# data[].attributes.body
interview about a girl who had success due to America and coming to America for a better life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives. The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper.

# data[].attributes.body
This source is a source for the immigrants about the Chinatown in San Francisco. The government is forcing them to only be allowed in one section of the town. It limits the places that the immigrants can go and the things that they can do. It is stripping them of the reason that they came here.

# data[].attributes.body
This source is an example of an american source and it is used to inform the Americans that there are British ships hold many Chinese and a few Russians. These people that they are moving are all wanting to become immigrants to the United States but the Exclusion Act is soon to come.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Letter from the San Francisco Inspector Regarding the SS Maori King

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives

# data[].attributes.body
This source is from an american perspective and how a women is reporting a Chinese family that was brought into America during the exclusion act. She wrote a letter saying that they should be investigated. This gives reasons as ti why they should not be able to enter the united states for an extended period of time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Principal Frances L. Bowers, of Keyser-Meehan Public School, sent this letter to the United States Commissioner of Immigration in Gloucester, New Jersey, reporting a Chinese family living in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

# data[].attributes.body
This source comes from a native standpoint on Chinese immigrants being helped into the country by Americans. This offers a different standpoint on Chinese immigration into America through smuggling and as a whole.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Transcript

HELD ON $500 BONDS.

RAILROAD MEN HELD ON CHINESE SMUGGLING CHARGE.

Waived Examination Before United States Commissioner at Lordsburg Yesterday - One Man Gave Bond and Attorneys Are Arranging Bail for Other.

The four El Paso Southern Pacific railroad men, Conductors Akin and Wise and Brakemen Howell and Goddard, who were arrested last Friday in Lordsburg on the charge of smuggling Chinamen, waived a preliminary examination yesterday before a United States commissioner at Lordsburg, and were bound over to the grand jury which meets at Las Cruces next October, in the sum of $500 each.

W. W. Bridges, who with George O. Sweeney, is employed to defend the accused, went to Lordsburg yesterday to look after their interests. Mr. Bridgers returned last evening for the purpose of arranging bond for Messrs. Akin, Wise and Goddard, who are now at Deming. Howell gave his bond yesterday at Lordsburg and accompanied Mr. Bridgers back to El Paso last night.

The four accused men decided to waive an examination and thus defer making their defense until the cases come up next October at Las Cruces, for the reason that they did not have their witnesses at hand. The bond of $500, which is an unusually small bond for cases of this character, was agreed to by all partied concerned. The small bond is taken as an evidence that the government has no case against the accused man.

Mr. Bridgers, after a talk with the accused and seeing the hand of the government, says that he will have no trouble in clearing the men when their cases come up in Las Cruces. There is a possibility that they will not be indicted by the grand jury as that body may not find sufficient evidence against them to base an indictment on.

"All the evidence the government has against these men," said Mr. Bridgers last evening, "is that eighteen Chinamen were found in an S. P. box car in Santa Barbara, Cal." Mr. Bridgers will return to Deming this morning supplied with bonds for Akin, Wise and Goddard and who will return to El Paso this evening.RAILROAD MEN ACCUSED OF SMUGGLING

Several are Under Arrest at Lordsburg on a Charge of Aiding Chinese to Enter United States
[added by hand in left margin above: "Herald May 2nd, 1905"]

Four Southern Pacific railroad men are under arrest at Lordsburg, N. M., on the charge of aiding and abetting the smuggling of Chinese into the United States.

The men all run on the Southern Pacific between El Paso and Lordsburg and their arrest was brought about through the efforts of the local immigration men, in charge of Theo. Schmucker, but all officials here are silent regarding the details, except to admit that arrests have occurred.

The arrests took place Saturday afternoon at Lordsburg, it is known, after the rooms of the men in this city were searched, and information from there today is that they are having a preliminary hearing preparatory to being removed to this city. Warrants for their arrest were issued here before United States commissioner W. D. Howe in this city. The men under arrest are W. B. Akin, C. A. Wise, A. W. Howell, and J. Goddard. It is expected that they will be brought into El Paso today or tomorrow.

For a long time past it has been known that Chinese were being smuggled into the United States at El Paso and only a few weeks ago a carload were arrested at Yuma, Arizona, whom it was stated were smuggled through the El Paso port.

Mr. Schmucker is said to have taken up the matter as soon as he came here as inspector in charge, and has been at work on the case steadily, assisted by some of his most trustworthy men. He declines to make any statement regarding the arrest, or his work on the case, however, until the men are brought to El Paso, saying that the evidence will all come out in court at that time. Inspector Rowe is now in Lordsburg attending the preliminary hearing preparatory to the removal of the men to this city.

The city directory shows that Wm. B. Akin is an S. P. conductor rooming at the Center Block. C. A. Wise is also a conductor with hearquarters in the Center Block. A. N. Howell is a brakeman rooming at 818 North Florence street. I. Goddard is not named in the directory and is evidently a new comer.

PRISONERS PROFESS INNOCENCE

Railroad Men Under Arrest In Lordsburg Say They are Guiltless.

Lordsburg, N. M., May 3. - In the matter of B. W. Aiken, J. B. Goddard, A. N. Howell and C. A. Weise, arrested here on complaint of P. A. Rowe, Chinese inspector at El Paso, for aiding Chinese, they claim innocence.

Some weeks ago a freight car was found at Yuma with a number of Chinamen in it and another similar load in California. It is claimed that these men took these cars out of El Paso and had a guilty knowledge of the presence of Chinamen.

The United States attorney has not reached here and they have not had an examination before the committing magistrate.

The cars in which the Chinamen were found were said to have been sealed at Galveston, the seal being broken, according to allegations, west of El Paso, and resealed with a counterfeit seal. Some of these counterfeits are alleged to have been found when the immigration officers made a search of the rooms of the railroad men at El Paso.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Articles Regarding Railroad Chinese Smuggling Charge

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
HELD ON $500 BONDS. RAILROAD MEN HELD ON CHINESE SMUGGLING CHARGE. Waived Examination Before United States Commissioner at Lordsburg Yesterday - One Man Gave Bond and Attorneys Are Arranging Bail for Other.

# data[].attributes.body
This source shows how the natives do not want the Chinese immigrants in the country because they take a life from an America that could be born. They think that the Chinese that are coming in are dirty and not good for the country.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Exploring the Chinese Exclusion Act, a racist stain on the American dream

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Film explores the history and legacy of Chinese Exclusion Act, a racist stain on the American dream

# data[].attributes.location_name
Bureau of Indian Affairs, C Street, Anchorage, AK, USA

# data[].attributes.headline
Bureau of Indian Affairs, C Street, Anchorage, AK, USA

# data[].attributes.subject
Bureau of Indian Affairs, C Street, Anchorage, AK, USA

# data[].attributes.body
The children of Chinese immigrants would need to pass citizenship tests in order to become full citizens of the united states. these would be about american values whether the teachers or parents cared about them or not.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives. The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper.

# data[].attributes.body
This interview supports the ideas of an immigrant and why they would want to come to America. They want to come for better opportunities, jobs and well being. This boy wants to be with his family in the Unites States but the government keeps pushing him out. They are taking experiences and life away from many people in other countries.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Questioning of Jew Yeung by W. H. Webber aboard the SS China

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On board S. S. CHINA, Feb. 1st, 1906. No. 17. JEW YEUNG. Class, Native (female) Inspector, W. H. WEBBER. Interpreter, T. H. GUBBINS. EX S. S. CHINA, Jan. 31, 1906. Stenographer, ALICE M. STRANGE. Q What is your name? A Jew Yeung. Q How old are you? A 16.

# data[].attributes.body
This source gives a view of how the immigrants view coming to America. They want a better life and better opportunities. They are afraid that the American government is changing how the country is run and that it will become more controlling.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On the blog of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Scott Seligman recently wrote about this 1879 letter from Chinese-American merchant Wong Ar Chong to activist William Lloyd Garrison. As Seligman points out, "Chinese-American voices were rarely heard during the national debate over Chinese exclusion that swept the United States in the 1870s and early 1880s." Wong's letter-written in English, which was his second language-gives us the political perspective of a Chinese-American tea merchant living in Boston.

Wong sent this letter to Garrison after the aging abolitionist and human rights activist engaged in a public argument with James G. Blaine, a senator from Maine who had recently advocated a bill that was a precursor to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Blaine was seeking the 1880 Republican presidential nomination, and looking to curry favor in the West by aligning himself with anti-Chinese forces.

After Garrison censured Blaine's bill-which proposed severely limiting trade and immigration with China-in a letter to the New York Tribune, Blaine replied via the Associated Press. Garrison wrote a longer rejoinder in the New York Tribune on February 27, 1879 (available in full here). Wong appears to have drafted this letter to Garrison the day after that long reply was published.

In his letter, Wong rebuts Blaine's arguments by invoking patriotism, fairness, and-over and over again-Christian ethics of kindness.

Click on the image to arrive at a zoomable version. My transcript follows.

My transcript:

Fri Feb 28 th 1879

In your Declaration of Independence it is asserted that all men are born free and equal, and it is understood by the civilized world that the United States of America is a free country, but I fear there is a backward step being taken by the government.

The able Senator from Maine, in aping that selfish stump speaker, Dennis [sic] Kearney, says the Chinese must go, and gives his reasons. Many things he says I agree to, a great many more I do not. I think he takes a wrong way to rectify the difficulty. I claim for my countrymen the right to come to this country as long as other foreigners do. If they make themselves a nuisance, establish proper health laws and enforce them, and if they don't like them let them go back home again, but they must conform to American ideas of law and order if they wish to stay. That is my idea, but you cannot bring it about by such a law as is now awaiting the President's signature. You must do to others as you would have them do to you if you wish to gain their confidence.

The Honorable Senator calls us heathens, but I should judge from the tone of his letter that he was somewhat lacking in Christian charity. Let him look at the records of fire in Chicago and yellow fever in New Orleans, and he will find Chinamen giving as much, according to their means, as any other people.

Such heathens cannot be so bad after all. Also he gives all Chinamen the name of Coolies. If Senator Blaine has education, why don't [sic] he use it to find out what the word Coolie means. A Coolie is a laboring man, a man who works by the day at anything he can get to do, that is what Chinamen mean by Coolies.

He says that China people pay no taxes in this country, but I think if he will take the pains to look into the matter he will find that they pay as much taxes in California as any other foreigners, say about $200,000.

He says that China people are not healthy, do not keep their places of habitation as clean as other people, that they smell badly, &c., &c. I could mention several other nationalities, each having its own particular smell. Also that no decent China women come here, that they are mostly prostitutes, but do not the women of other nations furnish a goodly number of prostitutes. My idea is that if the Chinese are allowed to come to this country and enjoy the same privileges as the people from any other foreign land, they will educate themselves and conform to your laws and manners, and become as good citizens as any other race. The Chinese people are willing to work, they mind their own business, and do not get drunk, and why is it they have not as much right to come here, and in as large numbers as any other foreign people.

If you do not allow it you go against the principles of George Washington, the father of his country, and contrary to the principles of your government.

You go against the principles of George Washington, you go against the American flag, and you act in conflict with Christian charity and principle.

You do not allow Chinamen to become citizens in California, where they pay $200,000 in taxes, do not allow them to vote. I ask you, where is your golden rule, your Christian charity, and the fruits of your Bible teachings, when you talk about doing unto others as you would have them do to you. I guess Senator Blaine, by his argument, wants to tell people what to do, but don't [sic] want people to do as he does.

His information must be very limited when he says the trade between this country and China only amounts to a few hundred dollars yearly, when it is known to reach several millions every year. I fear he does not know what he is talking about.

I don't know who are opposed to the Chinese, whether they are Americans or foreigners, but I think they are as much foreigners as the Chinese themselves. I think so because I have traveled in America, North, South, East, and West, and have never found native Americans as much opposed to Chinese as foreigners are.

The Chinese must not be blamed because other men have no work. It is not their fault. If merchants carried on business according to their means, with their own capital, and paid 100 ¢ on the dollar instead of failing and going through bankruptcy, then laboring men would have plenty of steady work. The failure of one firm involves others connected with it, which also fail and throw many men out of employment.

As it stands now, it is 5000 Caucassians [sic] to 1 Mongolian, yet you charge the Chinamen when robbing you of work. I ask God to forbid that Senator Blaine should fear the odds of 1 to 5000. If the letter he wrote to Mr. Garrison contains his sentiments, I think he is no better than the great California blower, Dennis [sic] Kearney, and like him, cares little for the country, but likes to hear his own noise.

He wants, in a very polite way, to send a message to the Chinese Empire to ask them to change the Burlingame treaty, but why don't [sic] he go and make a new treaty himself. He is trying to imitate General Butler, but has not the brains to do it successfully. The grapes are too high for him to reach. He tries to climb, the vine gives way, and he doesn't know where he is.

(Note) When a vessel is built and ready for sea, there are plenty of Captains to take command, but when you ask one of the Captains to build a vessel, he don't [sic] know how. That is the way with Blaine and the Burlingame treaty.

Yours respectfully,

Wong Ar Chong.

Update, June 4, 2014: An initial version of this post unintentionally omitted Scott Seligman's byline.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Chinese-American Merchant's Blistering Arguments Against Chinese Exclusion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On the blog of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Scott Seligman recently wrote about this 1879 letter from Chinese-American merchant Wong Ar Chong to activist William Lloyd Garrison. As Seligman points out, "Chinese-American voices were rarely heard during the national debate over Chinese exclusion that swept the United States in the 1870s and early 1880s."

# data[].attributes.body
People would contact Chinese inspectors in order to report Chinese people who may be breaking laws. people sometimes exploited this system by falsely reporting rivals and people who they didn't like.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Letter from Chinese Inspector Thomas Thomas in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the Commissioner-General of Immigration Transmitting Jim Long's Request That His Certificate of Residence be Returned, with

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives

# data[].attributes.body
Chinese immigration by boat had several positive and negative impacts on both america and china. for one coming to america for work removed said jobs from american workers since Chinese labor was cheaper. However it also positively impacted the US due to the boost in ticket sales for boats from China to America. Chinese immigration also negatively impacted China due to the large amount of their citizens leaving for America, drastically decreasing population.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. current 02:36, 15 February 2009 2 min 23 s, 320 × 240 (13.85 MB) Durova {{Information |Description="The film opens with a view of the steam ferryboat "William Myers," laden with passengers, approaching a dock at the Ellis Island Immigration Station.

# data[].attributes.body
Chinese immigrants coming to America were pulled towards the country for the many opportunities for jobs, especially in agricultural labor. The bias towards the Chinese for farming jobs ostrasized the other immigrant groups with dangerous industrial or construction jobs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Title
Chinese Coolies Crossing The Missouri River.
Names

Burnham, Leavitt (Artist)

Collection

Wallach Division Picture Collection

Dates / Origin

Library locations

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection

Shelf locator: PC IMM

Topics

Emigration & immigration

Notes

Content: Written on border: "Jan. 22, 1870"

Source identifier: HW (Hades Legacy Identifier / Struc ID)

Type of Resource

Still image

Identifiers

Dynix: 1993384

NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b17514010

Barcode: 33333159459474

Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 0e9d4280-c554-012f-5777-58d385a7bc34

Rights Statement

The copyright and related rights status of this item has been reviewed by The New York Public Library, but we were unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the item. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.

Item timeline of events

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Chinese Coolies Crossing The Missouri River.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
TitleChinese Coolies Crossing The Missouri River. Names Burnham, Leavitt (Artist) Collection Wallach Division Picture Collection Dates / Origin Library locations The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection Shelf locator: PC IMM Topics Emigration & immigration Notes Content: Written on border: "Jan.