Two Chinese Who Liked the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

One might assume that all Chinese in the U.S. would object to the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.  However, a Los Angeles newspaper reporter decided to go to Chinatown and interview some residents.  It isn't stated how many Chinese he spoke with, or how many objected to the law, but he did find at least two merchants who approved of the law.

Quong Hing saw one effect of the law would be that "Chinamen here would scatter out over the country," which he argued would benefit their wages. He also defended the restriction of Chinese if their presence made times hard for others (white labor).

A second merchant, Ah Toy, held a similar view. He almost questioned whether money Chinese sent back to China instead of spending it in the U.S., one of the objections raised about Chinese, was a significant amount overall.  He felt that the Chinese who came from China were poor but that after being here two years would make enough money to go back to China.

The article only cited the views of two Chinese and it would have been interesting to see how widespread similar views were held among Chinese.