingman's party was organized for the purpose of influencing
legislation and "ridding the country of Chinese cheap labor." Their
goal was "Four dollars a day and roast beef"; and their battle cry,
"The Chinese must go." Under the excitement of sand-lot meetings, the
Chinese were driven under cover. In the riots of July, 1877, in San
Francisco, twenty-five Chinese laundries were burned. "For months
afterward," says Mary Roberts Coolidge, "no Chinaman was safe from
personal outrage even on the main thoroughfares, and the perpetrators
of the abuses were almost never interfered with so long as they did
not molest white men's property."[46]
This anti-Chinese epidemic soon spread to other Western States.
Legislatures and city councils vied with each other in passing laws
and ordinances to satisfy the demands of the labor vote. All manner of
ingenious devices were incorporated into tax laws in an endeavor to
drive the Chinese out of certain occupations and to exclude them from
the State.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184