The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1892-06-21
SEGREGATION OF LEPERS.

the lepers was authorized and en-
forced by law. The Leper Settle
ment on Mookai is established for
the benefit of the healthy population,
that is, to remove from the clean the
danger of contamination, and in con-
sequence the community bears the
expenses necessary to the mainten-
ance Of the asylum.
If, Notwithstanding the existence
of the leper colony, portion of the
healthy continues the intercourse
with the lepers, the establishment in
Molokai becomes in proportion use
less, and the liberal sums spent on
its maintenance are thrown away in
proportion.
The isolation of the lepers in the
Settlement has become very loose.
The pretext, "to please the poor and
unfortunate lepers," has introduced
in the colony a too soft, too easy
management: but who is acquainted
with the institution must acknow-
ledge that the authorities cannot pre-
vent all unlawful intercourse as long
as the kamaainas are owners of GER
tain pieces of land where outsiders
can stay unmolested.
Perhaps part segregation is better
than none hut does it denote sane
charity to continue this easy dealing
with this dreadful disease which has
claimed its victims among us by the
thousands over quarter of Gen.
tury? Heart-aching, as it may be,
and cruel, as it may appear, let us
be earnest for some years in our es-
say to stamp out the disease, or let
US have no segregation at all. Strict
er isolation costs no more, and with
it 'the country would probably have
saved a million of dollars, to say
nothing of the sacrifice of human life
and the woe attendant thereon. y
Rept. B. of II. 1890, p. 5.
The many ways by which the isol-
alton is infringed can be found in
the reports of the Board of Health to
the different legislatures, and un-
doubtedly in the report of this year
too; therefore | enter into no details
but one. ] deem it timely to call
the attention especially to the chill
dren born in the settlement.
Since the beginning of this institu-
.tlon, lawful and unlawful cohabitation
of men and women has been in pro-
cess by the patients. During past
years when fierce kind of leprosy
was raging, the fruit of such cohabi
tation was comparatively rare. New
ertheless, "there were March 81,
1890, 40 children in the settlement
showing no symptom of the disease;
Is males and % females" Rep. of
B. of H. 1890, p. l16. The contag-
iousness of leprosy accepted, the
presence of these children in the cen
ter of contagion deserves the severest
blame. Incipient cases of leprosy
mixed with advanced ones is GER
tainly bad sight, and often the wish
has been expressed of having them
separated. But after all are not
both doomed? Here are apparently
healthy children living in nearest
contact with all sorts of lepers, and
is there not one influential man
moved with compassion TO save these
children? Are they here as sacri-
fees to the Moloch of leprosy? And
who then is the sacrificator?
Another reflection regarding chill
dren. 1t is with great satisfaction
that state that, last year and since,
only few very bad cases of leprosy
have been sent here; the disease
seems to undergo change for the
better. But may it be known that
during the year 1891, as far as l
could ascertain, twenty-five children
have been born in the settlement
| (those of kamaainas not counted) 7
boys and girls of parents both
lepers; 4 boys and 5 girls of parents
one being a leper. The milder
the cases of leprosy sent here
the greater the probability of an in
crease of births in the settlement.
The consequence of this numerous
offspring of the lepers in the settle
ment may be new outbreak of the
disease in the future.
Half measures procrastinate only
the extinction of the disease, which
gains time to spread among the heal
thy population, and so year by year
leprosy swallows its victims by the
hundred and the gold of the country
by the thousand.
Sane compassion, unselfsh charity
toward the afflicted in Molokai,
justice and charity toward the heal
thy population, but to sacrifice the
community by loose segregation to
please the lepers, and to ask the COM
munity to pay for it, means injustice
and cruelty to the one and no Eelp to
the other.
One of the best ways the authori.
ties could show their good will to.
ward the people in Molokai would be
to grapple with the disease. Looking
over the reports of the Board of Health
to the Legislative Assembly one can.
not help reading between the lines 8
want of earnest will to heal or tc
alleviate the disease. One thing after
the other has been tried and as soon