The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-04-23
RUMOR.

Some people seem to take a wicked
pleasure in circulating reports about
plague cases. On Saturday some I'M
scrupulous rascal circulated a report OF
plague, and in q few moments half
the town was besieging the health office
to know the truth of the report The
medical authorities and the newspapers
at once started out to trace the matter
up, with the result that it was discover
ed to be the veriest canard, which had
been set afloat "as a joke" 1t was a
very, very poor Joke" and were the
"joker's" name published he would find
himself learning that such kind of a
Joke" is resented by the community
at large.
Again, yesterday, there was a similar
rumor going round the streets in the
morning, and meeting the people as
they assembled at the church doors.
This was founded upon the fact that
there had been a sudden DEATH but one
would think that before circulating a
rumor about plague, the people who
circulated it would take care to have
some basis of authority.
The facility with which rumors are
| circulated in the Islands is a pecu-
| liarity Not long ago it was stated on
| Hawaii that Bob Scott had died of
/ plague, and an obituary notice of him
appeared in a Hilo paper, which he
must have pasted in his scrap book. A
couple of years or so ago the runner
] u 10
died, and the Honolulu papers published
obituary notices of that gentleman, who
/ has since exercised his judicial func-
lions with considerable vigor.
/ 1t was only the other day that pas
senger on the Australia, announced, for
Joke" that Harold NJ. Sewall was
/ appointed governor. The rumor mon
/ gers never paused to think that no APP
/ pointment would be made until the bill
had passed, but the rumor was passed
from mouth to mouth until it appear
cd in very full detail, one particular
Ananias stating that the had seen the
appointment.
| Again, yesterday, there was a rumor
that Lahaina mill had been burned
down by striking Japs. Investigation
proved that there no truth in the mat
ter.
The success of these rumors depends
upon their possible probability. Some
times they are the result of misinfor-
nation and misunderstanding, some
times of hasty generalization, and
sometimes, like the plague rumor of
Saturday, are to be charged TO direct
falsehood. The Hawaiian Islands are
not the only place where rumors run
riot. In the early ffties the whole
military force of Siberia was put in
motion on account of a rumor that
there was a rising of the Tartars. Their
numbers We're put down at a couple Of
hundred thousand, and horse, foot, and
artillery were promptly concentrated on
the River Irish to meet them The
rumor arose from the escape of a dozen
or so Persian prisoners from the mines
Every country is full of rumors Ev-
cry age has had its crop of rumors.
Better communication and the electric
telegraph have done much to put an
end to rumor, though they sometimes
disseminate it quicker and to a wider
extent. How to deal with rumor is a
hard problem. Sometimes it is spread
in perfect good faith; sometimes it is
absolutely malicious. But the rumor
spread in perfect good faith may be
more hurtful than the malicious rumor
AS long as the human race has the
power of speech and of Imagination as
long as it has the unmathematical pro-
clivity Of adding two and two together
and making five out of the combination,
so long will rumor spread from mouth
to mouth and influence mind and mind.
Exercise as much care as we may, be as
cynical and unimaginative as we may,
rumors will have their effect upon the
strongest minded among us. Rumor is
an insidious foe, and it is hard to keep
it out, even by the best of safeguards.