The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-02-23

PLAlN NFULtCf Or DUI II.
What is the pull which leads the
Board Of Health to neglect its duty
to wards the Hotel stables? All sorts of
theories are advanced, both fraternal
and commercial, but the true one may
not have been reached One thing is
certain: the Board is disregarding the
obligations to the public which it mark
ed out weeks ago and abided by with
scrupulous care and zeal up to the time
when it took hold of the Pantheon
problem. Then it began to bubble and
it is quibbling now. Why?
The hour is here for plain words.
For some time after the plague began
the people of Honolulu were not dis
posed TO think we'll of the Board of
Health which had spent an enormous
sum OF money and yet had left the city
in state of unexampled nastiness. 1t
had even neglected the fumigation of
incoming Oriental steamers in fifty per
cent. of the cases in hand. The plague
passed it's inspectors unrecognized and
lodged ashore. There was public de-
mand for radical action. With the ad-
vent of Dr. Wood as President there
came a policy for the better and the
public, content to let bygones be by
cones, made way for a programme of
heroic remedies. Fires and detention
camps were started and the progress of
the pestilence was checked. The result
was such as to reconstitute the Board
in public favor and it has had the I'M
swerving support of the public until
the Pantheon case arose. The reluctant
and hating action in that case gave
the public fervor a chill. Now comes
the Hotel stables departure from prin-
ciple and precedent, and it is seriously
proposed on the streets to get up public
meetings and demand that the Board
abide by it's previously adopted rules
and do its duty.
Having done so much good work it
is painful to see the Board paltering
and equivocating now. The Hotel
stables have as much infection in them
as had any of the houses burned by
order Of the Board since December 18th.
More cases have been connected with
them than with either the Boardman,
Roth or Robertson premises. The ground
under the stables is open and subject to
pollution. The place Is lair OF rats;
1t contains, moreover, the portable
property of the Pantheon stables where
three plague cases developed. On half
that evidence more than 100000 worth
of buildings have been premeditatedly
fired. Numerous houses in which there
had been no plague were burned
on suspicion, as, for example house
where Mrs. Franz had made call be-
fore she was taken i'll and the Chinese
store near her residence. Yet when il
comes to dealing with stables in the
heart Of town and near the principal
hotsl-stables where two plague vic
tins were employed and where one o.
them slept, the Board of Health re
II aims AlOlh oIAlhlhS q hhdtSh anu e1ohi
for proof that the place is infected; Z
request which bellies the code of SAM
tary principles which it once espouseC
and has been living up to until lately
The public has right to ask a rea
son for this change of policy, and IL
default of a good one, to demand tina
the Board proceed promptly with tn,
radical measures in the enforcement o
, which alone the people will be protect
ed and content.