The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-01-03
WRITING ON THE WALL.

The accounts of the plague in Japan
must certainly keep quarantine officers
on this side of the Pacific very much
on the alert Very thoroughly no
doubt do the Federal Health authori-
ties look out against this foe. They
are our first line of defence, and the
various ports along the Pacific Coast
and our own demand the utmost care.
This we have every reason to believe
will be given. The Federal Health
officers are skilled in their profession,
are free from local prejudice and have
no other aim than to do the duty to
which they are appointed. The port
of Honolulu can feel safe under the
guardianship of DR.. Carmichael.
But if the Federal Health authori-
ties are our first line against the
plague from the East, our second line
is our own health authorities. Expert
ence has given these gentlemen a very
wholesome dread of the plague, and
they are ready to support the first line
TO the utmost,
What the local authorities should
primarily do is what they are doing,
viz: tackling the growing Chinatown.
The old Chinatown was bad enough,
but the new one promises to be worse.
At such a time, and with such a menace
almost at our threshold, constantly
lowering over every steamer that comes
from the Orient, possibly dormant in
some bale of goods or lying hid in a
box of mud packed eggs, or lurking in
Chinese pickles and sauces, there is
need of the greatest vigilance.
The Board of Health should ask itself
whether the building regulations orr
ginally framed have been carried out
or whether they have not be modified
to suit individuals or estates. 1t only
requires trip into new Chinatown
which commences from Kukui and
Nuuanu away into Palama, to find
complied with, and that vicious cute
methods have been employed to evade
them. If others have been weak, there
is no reason why the present board
should be weak. 1t is getting the re-
spect and backing of the public be-
cause it is strong, and it's strength lies
in the executive ability of its Presi-
dent.
The conditions of the Chinatown of
today are very different from the con-
ditions OF the Chinatown of the past.
The latter was built upon a coral foun-
dation in a great measure with an
overlayer of black sand and very
thin stratum of earth covering the
whole. Though the filth surroundings
were bad enough, as the committee of
investigation found when they began
TO examine intimately they We're not
so bad as the present surroundings in
the new Chinatown. This undoubtedly
will be challenged, especially by those
who read GEORGE Csrters ghoolish re-
port upon the subject, one of the most
realistic pieces of writing ever publish
ed here. 1t gave us truth, unadorned
and unchecked, as it was living side
by side with the rest of humanity and
IT was a gruesome picture
But there was this advantage in the
old Chinatown, the black sand and the
coral formed a natural drainage sys-
fem, and carried of much of that which
was injurious. Indeed had it not been
for this natural drainage we should
have had some kind of an epidemic
long before we did.
The new Chinatown on the other hand
has no such advantages. 1t is built up
on a deep alluvial soil, full of pockets
and hollows The filth, as it exudes
from the habitations, impregnates the
soil deeply, and any surplus filth which
the soil cannot take up makes its abode
in the pockets and hollows, which thus
become breeding places for disease. We
may confidently expect the condition
of the new Chinatown to be much worse
than was the state of old Chinatown
when it was destroyed in a very much
less space of time,
The complete cleaning of the city
and the keeping of it clean when
cleansed is one of the important mat
tiers of the present. We beat the
plague, at a terrible cost, it is true,
but we did beat it out and out. We
do not have any recurrence of plague
within our borders as they have in
Japan, Hongkong, India and Alexan-
dria. In this we showed hrmness and
self sacrifice. but we must not lose the
fruits of our victory and we are for
tunate in having those who will face
matters now, put them in order, and
not wait for an epidemic before they
act.