Tensions in Seattle continued to rise when the Chinese laborers shifted from mining and railroad construction to urban labor. Many whites felt as though the Chinese were driving them from the labor force by agreeing to work for less. They saw the Chinese as racially inferior "semislaves" who were unable to assimilate into the American way of life. Some argued that the hiring of Chinese workers would only serve to lower the standard of living for the average American working man in the West, who would be forced to accept lower wages to compete. Others asserted that the Chinese workers were stripping America of her wealth because many immigrants sent paychecks back to their families in China.