The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1896-04-10
An ACT TO MITIGATE.
Subject Thoroughly Discussed
by Physicians.
WOULD BE WRONG TO REPEAL.
Prostitution MSr Be Checked-Law
Might Be More stringent = More

At the meeting of the Board o.
Health on Wednesday, President W. o
Smith announced that he had invited
several members of the Legislature tC
be present, in order that they might
ihear the opinions of the members OF
the Board on the proposal TO repeal the
Act to Mitigate.
Rep. Bond, chairman of the House
committee to whom the new Act was re-
ferred, said he would be glad to hear
anything the physicians might have to
! say.
In response to a question by the pres
| ident, DR.. Day said he had decided OBJ
! jections TO any change being made that
would abandon the law. 1t was as nee
/ eSsary here under the circumstances as
anything else on the statutes. Last year
we had an epidemic of cholera, which
cost a great deal of money to stamp
out, and the lives of sixty-eight per-
sons. If the reports were examined
am confident more than that number
die every year here of syphilis. There
are five women in the hospital today be-
ing treated for syphilis, and sent there
through this very Act to Mitigate. If it
were not for that those women would
be transmitting the disease to men in
the community. do not think the NOR
ais of Honolulu or any other community
can be improved by statute; it must be
| by some other way"
DR.. Wood conceded with DR.. Day.
The Act could have no effect upon the
morals of the community. 1t does not
make women prostitutes, nor does it
send men into their houses. When there
is better law, repeal this one. Il OBJ
ject to tearing down the old house until
the new one is ready to occupy"
DIR. Emerson opposed repeating the
law, even though it be poor one; it is
better to have it than to have none at
all. AS to the moral side of the ques-
ton, all that has been said is in favor
! of it. Disease does not improve the
morals OF community, and diseased
child is more apt to be law-breaking
person than one who is healthy"
Thee. F. Lansing thought the doctors
had expressed the thing clearly. He
did not see how the morals of the COM
munity can be improved by taking stat
utes from the books. Every man who
has a mother, wife or sister can do
great deal in missionary work among
men who live with women and are not
married TO them. Illegitaimate children
are born TO these people and taken into
society. If this very thing was frowned
down, he believed the standard of NOR
ais would be elevated. He had not stud
led the question carefully, but as far as
he had gone he had failed to see where
any good can be done by repeating the
Act.
DR.. Wood said much of the disease
from such causes comes from unregis-
tered women. Repeal the Act and you
will have 10 more on the streets to
spread the disease"
R. w. Myers though that prostitution
could not be stopped, and it was better
to make the evil as light as possible.
If the Act TO Mitigate had been passed
ten years before it was there would be
$4,000 more Hawaiians here than there
are.
Rep. Rycroft stated that he had
conversation with Dr. McKibbin on the
subject, and had learned from him that
Tor whole year, owing to shortage in
the appropriation the law was not in
operation, and the increase in venereal
disease was large.
In answer to a question as to the
probable result of repeating the law,
DR.. Wood gave it as his opinion that the
women would go into privacy and ply
their trade. The men who solicit for
them now would do so then, and he
would like to suggest that severe meas
ures against solicitation be adopted.
Minister Smith-The whole agitation
at this time has been through the Adj
yertiser. The situation was worse a
year ago, because the women solicited.
That was stopped and they afterward
sat in the windows. That was stopped
Then they had lace curtains as a sign,
and when that was made known by the
newspapers it was stopped.
T. F. Lansing thought the evil as diff
ficult to control or regulate as taxation.
People in other countries have tried for
years to stop it, without effect. So far
as the agitation goes, with the exeep-
iton of one class mentioned, he en-
dorsed what the Advertiser has printed
concerning the condition of affairs.
DR.. r. p. Myers said that through the
enforcement of the Act the health of
the prostitutes here was better than
with the same class of women in any
city in the world.
Replying TO a question by Senator
Baldwin, the president, w. o. Smith,
said the percentage of Japanese women
registered was growing larger and Ha-
waiians less.
EXECUTORS NOTICE TO CREDIT