Quote:
Originally Posted by Commander Bunny
I've been doing a little research on Chinese immigration, both legal & illegal, here's a little something from the year after that film was shot..
"The 1906 San Francisco earthquake allowed a critical change to Chinese immigration patterns. The practice known as "Paper Sons" and "Paper Daughters" was allegedly introduced. Chinese would declare themselves to be United States citizens whose records were lost in the earthquake".
Sorta like the INS/ICE computer data-base crashing, I imagine for the era..
I've heard that illegal Chinese leftover from the goldrush/railroad days were a real problem in Ca. infact the "Hippie-dippy" City of Arcata, in Humboldt County imposed a $50 a day fine on illegals living in It's City...that's a chunk of change for those days.
In 1917 immigration from Asia was almost completely banned, I forget the name of the act, but here's a map of the "barred zone".
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You might be thinking of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=47