The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-02-24
vo1c4 OF THE PRESS.
What Other Local Papers Say About
The Board

|
Following are the comments of the
Star on the failure of the Board OF
Health to burn the Hotel stables as it
has burned other infected property:
1t is unfortunate that this change of
heart should have come upon the Board |
at the time when the destruction in
volved property in which certain
wealthy and influential firms were in
terested. The effect upon the minds
of people like the Chinese and Japan |
csc who have lost their all for the good |
of the community will naturally be to |
render them antagonistic and dlstrust- |
full of the Board of Health. Where the |
property has belonged to people of no
great weight there has been no heslta-
ton in destruction, and it is inevitable
| that people who see hesitation when
the Pantheon stables and the Hotel
stables are in question will naturally
| think that there must be influence"
at work.
| The whole of the Board of Health
should not be censured-for milorl-
ty is in favor of treating the stables in
the same manner as other places have
been treated. President Woods posi-
ton, however, is peculiarly llloglcal.
He has stated that all stables are In
sanitary and open to suspicion, ana
therefore the case of the Hotel stables,
responsible for two deaths, is peculiar
| ~ dangerous, more so than the case or
the Boardman house, which was IN
good sanitary condition, and yet the
Boardman house was burned.
Mr.. CanaVarro points out another in
consistency in the Boards conduct.
Clean Portuguese were put into
building which at present is quaran-
tined, and which a first gang OF men
was placed in quarantine for having
been exposed to. 1t is an extraordinary
method of working and certainly de-
mands explanation. That there will be
explanation we all hope, because we all
feel the absolute necessity OF giving
: loyal support to the Board. But the
l | citizens are not enlisted men to be or
q dered on their work blindly; they must
{ see why they are told to do things and
: hey must be convinced that those who
!. are conducting the campaign against
/ plague are acting in good faith and
, from proper motives.
AS long as the Board is consistent, as
long as it shows neither fear nor favor
Y it will have the support and the assist
i ance of the citizens, but when 1t begins
/, to vacillate, when it begins to be tlmld
when it shows favor by bowling to pres
} sure brought upon it by wealth, by in
d fuence or by fraternities, that instan
y the Board ceases to have the supper
u of a united city. DR.. Wood has tod II!
: in the past that there has been com
II mercial pressure brought to beal
upon him with regard to the shipping
of goods. The whole community ap
plauded him when he stood firm.
e 1t must be kept in mind that the San
K itary Committee with its Inspector
y and it's sub-inspectors has spent
. great many hours in uncongenial work
= and that the citizens have acquiescet
- in the inspection with the idea that tn
= Board of Health was doing it's part il
- being determined and fearless in car
rying out the policy which it had an
: nounced, and which it has carried GU
:, not only in Honolulu, but in Kahulu
= and in Hilo. To go back upon tina
= policy is really to deceive the men VIII
7 have loyalty supported it.
The mention of Hilo calls attention
to the fact that in the case of the Por
"a tuguese woman who died in that town
- it is not absolutely certain that sh
20 died of plague, but there was no hesl
- tation about burning the house L
which she had been living and putin
the whole of Hilo town in quarantine
In the case of the Hotel stables Their
~ has not only been hesitation abou
burning, but there was actually hesita
le ton about even putting them in quar-
l antine. For twenty-four hours Q
re more after the plague patient had Gle
at business was carried on as usual. 1t
le. certainly one of the most extraordinar
m, actions on the part of the Board an
as must have an explanation. Why ha
NO it lost its backbone suddenly?
to A Sharp Criticism.
gs Following are the expressions of ii
les Independent:
While we should sincerely regr'
the destruction of the Hotel stable
we are III duty bound to say that
those stables are a plague center the
-, should not be treated differently fro
-'0 any other infected property. We vi
es- not discuss the reasons why DR.. WOO
on and Mr.. Hatch have suddenly got co
he feet and changed their "burn-it-doWl
nat policy, but we can assure them tn
of they have not gained the confidence
The the community by their vacillatlnS d
m. ton, and they are openly accused
lb- showing IdNOTltlSm ana even VI oOAA
tn thing worse. Even if a great corpor
my ton is interested in the stables,
ave think that the same measures shou
aey be taken as have been adopted els
II | where. The treatment from begl
ion ming to end on the Hotel stables ma
The ter by the Board of Health is not
In credit to the members of the boal
ed. and the Citizens Sanitary Commit
ink has made many friends by the tea.l
be stand taken by it against the Board
Health. We hope that the no
stables can be saved, but good reaso
must be advanced to show why an
the emption to the former rule has De
80 adopted and the Board of Health Z
chosen to set a precedent which
VINO be remembered when the next CO
the breaks out.
ION
MI THE BULLETINS CONVICTION
of
lew Brilliant Flashes of Silence by