Morris tribune., 1899-09-09
IS LEPROSY CHECKED
HAWAIPS DREAD PLAGUE DISCUSSED
BY A HAWAIIAN.

Island Authorities Hope, Isut Are Not
Sure, That They Have 1t Under Con
troll at Last-I.ife in the CoIony-Re-
garding 4nfectiOusness.
Hawaiian authorities sincerely be-
lieve that they have fought leprosy to
a standstill. They base this belief on
the fact that few or no lepers under
middle age are now discovered. The
young leper is only occasionally found.
A few years ago it was not so. When
the plan of segregating the sufferers
from their kind and sending them to
the colony on Molokai to live was put
into operation, the discovery of young
victims was comparatively common.
Now. if no more youthful cases are
found it is perfectly obvious that the
complete stamping out of the disease
will be only question of time. 1t Is,
of course, unnecessary to state that no
person in Hawaii cherishes any hope
more earnestly than the hope that the
spread of the disease has at last been
definitely stopped
The 1eper colony contained LII per-
sons on certain date not long ago,
and the population thereof is gradually
though very slowly increasing. The
number of persons known to be leprous
in the colony is not increasing, how
ever, but the reverse, the decrease by
death more than offsetting the increase
by newly discovered cases. The in
crease of population comes from the
births. An attempt was made some
years ago to prevent the marriage of
lepers. 1t was not successful, however,
and many children have been born of |
these marriages. Whether they will
surely be lepers is not yet settled.
Many Of them are now apparently as
healthy as any one. The boys and
girls are kept separate, are educated
and we'll cared for. The dread of
leprosy felt by these young people is
very marked, as a matter of course
They aid the authorities in the work
of fighting 1t to the extent of their
ability by keeping entirely apart from
those known to be tainted. This is
rendered quite easy by the. fact that
the quarters of the youngsters are sew
eral miles from the homes.of the adult
sufferers. The colony, you must under
stand, covers territory at least ten or
aleven miles long and half as many
wide, or more at one point.
The leper colony, by the way. is
little world of itself. The colonists are
much like other human beings. They
engage in various occupations and
have a social life of their own. They
even publish newspapers. There was
a time when the lepers were allowed
to have certain small amounts of
money in their possession. This has
been stopped, however because it was
found that they would gamble it away,
and all the money in the colony speed
lily found its way into the pockets of a
few.
Everything possible is done to make
the life of the children in the colony as
bearable as may be. Every now and
again sn appeal is published in the
newspapers for the raising Of money
to buy them something which they
lack, and such an appeal never fails OF
its object. The boys have two bands,
and their instruments and the uni
forms which they wear were sent to |
them as the result of private subscrip-
tions in Honolulu, and the pleasure to
the young girls in the colony has been
esnecially looked after in many ways.
1T is not easy for strange newspaper
men to visit the colony. In fact, no one
can obtain permit to do so unless he
is touched for as 4 person who will not
write in too yellow" vein concerning
WHIT he aces thcre.