The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-06-01
TIE PACIFIC
Commercial A0Oertlser.
SATURDA Y, JUNE l.
THE NATIONS A

The Lepers are the Nations wards. Have
we. as a Nation, done our duty by them ? Has
there been any duty towards these unfortunates
left undOne, that ought to have been done =?
Are we, as a community, guilty of any omission
in the terms of our implied contract when We
isolated and banished them from our midst ?
These queries are pertinent to one Of the greatest
questions now before the Hawaiian people, and
a fair, candid and truthful answer is due, to
our friends and the world. People abroad
are attentively observing our demeanor in this
terrible crisis of our condition, and our reputa-
ton and good name are in many ways involved
by a correct knowledge of the truth. That
knowledge will reassure our friends, and we do
not fear to have the truth placed on record.
We assert that the Hawaiian people have done
nobly and well under the sad and trying circum-
stances in which they have been placed indeed,
no people could have done better.
AS soon as the fact was recognized that
LeprOsy had gained a foothold in the Kingdom
legislative action was at once taken for its
control and final eradication. Liberal grants
were voted, and a home provided at Kalawao, "a
beautiful and salubrious valley on the Island of
-AOlOho4gJ OA-N DhhN ohA ~ n "
supplying all the wants of the lepers in the most
liberal manner. A hospital was established at
Kalihi, near this city, where all patients were
subjected to preliminary medical examination
before being sent to Kalawao. The Board of
Health was clothed with the necessary power
for carrying out the law, and this it did to
the best of it's ability. 1t encountered
many obstacles TO complete success-not the
least of these being the cOncealment OF cases
by friends and relatives of the unfortunate
victims. The duties of the officers of the Board
have been, and are, by no means pleasant. The
sad and sorrowful scenes to which they are some
times witnesses are enough to wiring tears from the
hardest heart mournful separations of friends
who realize that they will meet no more on
earth parties praying amid sobs and tears for
the release Of some relative from Kalawao, or
a little longer reprieve from the sentence of
Punishment to that living grave. The whole
subject is so fraught with misery and sorrow
that it may be truly said that Hawaii is a ma
ton of mourners, weeping over her lost and
plague-stricken children.
The nation, in its fierce trial, has shown a
calmness, heroism, and selfdenial worthy of all
pldleC' IL otCduAJ SiahtCu VI III oCduIy
revenues 4 sum very large in proportion to its
means, for the support of its sick and diseased
members, and its friends and the world may
rest assured that there will be no shrinking in
the future from the plain path of duty, not only
to the lepers, but to itself.
For the biennial period ending March 81,
1878, the Legislature of 1876 voted the sum of
$119, 900 for the public health and of this
sum S55 900 was designated for the Leper
Asylum. This sum is just about fifty cents
per annum for every man woman and child in
the Kingdom q! What nation or people has ever
done more for one class alone of it's sick? We
do not say that no other nation would make
such a sacrifice were it necessary but half a
dollar per capita is a heavy tax to levy for a
specific object in any country, and on these Is
lands the sum is much greater in proportion,
for here, there is a far less proportionate accu-
of wealth.
Again we say the Nation has done nobly and
well, and the people who cheerfully bear such
1 burden are endowed with traits of character
will shine more brightly the wider they
Ire known. We are convinced that a better des-
tiny is in store for this people than the early
of which we have so often read and
heard.