Judge — June 3, 1893 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes anti-Chinese immigration policy in America. It depicts a white woman at "Miss Columbia's School" (Columbia representing the United States) with a young Chinese child. The caption suggests excluding future Chinese immigrants while tolerating those already present—a compromise position on Chinese exclusion. The satire critiques this selective approach as hypocritical: the woman will "throw him out" eventually while preventing his relatives from entering. The imagery of the child with a basket suggests the "coolie" stereotype used to justify exclusion. The cartoon appears to mock both nativist anxieties about Chinese immigration and the inadequacy of half-measures in addressing them. This reflects late 19th-century American xenophobia and the Chinese Exclusion Act debates.