1914-07-28ax

It was an offhand comment by a Hamilton politician that stirred up the undercurrent of racism in the Hamilton of the summer of 1914.

Aldermen Dr. Hopkins stirred up the hornet’s nest by claiming that Chinese immigrants were settling too thickly on York street. His position was resented by a fellow alderman :

“ Ald. Dr. Hopkins stated that Chinese were alright when scattered, but when they got together and formed a colony like on York street, they became dangerous.

“Ald. Coo said : ‘The merchants of York street and the residents of the surrounding district resent these statements of Dr. Hopkins and they think he is going a long way out of his own district to find trouble. Ald. Hopkins’ statements would lead a stranger to believe that Chinese were clustered in York street like grapes and that it has become a regular slum district or a Chinatown.

“ ‘York street is a prominent business artery of our city and its location and proposed connection with the great highway to be built between Hamilton and Toronto will greatly enhance the value of property on this street and business conditions will change accordingly.

“ ‘If Dr. Hopkins will take the trouble to go from one end of York street to the other, he will find but six Chinese laundries in sixteen blocks, which no sane citizen could possibly call a dangerous number, and they are scattered along the entire length of the street.

“ ‘The Chinese of York street are quiet, inoffensive, hard-working laundrymen who do not harbor women, but conduct their business in an orderly manner. Inquiry from the police will prove they give them no trouble.

“ ‘There are about one hundred Chinese laundries in our city, and only six of them on York street. Surely Dr. Hopkins has made a mistake in saying they were getting too numerous in this prominent thoroughfare.’ ”¹

¹ “Chinese Laundries : Ald. Coo Resents Statements Made By Ald. Hopkins”

Hamilton Spectator.    July 28, 1914.