Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-09-22
TUEN IND WOW

Leave not a lcper loose IN the land II will
not do to discriminate in this sad business. Not
mus, not make FISH of one and flesh Of another
| Whoever has this dread disease, be he chief oi
commoner. be he white or brown. must b,
separated from the healthy and removed tc
Molokai. We are full II mercy and compass
sion, but ~ this matter we cannot discrim
nate. We must not tear poor kanaka away
/ from his friends, and leave one behind whc
has means and influence. This would be ar
outrage and a wrong, which would warrant the
friends Of those who were cxiled through m
unjust discrimination. to rise up indignant and
demand in thunder tones, either the return ol
their diseased friends, ar the deportation aud
scclusion oi those who we're diseased like them.
Look to this, Mr. Minister, and leave not on,
lepcr loose in the land.
In another issue OF tltc same paper
he wrote regarding lcprosy as follows
II IS spreading rapidly. There are 43S con.
| frmed lcper 10 Ealaupapa, and nearly as
many more throughout the islands with mani.
fest symptoms Of the disease The chief
cause Of its increase lies in native apathy.
The healthy associate carclcssly with the
blnated hook fingered victims. The most aw-
lul conditions of the disease neither scare nor
disgust, and the Clustering, distorted face is
rubbed against as compl1ccntly as the most
healthy countcn1ncc. The horror Of this liv.
ing death has no terror for Ilawaiians, and
therefore they have needed more than any
other people a cocrcive segregation Of those
having contagious disease. Some people con.
slider this enforced isolation as a violation to
personal rights. II is 50, no doubt, but a vio.
lcncC in behalf Of human welfare. II is a yio-
lcncc 10 remove a smallpox patient TO 4 pest
house, and we would not have such an one re.
stored to friends till we'll And so with the
lcper he will be restored il cured. But, If he
continually carries with him the seeds Of death,
he must not be allowed to destroy his brothers
and sisters. lie must be kept apart from his
fellows. 1t is done in enlightened Europe as
well rs in Asia; and no where is the sad ne.
ccsity enforced more humancly than in the Ila.
waiian Islands.
These were Mr.. Gibson's views of
the lcper question, as uttered ten years
since. In the year 1880 only three
years ago, he wrote n book entitled
-" Sanitary Instructions for Hawaiians," !"
wherein it is made apparent that his
views upon the subject had in no wise
changed, for he writes there pagc, r4D:
This is the supreme physical curse of man that
leprous man in all lands from his kind and
kin ;-and bids him cry out as he did in the
land Of Palestine, to all passcrs-by - "Keep
away! | am accursed am unclean
But what sound, or sick man, or
woman, will seek intimate contact with
lcpcT Ii has been said in another
part OF these instructions, and may be re-
pcatcd that intercourse, between a sound
person and lcper, il voluntary, should be
regarded as a crime, Or, those
who go about to propagate so woful curse on
their kind, should be confined and treated as
insane. ' Surely the feet Of some
people are ready to take hold on hell"
SO much as to Mr.. Gibson's opinion
regarding the contagiousness of the
malady and his appreciation of the
necessity of segregation. His opinion
in reference TO the durability of leprosy
is thus expressed:
But when the flesh and bones of a human
being have began to slough and crumble away
in leprosy no mans skill has brought back
to soundnesS and cleanliness, such a dccaying
body any more than human skill has checked
the putridity Of the grave or flushed livid
corpse once more with tide Of hcalthfu and
identifying blood.
In 1883, however, we find this man
in charge of the health affairs of the
country, and using his office to obtain
little low popularity and political in
iluence among the poor ignorant
nalivcs To do this he is willing to
sacrifice every principle of honor
every principle Of humanity; to not only
see the native race rotting with the
disease and the white population being
gradually involved, but is willing even
to perform an active part himself in
helping on the physical ruin OF a whole
people that he may be more firmly
placed in paltry office which he has
said, time and again, he did net need
He knows what he once said is true
that, "no mans skill has brought back
to soundness and cleanliness, such
dccaying body any more than human
skill has checked the putridity of the
grave, or flushed livid corpse once
more with a tide of healthful and
beautifying blood;'' and yet he instructs
the editor of his paper, the Advertiser,
to inform its readers that nine lepcrs
have been cured, and by his instruction,
discharged. In his book, he tells his
readers TO avoid leper as they would
raging fire y" but he sees no shame
now in aifording those readers, and
others as well, every opportunity to
come in contact with that "raging
fire." In order to do this, he surrounds
the pest house with picket fence, that
the inmates may exchange kisses and
hand-shaking without obstruction, with
their friends outside, Still further to
accommodate the mingling of the
healthy with the diseased, he has had
erected shed, built half inside and
half outside the fence of the lazaretto,
in order to protect the lepers and their
visitors from the sun that their visits
may be prolonged. Worse still, he is
letting lepers loose almost every week,
to roam at large about this community
communicating whom they may. Some,
it is true, he has sent to Molokai, but
what avails that SO long as many of the
worst cases are turned loose upon the
community, for no other reason than
that the session OF the legislature is
approaching, and he desires that these
lepers shall exert political influence
among their friends in his behalf. We
need indulge in no invective against
the deeds Of this man Gibson rs re-
lating to the health affairs of this
nation--those deeds are written in the
life blood Of the Hawaiian people, as
their best friends know-but, in the
name of God and humanity, We ask
that this work be stopped
What Mr. Gibson intended by his
mastery diplomatic home thrust at