The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-01-30
THE DELEGATE TALKS.
Loebenstein's Views as State to a
Reporter OF the Advertiser.

al Advertiser reporter yesterday after
noon and, in reply 10 a number OF ques-
tions on his mission here and the sit
uation at Hilo. replied in substance as
follows:
Yes. l have read the account in this
mornings Advertiser giving the views
neId by the Board OF Health on the va
rious matters transacted by our Ha-
waii committee; its Illegal status. It's
usurpatiOn Of authority and numerous
ether infractiOns agains, the infalH-
biiity Of your national Board.
1t Is true that the nature of my re-
ceptiOn was such that 1 return To my
colleagues of the committee complete.
~ broken in spirit, and utterly annihi-
lated, feeling that my life would have
been an utter failure had 1t not been
for your artistic reproductions OF my
self, which will save me future photog-
raphers' expense-and of which /
have promised 10 donate a number to
the militant members OF the Board OF
Health In commemoration of their vie
tory in having done up Loebenstein.
Has this been a mere local agita-
tion? Ii depends on what you call 10
cal; the Board of Health is pleased to
call it so, and its representative, Mr..
Cooper, who was present in Hllo at the
time organization was effected. must
have forgotten the chain of events that
led up to the same, or else neglected.
for whatever reasons best known to
himself, to faithfully report them.
The true facts, however, are direct
/ Tw~ -. 4
pleased 20 interpret them. This COM
mittee consists of members elected as
such by the outside districts. each dis
trict having sent two delegates to rep
resent it at the general convention. To
say that these districts have repudiated
the actions of the committee is mis-
leading and malicious. Each member
is well and favorably known through
out the whole of the Island. and it was
because all felt that concerted action
was necessary that the personnel was
chosen from among those residing in
or near HilO. The Board is pleased to
term the acts of our committee as be-
ing in conflict with it's own regulations,
but on the matter of when, where and
how is discreetly silent. 1t prefers to
tilt at windmill in questioning the
validity OF the name and title assumed
in place of enunciating valid and logic
al reasons why authority should not
be delegated to a number of citizens
representing the peoples choice, whose
sole. aim and purpose is and has been
to minimize the many favorable dis
ease-breeding conditions lying dormant
throughout the Island of Hawaii. and
to which the average Honolulu citizen
is a stranger.
I'm other communities such a re-
quest (emanating from a source remote
from the springs of executive authori-
ty and handled by men devoting both
time and energy, conscientiously and
consistently, TO the public good. and
possessing the confidence of that pub
lic) would be hailed with q cordial re-
spouse: but unfortunately for those of
US whose lines have fallen in other
places than Honolulu. the leading
strings must be held taut and no free
dom OF action permitted. Because the
Board of Health finds unpalatable the
mere name adopted. deeming il an en-
croachment upon its own powers.
therefore a delegation of authority is
refused, and the people of HAWAII are
requested to await a time in patience
until disease shall break out in their
midst
Yes, the Island in many parts reeks
with filth and teens with nuisances.
Our committee thus far has had mere
ly the public at it's back; legally it has
no power to either condemn nuisances
or abate them. With an enormous
number of Asiatics employed on the
various plantations, and living in
many instances in utter disregard of
| hygienic or sanitary precautions. with
I out buildings for isOlating those under
disease and utterly devoid of even the
Icrudest appliances or material for flu
migatiOn or disinfection. there are
present all the conditions most favor
liable for the propagation of disease
with the ultimate result of havoc and
ruin, to which the present situation is
but of small moment
Yes. in a general way / have out
lined these facts in my two letters &c
the Board. but for reasons best known
to themselves they have not seen fit to
consider the Hawaii statement of the
case of sufficient consequence to the
public
'Of course the next Legislature is
presumed to indemnify 10 the full
amount, for all losses. claims and out
! lay incurred during this terrible cpl
| demic, and in the making up of the
necessary amount every Island and ev-
| cry district on each Island must as
sumo its proper quota. Our interest,
then, in rendering every assistance
possible to Honolulu, by the enactment
OF cOmmon-sense regulations and such
| further action as will not alone min
imize the financial and commercial loss
TO Honolulu but avert the danger from
| our own doors, being as great in one
| instance as the other, II seems to me
that the Board Of Health should take
a broad-minded view of things and not
seek TO discredit a worthy purpose by
a demagOgic appeal to district or local
prejudice, which. even If it did exist.
would not improve sanitary cOndi-
tons"