The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-05-22

garments, and by more general desire
to adapt themselves with intelligence to
the changed order, circumstances and
condition Of things, which are beneh-
Gently and happily remolding the char
acter OF a people 50 recently issuing .
from a rude state of semi-barbarlsIn.'
The report continues: There Is no /
longer that Indifference to their physical /.
condition and the surroundings OF their
homes which was a marked feature OF
Hawaiian life until within the last de-
cade, or prior to the accession Of King
Kalaukaua to the throne OF Hawaii
In other respects there appears
to be every reasonable hope that the
condition Of the people being improved,
the life OF the nation under Gods provi
dence will be happily prolonged"
These quotations from Mr.. Gibson's
report are in unison with the reports OF
the medical officers which are appended.
The latter state that the children born OF
Hawaiian parents are now healthy and
Of good physique; that the influence OF
ing; and that on the whole leprosy APP
pears to be on the decrease.
1t is, of course, impossible to discuss
such a wide range of subjects as are
opened by this admirable report; but it
may perhaps be eXcusable if we add
some reflections of our own which appear
to us to indicate line OF policy looking
to the preservation of the Hawaiian
people. The report of the President of
the Board of Health, and the reports OF
the physicians and lay officers of the de-
partment, all point to improved SANTA
ton as the only and last hope OF the
native race. If they can pass through
the abrupt transition from a simple prim
tive life to the artificial habits and re-
fnements of civilization, they will assert
their vitality, and add TO the dominant
races Of the world Il new and valuable
strain of blood. They are just now in
the midst OF the struggle for existence,
and are being borne down by variety of
adverse influences which wise legislation
and a vigorous administration mag
modify beneficially, although not wholly
remove. The preservation of the native
race is the problem the Board of Health
has set before itself, and it is the avowed
policy of the present Administration,
and above all of the Sovereign. On
crease the Nation" is the declared pur
pose Of the King and his Ministers. But
how
The report we are considering shows
that the schoolmaster and physician are
doing noble work to that end but it
likewise shows that there is Il counter
acting agent which, by hourly example
and personal intercourse, proves an
almost fatal barrier to the increase of the
nation and the preservation of the native
race. We allude to the excessive dis
proportion of the male population,
chiefly Chinese adults, to females, and
the disgustingly filthy habits OF the Chi
nese viewed from a sanitary standpoint.
If the native people are to be preserved
this disproportiOn of the sexes must be
changed. In all vigorous, dominating
races, at the fountainhead of the stock,
females predominant. 1t is universal
law of nature. Here natural race condi
tons do not exist and our rulers must
face this problem and solve it if they are
to accomplish the noble and heroic task
they have set before themselves.
Not less disastrous to the native people
is the perpetual example of Chinese de-
fance of those sanitary rules which the
Board of Health and its officers are in
culcating. Example is better than pre-
cept" in this as in all other cases, and
we doubt not the truth of this will pre-
sent itself to the minds of those specially
charged with the health and well-being
of the native Hawaiians. 1t is not for us,
however, to outline Il policy for the
country; it is sufficient to suggest the
direction in which ultimate success very
evidently lies. If, however, mere con-
siderations of immediate profit from the
labor of "uneducated muscle" are to pre-
vail there is nothing more to be said.
Existing conditions will not be anchor
ated. On the contrary, the strain will
be gradually frightened until the native
race must disappear, despite the honest
efforts of those who trust to physic and
the schoolmaster to arrest their decay.