The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-02-20
COUNCIL Or STATE


WIN lNf hilll 30 Wl4I a HnIIIH|I CONS
~ "a feip.ui.on ui The noafd oil
Health
Councillor Gear sald u would iak,
fn.f months Oh finish The present sew
~ system and Al least q ycnf ana =
half before the extended system could
be- done. Tie thought this was not III
much Of n necessity ne vac made out
lie believed In the sewers. but thor,
was not such n great rush M wal
claimed.
President Dole thought the matter
should be pushed, and II necessary a
larger number OF workmen put on.
Minister Damon said that II the
urgent matter was not attended to at
once the 3lst OF March wou a hnd the
contractAln a critical stage. He be-
lleved in passing the money.
Minister Cooper read the Joint reso-
luton and eaid II was his opinion that
President Mckinley applied the word
civil" to executive as well az legls-
lative Offices. Therefore authority
might be transferred. The authority
OF the Council Of State was a question
of fact and not opinion. The Council
has It's power conferred by law and
should take into consideration the
1 vi lnt I1OdTu
Health. The start should be made on
the work now; delay was dangerous.
The resolutions OF the Board of
Health and the Medical Association
should be considered as final. The sew
ers should be undertaken Immediate
| ly. The money should be appropriated
today. The nature of the plague made
action imperative.
| Prpaidpnt Dola introduced Dracidan+
Dr. Wood Of the Board of Health, who
said:
| This matter has come up six or
eight or ten times in the Board of
| Health. We all believe In extending
/ and finishing the sewers at once in
| order to successfully fight the bubonic
plague. There was no difference OF
opinion in the Board of Health. They
were right, and their opinion should
be taken. The plague was like the
Frenchman and his flea-you must
| catch the flea and then kill him. The
plague was harder than the flea to
catch. although as easy to kill when
found. For some reason, however, the
plague did not die easily under natural
conditions; there 1t would live and lin
ger after repeated efforts to suppress
1t. How long 1t would live in the soil
no one knew. How long after 1t will
pass through living bodies and retain
Its deadly poison we cannot at present
tell.
But we do know that the plague
gains foothold and holds it; 1t takes
hold OF the poor and the lower classes.
1t Is filth disease; there 1t flourishes,
and Its home is in the cesspools and
the slime; 1t fingers for years in
filthy soil, and IL the soil Is kept filthy
It remains piague-stricken for years.
In Honolulu we are polluting the soil
daily, and have been for years. This
must be stopped II we wish to stop the
plague. In the future the soil must not
be polluted, and the remedy must be
in the immediate construction of the
sewer system.
The cultures Of plague which /
brought from Kobe and Hongkong sew
eral years ago could not be kept by ar
tif1cial means very long; they soon
died. But under natural conditions in
Hongkong and Kobe the same plague
has existed. We have now a letter
that the plague is again about to be-
come epidemic in Hongkong. Every
year in Hongkong they think they
have suppressed 1t; but the next year
1t breaks out afresh. l tell you the
plague lives in Hongkong because it is
an insanitary city, and it will live in
Honolulu If we do not construct the
sewer systematic remedy--at once.
With our best efforts l will not feel
safe here for year after the plague
has disappeared. If we continue to pol
lutte the soil We will continue TO have
the plague. Wherever there is plague
you will find insanitary conditions.
Once year the flooding rains clean
the filth out of the streets of Hong
kong; then the plague ceases for
while, but it turks in the city, and
soon breaks out again.
a plague patient is not dangerous, !
comparatively speaking. Plague is an
infectious disease, but not dangerous
unless carelessly handled or caught |
from the soil; it is in the soil the dan
ger lies. Once the soil is infected the |
rats become dangerous; they die, but |
not all of them, and they carry the
plague to new districts. New genera
tons of rats come in and these catch |
the plague from the infected. ground. |
Sometimes the rats are sick for three I
or four weeks before the people of the /
district are taken sick.
The case or the girl OF today is sug-
gestive; she lived in house just back
Of the first house where the patient l
died. The germs had prob
ably lived in the ground. wish to re-
mind Mr.. Gear that 1t is better to be
one and half years in getting rid of
the plague in the proper way than to
have 1t here ten years. 1t is impera-
tive that no delay be made. The plague
Is not like the cholera, which contain
mated the water; that could be hand
led. The plague takes to the soil
through the excrement; the soil be-
comes polluted, and. II already filthy
becomes the home of the disease. Then
t stays. II the Council errs let them
,rr on the right side and vote to clear
he Islands OF plague. They certainly
lave the authority to do this: 1t is not
low question OF technicality.
Councillor Isenberg seconded Mr..
Achi's motion to pass the bill.
Councillor Robertson asked II the
Government was satisfied with Her.
ng's plans. His system had been
criticized; was II the proper thing to
adopt for Honolulu. He favored q
sewer system, but not necessarily Her