Shao Chang Lee, age 29, of San Francisco, Secretary of the Chinese Branch of the Y.M.C.A. of San Francisco applied to make a short trip to Vancouver, B.C., Canada, in March 1919. According to his file he was a student, and he was re-admitted. The inventory file is only five pages long. It gives us very little personal information about Shao Chang Lee and probably tells us more about the tension between the international immigration offices, their rules and personnel than about Lee.
Form No. E. 2877 from the Consulate-General of the Republic of China at San Francisco, California in included with an attached photo of Shao Chang Lee requesting that all Customs and other Officials and Authorities permit Shao Chang Lee to safely pass.
On 22 April 1919, Henry M. White, Commissioner in Seattle, sent a letter to the Inspector in Charge of Immigration Service in Victoria, B.C. asking why Shao Chang Lee was charged $1 to have his name entered on the alien passenger manifest in typewriting. White seemed peeved.
On 2 May, White received a testy reply from S. J. Burford from Immigration Service in Victoria…
Other information in the file:
A business card for John E. Rieke who was associated with YMCA in Seattle but not mentioned in the file.
This undated, unidentified newspaper article was included. The article mentions Judge Thomas Burke, president of the China Club; Chin W. Kee and Shao Chang Lee, Charles M. Schwab, Mrs. J. J. Connell, and Paul Fung.[i]
[i] “Paying Honor to Visiting Chinese,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, Seattle, WA, 9 April 1919, p.2, col. 3.
Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files 