The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-04-17
THE PACIFIC
Commercial A0bGrtlser
SATURDAY. APRIL II.

IL ptplAE y n GENERAL EeAudli iGtL-t tudt
prevails" And the result Of this is declared to
be "a universal propagation Of syphilis" Of
which ''multitudes die Of the immediate disease, -
and :. the rest are enleebled and with. impaired
constitutions succumb to lung diseases.and other
maladies." This is a very sweeping declaration
and presents a sad picture Of the moral and
physical condition Of the Hawaiian people. If
the statement and the picture were true ~andifair,
they would afford a humiliatiDg comment upon
over fifty years Of Christian missionary teaching,
preaching and example upon this nation But a
lengthy and somewhat familiar acquaintance with
the Hawaiian race warrants US in saying that the
statement Is untrue and the picture sadly over
drawn and overeolOred.
1t Is a gross exaggeration based upon mere as
sertiOn, and a mischievOus libel, to declare that
sexual license prevails among this people, in the
sense conveyed by the words used. 1t is easy
enough, when the wish is father to the thought.
10 make these Wholesale charges, but it will be
far from easy to substantiate them. 1t is quite
true that the standard as to morals and outside
responsibility among the ignorant poor of this
people is lower than among the same class in the
\ enlightened nations Of Europe and America and
under all the circumstances of the recent emerg-
e0ce OF tue lOTmeT from DdTDuTlsm anu ancient
feudal restraint, and of their intercourse with
communicating visitors from those same enlight-
ened countries-it would indeed be strange if il
were otherwise. But 60 far from it being true
that there is a {" prevailing sexual license "
among all the people-an expression which bears
the construction that Hawaii is a modern SOdom,
where female virtue is almost unknOwn-we as
sert without the fear Of contradiction, that the
pure native race can show a goodly proportion of
christian families, wherein female virtue and
chastity are priced and hOnored, and are some
thing more than a mere name. The facts are
within the reach Of even the writer Of the article
under review-if, indeed, it will serve his purpose
to seek for them. If he is an unprejudiced as well
as a pure minded person, we assure him, from
personal experience, that he may travel alone
from one end of the Islands to the other without
discovering the prevalence Of that . : sexual IL
cense " with the guilt and disgrace Of which he
so Tecklessly charges the whole nation. To the
prurient and libidinous indeed, all things are un-
clean, and the presence of an angel even would
suggest impure thoughts in such a mind. But
evil to him who evil thinks.
Again, it is true that the seeds of a fearful
disease-the curse Of the human race from early
antiquity-were sown among the Hawaiians at
first by the strangers whom they so generously and
Hospitality entertained, the discoveries and sub
sequent voyagers,-and to a considerable extent
the disease in its secondary and tertiary forms is
spread and diffused in the blood of the people.
Precisely as the intelligent observer may see the
evidences Of the same blood faint in many a
- high-tOned " foreigner. But it is not true, as
declared by the Gazene'S writer, that syphilis is
universally propagated among the Hawaiians, nor
that at the present day " multitudes die Of the
immediate disease" If, instead of thus giving
free rein to his heated imagination the writer had
made inquiries of the medical men in the country
as to the real facts, he would have learned that
there are at the present time far fewer cases met
with here Of = the immediate disease " than IN
former years. And he might also have learned
that the advanced medical science of to-day is
able successfully to combat this dreadful disease,
against which the ancient medicOs were COMPARE
lively powerless.
Infanticide is casually mentioned as having
been one of the causes of the diminution of the
people : during the life time of the first Kane
hameha." But it is not stated further, as might
have been with truth and pertinency, that the
enforcement since that time of the penal laws
against illicit sexual intercourse, so construed as
to vigorously punish the woman found with child
outside Of matrimOny, had served to largely keep
up the practice Of child murder and feticide,
until a comparatively recent period, when the
law was repealed or modified.
There is also another among the many causes
of the diminution Of this people, which has been
overlooked by most writer's who have undertaken
to discuss the subject,-and for the obvious rea-
son that their knowledge Of the actual life Of the
Hawaiians is merely superficial. We alludc to
the facts that, with the introduction of new and
strange diseases, together with changed conditions
of living and diet the disappearance of the
ancient Kahuna or doctor with his herb-eures {;
the little or no knowledge existing among the
people of hygiene or sanitary rules it is under
these circumstances that multitudes Of those who
are attacked with perfectly durable ailments, es-
peeially among the ignorant poor, actually die
from the lack Of proper care and nursing-simply
this and nothing more. A good deal has been
done in this regard Of late years in Honolulu by
a society of benevolent native ladies known as the
a. Hoola Lahui :" but there is an ample field for
noble work throughout the nation for a consider
able force of those true christian heroines, the
Sisters of Charity.
And there Is still anOtner cause underlying the
decadence of the Hawaiians, which, though I'M
recognized BY those who have not been familiar
with the history Of the race. is yet a potent one.
IL is the abolition Of the feudal system and the
hasty substitution Of free government, free suf-
frage and the gift Of land ownership. This
theory may sound strangely to some, but 1t is a
true one in the case Of the Hawaiians. We may
revert to this subject more fully, when our space
will permit.
A work in the Hawaiian language on Sanitary
instruction is now in the press and will shortly
be issued. Ii has been written and compiled by
the Hon. W. NJ. Gibson, who was chairman of a
Special Committee of the last Legislature, ap-
pointed for the purpose. 1t is confidently ex-
pected that the work will prove useful in direct
ing attention to the importance of regarding the
laws of health, and also be of value in dispelling
much Of the prevailing ignorance as to the proper
care and management Of the sick.
FIRE At EAST MAUI-The report comes this