The Result of Forty Years of Exclusion

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

From The Real Chinese in America by J. S. Tow, 1923.

The first ten years (1880-1890) of the exclusion of Chinese laborers from immigration into this country caused a great deal of confusion and resulted in successfully halting the influx of Chinese. The Chinese population for that decade increased only 2,000, whereas it had increased 42,000 in the ten years previous. Thus, when the Chinese population in this country in 1880 was 105,465, in 1890 it was 107,488.

This decrease did not satisfy the anti-Chinese party. In 1892 a wholesale exclusion law was passed which was intended to exclude all Chinese from immigration into this country, except a few restricted classes. This law required a registration of all the Chinese already in America. Many who did not register on account of ignorance were subsequently deported.

The earning of a livelihood became more difficult for the Chinese here. Those who were frightened by the constant riots and the new laws began to; return home or to seek refuge in other countries. Therefore, these laws worked not only toward the exclusion of the Chinese from immigration, but also to exclude those already in this country, although the latter, when registered, were entitled to remain.

Thus, the result of exclusion laws in the decade 1890- 1900 was that it reduced the Chinese population to 89,863—a decrease of about 18,000. This rigid policy of exclusion continued and for the next ten years another 18,000 reduction was noted and in 1910 the Chinese population in the United States was only 71,531.

After the second exclusion law had become effective, a treaty was signed between China and this country securing China’s consent to this total exclusion, with certain exemptions. The duration of that treaty was ten years, but in 1904, when it expired, no renewal was made. Thus the status of Chinese-American relations respecting immigration has automatically returned to the terms of the treaty of 1880.

Meanwhile, in protest against the policy of this rigid exclusion and harsh treatment of Chinese immigrants of the merchant and student classes and of those already in this country, a boycott of American goods in China took place.

The plea of American business men in China awakened the American public to the seriousness of the situation. Many organizations in America, among which the American Asiatic Association was most prominent, appealed to the government for a more moderate policy. Public opinion in the East was quite indignant over the insatiable demands of the labor elements in the West.

In a speech at Miami University on June 15, 1905, Hon. William H. Taft, then Secretary of War, said: “Is it just that for the purpose of excluding or preventing perhaps one hundred Chinese from slipping into this country against the law, we should subject an equal number of Chinese merchants and students of high character to an examination of such an inquisitorial, humiliating, insulting and physically uncomfortable character as to discourage 'altogether the coming of merchants and students?... We must continue to keep out the coolies, the laborers, but we should give the freest possible entry to merchants, travelers and students and treat them all with courtesy and consideration.”

A milder administration of these exclusion laws followed, and together with the return of the Boxer indemnity to China by the United States, good will of the Chinese people towards America seemed to be restored. Yet China, having consented to the suspension of Chinese labor immigration into this country, asked only fair treatment for her merchants, students and others who were entitled under the treaty to come here.

There was a reduction of another 10,000 in the Chinese population in this country between 1910 and 1920, when the census reports showed only 61,639 Chinese in the United States. In the forty years of exclusion, the decrease in Chinese population reached a total of 44,000 or 40 per cent of the population in 1880. Therefore, the Chinese population in this country at present is even less than fifty years ago. (63,199 in 1870.)

The tendency is still towards a steady decrease. The number of Chinese leaving this country every year will continue to be greater than the arrivals. With the present exclusion laws in effect, the number of Chinese immigrants of the merchant, student and other classes who are not supposed to be excluded, will not increase as Chinese citizens of high standing do not care to risk themselves here under these laws or to be treated in any way that might reflect upon their dignity.

Indeed, these exclusion laws have brought a remarkably satisfactory result to those labor elements that sought the exclusion of Chinese, though they have caused great embarrassment to both the American and Chinese governments, created serious misunderstandings between the two peoples, and have done much injustice to the Chinese of all classes.

Tow, J. S. The Real Chinese in America. The Academy Press, 1923.

J. S. Tow

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