The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-04-30
THE PLAGUE is STAYED.

LeIOay, wondering WHETHER ny any eNl
chance there might some case be re-
ported. 1t was practically impossible,
but, till the last moment, there was
trepidation in many hearts. AS fact,
there was no need of fear after the
twenty day, but our Board of
Health wisely continued to quarantine
till the full thirty days, to cover all
possible contingencies. 1t was then with
a long drawn sigh of relief that Homo
lulu awoke this morning and felt as
sured that all was safe.
Since December II, with one unfortu-
nate let up of a week in the early stage
OF the disease, the city has been in a
state of strict quarantine. The Board
of Health, under the generalship of DR..
Wood, determined to stamp out the dis
ease at all hazards, and the executive
came to it's assistance by calling the
Council of State together and obtaining
all the money needed for carrying Wig
Orous campaign. 1t has been carried
on, but as in all campaigns, however
well the plans may be laid, the element
of luck adds to success, and, as far as
stamping out the plague, luck favored
us. ,g iJ1t
1t was very early seen that unless
every portion of Chinatown, actually
infected, was destroyed and every por-
ton was disinfected, we might go on
fighting the plague indefinitely. The
district was therefore divided into Sec
tons, and as cases broke out in the
various sections, portions of them were
condemned, the inhabitants of the sec
section was condemned and ordered to
be burned. The people in the section
were removed to detention camps, and
there kept under strict medical inspec-
ton, and in perfect isolation. The
trouble was that, when a section was
condemned, the einhabitants of the sec
ton We're not all rounded up; some
managed to carry off their chattels and
themselves to other parts of the dis
trict, and even evaded the military
guard and got into the city.
The process was a slow one. There
was much discussion over each piece of
property condemned, and had the fight
gone on, on those lines, it seems very
doubtful whether the Board of Health
cleansing and condemnation under six
months, and it is still more doubtful
whether it's work would have been per-
fectly successful. But here the element
of chance came in. A rising wind and
couple of wooden steeples did in a few
hours what would have taken the Board
of Health months to carry out. China
town was swept off the earth from
Kukui street to the sea, and from Nuu-
anu street to the river bank.
1t seemed a terrible calamity, and it
was. An immense strain was thrown
upon the resources of the community.
Many thousands were homeless and lost
their all. Such a calamity in many an
other place ewould have called for as
sistance from without. But Honolulu
was isolated, and had to fight her fight
Single handed. Every one in the COM
munity turned to with a will. Clothes
were made, volunteers poured in to as
sist in distributing food, buildings were
offered as homes, everything was done
that could be done, and eventually the
whole difficulty was overcome. The
other Islands nobly came to our assist
ance with gifts of clothes and money.
But it was not nearly the calamity
that it seemed. The plague as an cpl
demic, ceased. Sporadic cases appear
ed growing fewer and fewer week by
week, and these being easily handled by
our authorities until they ceased alto
gether, then we set forth TO count the
days from the last case. During the first
fortnight of April there were many ru-
mors and scares, and we would be hope
full and then cast down. We passed the
fatefu thirteenth day; we breathed
anew. We passed the fifteenth; the
twenty-first and now, today, we are
proclaimed once more clean city and
free port. We can go and come as we
like, The immense strain upon all of us
has been relieved, and we can fervently
unite in the grateful words, THANK
Cod" and we have need for thankful
ness. It would be a proper thing for
the churches in our city to unite in a
gneral thanksgiving for the mercies
which have been vouchsafed u.s. We
might have suffered far more severely
from the scourge. Thank goodness we
have during the five months lost but
seventy-one lives. But for the work of
our Board of Health and the mercy of
the Almighty, we might have lost hum
dreds, and even thousands For our
pecuniary losses, we are a bustling, en-
ergetic community, and can overcome
that. Let us thank God for saving and
preserving our dear ones to us, and let
us unite in doing so