The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-05
THE PAUAHI STREET ISSUE.

The question of moving the evil re-
sorts on Pauahi street 10 some less
\ open and frequented quarter of the
city deserves more official study than
! it seems 20 be getting; or if not study
i II should call out more official earnest
ness in devising ways and means. We
are quite aware that the subject is an
unpleasant one and that removal is
fraught with difficulties. not the least
perpleXing Of which is the dissentient
attitude of the property-owners in any
locality which might be chosen as the
home of the social evil. Nevertheless
there are considerations higher than
these. The youth of Honolulu must be
protected as far as practicable from the
obtrusive presence of ruinous or con-
eliminating things. Pauahi street is
Just on main thOrOUghfare and il is
close TO populous school. Very many
children pass by il or through it daily
and they see and hear things there
which they should not have the oppor-
tunity to inquire about. or 10 know by
reputation. much less to study for
themselves. The interests of a few
prOperty-Owners ought not TO weigh
against those of the many young peo-
PIE who are now being trained 10 take
the responsibility of the social order.
Whatever happens to the minority in
the way OF lessened property values the
majority should be protected against
lessened decency and virtue. Besides, |
il had better be near the outlet than
at the source: and by needing the |
counsel of the few who own building |
sites in some quiet place where our
moral lepers might. but for their pro- I
tests, 20 and hide. from all but their /
own kind. thereby leaving such crea- /
lures TO heap their filth in the midst of .
the town. We simply poison the foun-
tain head of society.
The Japanese do such things better
than we. Standing on the bluff at Yo-
aohama and looking into the far
suburbs one sees a stately Enclosure
rising among the trees. 1t is the city's
YOshiwara. a consolidation within four
walls of many Pauahi streets-a place
where physicians and police keep
watch and ward and where children
ire never permitted 10 enter. We do
lot precisely advocate a Yoshiwara in
honolulu. The official tolerance of the
social evil is unpleasant enough with
'ut going further and building palaces
o house and advertise it. But the I'M
Terrifying principles of the Yoshiwara-
uburban segregation. careful policing
cial here. To the plea that the Act
o Mitigate would lose its force if the
ems of prostitution were taken to the
it is enough TO say that tho
apaneSe Yoshiwara is never so far
way from town that the people who
atroniZe such resorts will not take
he trouble to find it. Where the car
ass is there the eagles will be gather :
d together: the precise locality doesn't
natter to the eagles.
Ii is proposed by some of the advO-
ates of the transfer to locate the Pau
hi street dens on Government land be-
ween the railroad track and the road
D the reef. The Advertiser does not
are to pick and choose between locali-
les; it merely mentions this site to
how that there are suitable places |
-ithin easy proximity of the water /
ront and the business center which /
re yet at a considerable remove from $
chools, homes and the Fairgrounds OF I
hildren. As to choice, that is a mat q
ar for the Government or for its Q
ventual successor, the municipality. v
he point with us is to get very OBJ e
ious pest out of the place where il Z
oes the most harm and into some X
lace where it will do the least. +