race

HE’S NOT OUR PRESIDENT

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Hurrah for Teddy Roosevelt! In the 1904 elections, he came close to bringing the nation together for the first time since the Civil War — even in the “Solid South” outpost that was Santa Rosa, Teddy won every precinct by comfortable margins, despite the Press Democrat’s race baiting and hysteric attacks on Republican candidates (including an over-the-top editorial cartoon showing a “Rooseveltism” bayonet through the U.S. Constitution). But it was time to end the snarky attacks once it was clear that the community — and presumably the paper’s readership — overwhelmingly backed a new direction for the country. Right?

Well, no. The PD complained that the “useless and uncalled for” inauguration ceremony had killed dear old Senator Bate, a former Confederate general. Worse yet, an African-American had been appointed to a position of authority!

AN UNNECESSARY AFFRONT

Just what reason President Roosevelt has for appointing a negro to the position of collector of the Port of New York is not plain, unless it is his desire to humiliate as much as possible the white people compelled to do business with that branch of the revenue department. It cannot even be urged in extenuation that such “recognition” is justified by the fact that a large number of the persons brought into contact with the official in charge there are colored, as might possibly be said of some of the southern ports. Not one man in a thousand having business with the collector of the New York port is a negro. The office is the most important of its kind in the United States, and should most certainly go to a white man rather than a negro. The President’s determination to name a colored man to the place is an unnecessary and uncalled-for affront, not only to the people of New York but of the entire nation.

— Press Democrat, March 14, 1905

USELESS AND UNCALLED FOR

The pomp and pageantry attending presidential inaugurations in this country has become so conspicuous as to occasion wide-spread criticism all of which appears to be justified. Why should a citizen of the United States, just because he has been temporarily elevated to the position of chief executive of the nation, seek to outdo the princes and potentates of Europe in their display of the material attributes of mere temporal power? A well-known Washington correspondent in discussing the matter says:

[“]All the fuss and feathers, fanfarronade [sic], fiddlesticks and the cheap and tawdry blare of trumpets attendant upon the inauguration of a President of these United States are passed and gone, the crowds have melted away, and there is not a man in the city not the direct beneficiary of all this noise and beating of tomtoms who is sorry that it is over.

[“]Some day maybe the people of the nation will have the good sense to elect a man President who will eschew all this tommyrot and who will refuse to have anything to do with it. He will be unpopular with the saloon and the hotel men, but he will have the thanks of all the quiet and orderly people of the city and the country.

[“]If they are to continue this idiocy, then why in the name of common sense do they not change the date of holding this inauguration to the 30th day of April? You can be assured of the nastiest weather on record on the 4th of March each year in this city of any time during the year. And each year, or at least each inauguration, sees its harvest of death from colds contracted from exposure under inclement skies while the President is delivering his inaugural address.

[“]This time the victim was dear old Senator Bate of Tennessee. He took cold and lived only four days after sitting fifteen minutes in the cold March wind that was blowing while on the reviewing stand. There is no telling how many more that we will never hear of, and thus it is at each recurring inauguration. This parade of nonsense and noise is becoming greater each time. Either the American people are getting closer to the ideas of the effete monarchies of the old world, and long to have a king to install on his throne, or else are going crazy. It is the opinion of all right-thinking people here that the thing ought to be stopped.[“]

The pompous display of wealth and power on state occasions is a survival of the days of barbarism, when the heads of government considered it necessary — and rightfully so — to impress the people with the exalted station and claims of superiority…do these conditions exist in this enlightened land? If so, well and good; if not, such tomfoolry [sic], as was carried on in Washington a couple of weeks ago should be abandoned forever as useless and uncalled for.

— Press Democrat, March 22, 1905

Read More

THE 1904 ELECTIONS

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

All that you need to know about the 1904 presidential election: Teddy Roosevelt beat the knickers off someone you’ve never heard of.

As boring and predictable as the race was nationally, it was political mortal combat in the trenches of the highly-partisan Santa Rosa newspapers. The battle began quietly enough, with each editor sniping at the presidential nominee on the opposing side. Then salvos were fired against the other party’s candidate for Congress, first raising questions about the man’s capabilities, then attacking his character and even manhood. And finally it became take-no-prisoners warfare against everyone on the opposing side, especially the editor of the other paper. By early November, it wouldn’t have been surprising to come across Press Democrat editor Finley and Republican editor Lemmon slugging away on Fourth street.

Nothing needs to be said here about Teddy Roosevelt, except that Mr. Fairbanks, named in some of the posts below, was his veep. Heading the Democratic ticket was the forgettable and dolorous duo of Judge Alton B. Parker and 80 year-old Henry G. Davis. Parker was the 3rd (or 4th) pick for a compromise candidate, nominated only because party superstar William Jennings Bryan didn’t want to make a third consecutive run, and because conservative Democrats loathed candidate William Randolph Hearst, who they viewed as a playboy with populist leanings. Octogenarian Davis was given the nod because everyone thought the wealthy industrialist would gratefully pay for the campaign (he didn’t). In the end, the Parker/Davis ticket was a 19th century throwback in a year when Americans were focused upon the promise of twentieth century progress. They ended up carrying only the 17 states of the old Confederacy, save Missouri.

The surprise in reading the local election year news was that racial discrimination was so often an underlying theme, starting with the Press Democrat’s editorial shock over an African-American child appearing onstage at the Republican Convention, warning it was a portent of dreaded racial equality. But officially, race was a non-issue for Democrats in 1904. The national party platform didn’t mention race at all, except to condemn Republican “race agitation” as a threat that could reopen wounds “now happily healed.” As such, it wasn’t a plank as much as it was a talking point to bash Republicans. (The Republican National Committee would produce a historically valuable “campaign textbook” in 1908 to counter such attacks.)

One reason that Democrats stayed clear of race issues that year was probably Bryan’s decision not to run. In each previous election campaign he had courted African-American support, arguing that Republicans had only given them “janitorships” in exchange for their vote. What Democrats offered was only Jim Crow discrimination, of course, and Bryan didn’t seem to understand that Blacks disliked being second-class citizens. Of course, that wasn’t the only thing Bryan didn’t understand.

The election of 1904 continues in four parts.

THE RACE ISSUE

The South is enthusiastic for Judge Parker and would be so if there were but one issue in the campaign. To them the all-absorbing and overpowering issue is the negro question and they are anxious for the defeat of Roosevelt on account of that issue, if for no other reason. A recent communication to the Washington Post by a negro named Henry B. Baker serves to accentuate the negro issue more than anything that has lately appeared. In that communication, he calls attention to the difference between the Republican and the Democratic National Conventions. He says that at the Republican Convention the colored man was treated as a companion, friend, and brother, that there he was made to feel as though he were not only a political but social equal; that the delegates followed the advice and example of President Roosevelt, who teaches that the colored man deserves to be treated as a social equal. He says that to emphasize this fact, he had the courage to have at his table, Prof. Booker T. Washington, and that, if Roosevelt is elected, it will so encourage the negro men that they will demand that Booker Washington shall be the Republican candidate for Vice-President in 1908. He calls attention to the scene in the Republican Convention, when a beautiful white girl was placed upon the stage and by her side a negro boy, and that they led the cheering, thus making an example of President Roosevelt’s idea of the equality of the races. He then points out that the Democratic Convention was a white man’s convention, of a white man’s party, and that in it, there was not a single negro man. Talk like that will do more to make the race question one of the leading issues of this campaign than anything else that could be suggested. There are many doubtful states in the North that will give to the Democrats sufficient Republican votes upon the negro question alone to send them into the Democratic column.

– Press Democrat, August 10, 1904

MORE on the election of 1904
1 2 3 4 5

Read More

THE WEDDING OF AH QUAY

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

A trio of stories that illustrate more of the casual racism against Chinese immigrants in 1904, but with a surprising conclusion, both in the events and the reporting. First, see this earlier post for some background on anti-Chinese bigotry in general and Sonoma County attitudes specifically.

“Melican” was supposedly pidgin for “American.” It often appeared in 19th century writing about Chinese immigrants at least as far back as 1858, nearly always in a “humorous” snatch of dialog intended to make the speaker appear unintelligent. As with most of those writings, the examples below reveal more about the prejudice of the author than anything about the smarts of the speaker.

To what degree people actually spoke in such heavy pidgin is unknown — and if they did, it sometimes may have been a feint. White Americans at the time seemed uneasy when Chinese men didn’t fit their racist Coolie stereotype; also on Oct. 27, the Press Democrat noted with suspicion that several “hightoned” Chinese men who arrived in town were “dressed in most approved American style and were minus their ques [sic]. The party attracted some attention on the street and at the depot.” That the locals were gawking at nicely-dressed visitors shows how unaccustomed they were to having their prejudices challenged (and also says much about their ill-manners).

“I no understan’, you heap savee [savvy],” the Press Democrat quoted Ah Quay as he asked his business parter for help in obtaining his marriage license. Ah Quay was a prosperous hop farmer — the Santa Rosa Republican even called him “wealthy” — who had succeeded against all odds. If he actually did say anything like that, he was likely playing the game of diminished expectations. Ah Quay certainly had a grasp of American bureaucracy and could make himself understood in English; a few weeks later, he confronted Santa Rosa’s Superintendent and refused to allow the city to haul sewer pipe down the farm’s private road because of potential damage (much to the annoyance of officials). In this situation, perhaps he feared County Clerk Pressley might obstruct or even reject his coveted marriage application on some interracial or citizenship pretext, but would be less likely to hassle a prominent white landowner.

The Press Democrat’s following description of the wedding was insulting, with pidgin dialog and details to accent foreignness and race of both bride and groom. (The Republican’s coverage was almost as offensive, with the headline, “Very Peculiar Combination – A Chinaman and Half Breed Indian are Married ‘All Same Melican Man’ Wednesday Night.”) Weddings of whites were reported solemnly and respectfully, of course; never would the bride’s trousseau be described as a “blue something or other.”

Ah Quay’s marriage came to a morose end a few weeks later, and this time the Press Democrat’s news coverage was strikingly different. No pidgin english and no demeaning references to “Chinaman” or “Celestial” — in fact, this was probably the most respectful coverage of any event in the Sonoma County Chinese community to appear in the newspaper that year. Why the change? It’s impossible to be certain because stories were never bylined, but the likely reason was because editor Ernest L. Finley was then on vacation, taking a trip east to visit family and tour the World’s Fair.

As this journal continues with the 1905 newspapers, it’ll be interesting to see if the “Celestials” return to the pages of the Press Democrat along with Mr. Finley.

CHINAMAN WILL WED
Ah Quay Wins the Hand of Rosie Hacket, a Native California Girl

When Ed Hall, the well-known hop grower presented himself before Cupid Lawrence Pressley at the County Clerk’s office on Monday morning he announced that his mission was to obtain a marriage license, not for himself, however. He came at the request of Ah Quay, 45, native of China, and Rosie Hackett, 32, native of California and of Spanish descent. Ah Quay having lost his heart to the dark-eyed Spanish girl, confided his secret to Mr. Hall and asked him, “you fixee up alie same license me, I no understan’, you heap savee way ‘Melican man.” The license was procured and the wedding will take place at the Hall hop yard where Ah Quay has a partnership interest in raising hops. Mr. Hall had to put up with some little joshing from friends to whom had been passed the word that, “Ed Hall had got a marriage license.”

– Press Democrat, October 25, 1904
WED AFTER STYLE OF THE MELICANS
UNIQUE CEREMONY IN “CHINA HOUSE” AT THE J. E. HALL HOP YARD
Ah Quay Claims Rosie as Bride But First Thought That He Was to Figure as the Whole Show

If anyone fancied for a moment that the Wednesday night wedding of Ah Quay, hop grower and Celestial, and Rosie Hackett, thirty-two, pretty in the eyes of Ah Quay, half Spanish, half Indian, and a native of California, was to be utterly devoid of the Melican way of doing things, reckoned without a desire of the couple to have Melican etiquette mixed up with the ceremony.

It was a “chrysanthemum wedding,” if you please. The decorations of the “China house” at the J. E. Hall hopyard near town, which was the scene of the wedding, was en fete with the gaudiest combination of colors in the way of chrysanthemums. There was also a wedding bell. It was fashioned out of chrysanthemums and the ribbons used in the creation matched those in Rosie’s hair.

Ah Quay, who is not altogether a novice in the marriage business, according to the manners of the Chinese in their country, having had a wife there twenty-five years ago, engaged Justice A. J. Atchinson to marry him and Rosie, his lady love. It was necessary that the jurist should have a very simple ceremony. Ah Quay was asked if he had ever been married before, and he replied, “Yes, me melly befo. Long time go, China. That’s all lite. I tell her. She no care.” The “she” was the bride-to-be. Rosie said with what might have been a blush if her complexion had been lighter, so as to reflect changes of tint, that this was her first marriage.

“Very well then,” quoth the magistrate. “Ah Quay you take this woman to be your lawful wife?”

“That’s all lite. That’s all lite.”

“You should say yes,” prompted the one officiating.

“All lite, yes. I no savee yes.”

Rosie said “yes,” the ceremony was completed, the kissing of the bride was omitted and the bottle was passed around by way of an appetizer for the wedding feast which followed, and which consisted of cakes, pies, candies and chicken, spread on a gaily arranged table in another room.

It should have been stated that the bride wore pink silk and blue something or other. The groom wore conventional black. Among those present were a number of white people and a select gathering of Chinamen. The wedding was a novelty in more ways than one, and the feasting and merriment continued until a late hour. The honeymoon will be spent at the hop yard.

At the outset of the ceremony Ah Quay though that he was the only one necessary to figure as principle in the ceremony. For a minute or two he stood alone before the magistrate. Ed Hall and McBride Smith were the attendants, or rather they figured as official witnesses, and when Mr. Hall told Ah Quay to bring Rosie to the wedding as well as himself he did so. And after it was all over the groom paid the officiating magistrate a fiver for his trouble and all was happy.

– Press Democrat, October 27, 1904
SOON TIRED OF HER CHINESE HUSBAND
AH QUAY BUSY SEARCHING FOR HIS BRIDE OF A FEW DAYS WHO HAD ELOPED
She is Said to Have Found Some One She Liked Better, and Ah Quay Believes That Marriage May be a Failure

On Saturday and Sunday Ah Quay, the hop grower on the J. E. Hall place who was recently married to a Spanish girl in a ceremony by Justice Atchinson in the “China” house at the Hall yard, was in Santa Rosa and vicinity searching for his bride. It was rumored a few days ago that Katie had tired of her Chinese husband and there was no one more convinced of the fact than Ah Quay on Saturday and Sunday. He confided his troouble to several people and he could find no one who could offer him any suggestion where she could be found. It is said that she departed with another man who was evidently more to her liking. Ah Quay feels all the more bitter about the matter on account of the fact that the nuptials caused him an outlay of considerable capital, and that too much attention was paid to the event for it to become so soon a failure.

Ah Quay drove into town a few days ago, having hired a fine rubber tired rig to take his bride out riding. While he was in a store making some purchases, she disappeared and since then he has not been able to find her. Since the wedding a little item of expenditure he met was a doctor’s bill for a number of teeth filled with gold to improve his wife’s mastication of delicacies.

– Press Democrat, November 15, 1904

Read More