The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-04-15
STOP THE IMMIGRATION.

by the Kinai Maru. one of TWO
conclusions must be accepted !;
either the'health officials Of Japan
or the officials of the steamship
company have been guilty of neg
ligence, OF the world is about 70 be
surprised by a new medical dis
cOyeTy-that the period of incu-
bation for small pox is % days in
stead of II. OF course we appre-
ciate the delicacy of the position.
In this day and generation, when
medical theories are being turned
tOpSy turvy, the. officers of trans
Pacific steamers ought to have
show. We would not have their
opinions regarded lightly, or pass
ed by as of no account. In fact
the Kinai Maru case is of such Il
serious nature, that every single
theory advanced and every single
statement offered as statement
of fact should be sifted to the bot
tOm-and if there are any false
bottoms even the bottom should
be sifted.
There is plenty of law that can
be brought TO bear in stirring the
"nigger" that seems to be slowed
away in the last immigrant wood
pile. Now the laws were not put
on the books to look at; they were
not put there to be overlooked
by any officer or collection of of
ficers who become so absorbed in
the beauties of Hawaii that their
memory is displaced by their for
gettery. The quarantine laws
were made to be enforced and if
this Government lets the Kinai
Maru case slip by without investi-
CATION, the quarantine regula-
tons might as well be wiped out
of existence and the country
handed over to Japan. First let
the steamship company prove its
innocence and then there will be
time enough TO deal with the new
medical theory.
The laws of Hawaii provide
that any vessel (which shall be
the means of clandestinely intro
ducing into these Islands any con
tagious disease, or any disease
dangerous to public health, shall
be liable to- seizure. cOnfiscatiOn
and sale for the benefit of the
public treasury" This is all
right so far as it goes, but it has
yet to be proved that the Kinai
Maru can be dealt with under this
law. The officers are supposed To
be innocent until their guilt is
proved. This is a problem for the
Board of Health and the legal
lights of the country to work out.
The pathway for them TO follow is
clearly mapped and the people of
this country expect them to lose
no time in getting at the inside
facts.
But what is TO be done mean
while? 1t will take Il year and Il
day TO settle the case now IN
hand, and if the reports are to be
credited. we may expect other
immigrant ships TO show up in
the offing almost any day.
What guarantee has this Govern
ment that the next immigration
ship will not repeat the history
of the Kinai Maru? 1t has none,
absolutely none-frOm Japan or
any other country. We have seen
that the object of the steamship
companies is to land their passen
gers.
But the Government can en-
force a guarantee rs will be seen
by the following: Section Is of
the "Act relating TO quarantine
powers" passed in 1896, reads:
Whenever it shall be shown To
the satisfaction of the President
that by reason of the existence of
any infectious or contagious dis
ease in any foreign country, there
is serious danger of the intrOduc-
ton of the same into the Hawai-
ian Islands, and that nOtwith-
standing the quarantine defense.
this danger is so increased by the