The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-04-01

! hauon; that 1T was on the street: that
more than a hundred people knew it,
! lhat IL would be around in the morning
anyway In the form of rumors and that
the proprietor of one of the papers had
stated that the matter was to be pub
lshed and not ignored. The suggestion
Tor statement over the signatures of
the members of the Board of Health
came from the representatives of the
press. They stated they would withhold
ipubl1cation of any other matter provided
we would furnish them statement over
our own signatures, of the actual condi-
tons The Board of Health considered
the matter carefully, the statement was
prepared carefully, and they signed it.
/ the idea being to assure the community
tpat there was not epidemic; that
they had the matter fully in hand, and
to state plainly to them that there was
merely suspicious case. For that the
Board has been abused; members of the
BOARD, personally, by people who did not
understand it or did not care to under
stand it, and it has also been abused and
m1srepresented by one of the newspapers
OF the City, at least: / will say, two.
There was no abuse in the third paper
but misstatement of facts. throwing
blame on the Board for having made any
statement whatever without having first
4 confirmed it. No positive statement was
made by the Board, can be seen by
any one who will carefully read the pa
pers of Friday morning. They will see
that it was intended to give information
to the public of an authentic nature.
Governor Dole: I understand in San
Francisco the newspapers agreed not to
publish anything on the subject when
there was plague there. do not sup
pose that is possible here; it is not the
way We have been accustomed to do. We
have been frank with the public, but
would it not be ag God plan If the news
papers would only agree to it, don't
know but what they would-to take all
their information from the Board, and
for the Board to agree to furnish them
with such Information when there is
! anything furnish and that they will
publish nothing else. I think if that
agreement could be arrived at it would
be very good thing; it would be the
best thing that we could reach.
Mr.. w. G. Smith: Mr.. Chairman, as I
was present at the interview the other
nigh presenting one of the papers, I
sho7 i like to say something on the side
of ''ia- press of our connection with it.
b leaving the office wrote an edi-
to- on. the events of Friday night,
J ng it in my pocket, wishing to con-
J with some of you gentlemen with re-
- 4 to it. 1t touches some of the points
in controversy, and with your permission
j / should like to read it, saying that it
is an editorial that is subject to revision
possibly, and some of the points might
be profitably discussed here.
QIere followed the editorial printed
elsewhere in this issue)
now, gentlemen, we We're not disposed
to make a sensation of this matter Had
we wished to inuulge in yellow journal
ism, we surely had the opportunity, and
we had plenty of material for the pur-
pose. Instead of that, we asked for a
calm impartial statement from the
Board of Health which, as we say, would
take the matter beyond the realm Of
conjecture. Now, there are many corre-
spondents here of the Eastern press, of
the Coast press, who are paid by the
space they occupy, paid by the column,
and who will write whether the press
here keeps silent or not. The CORE
spondents, most of whom are not known
to the public as correspondents will
have their say, and it will be here like
at San Francisco: the news was kept ST
lent there, but the Sacramento papers
the New York papers, the Honolulu pa
pers, all had the news and printed If.
Now, I think I can say, for our end Of
it, the Advertiser, at least 1t is willing
TO do all it can to keep this town from
being hurt. 1t has not yet made any
sensation of the matter and I do not
| think it will have any reason to mako
a sensation of it hereafter. We cannot
answer for the correspondents. We think
| a reasonable publication of the news ls
best; 1t causes people to watch their
servants condition, to keep an eye on
their neighbors, and it puts everybody on
the qui vive for case of suspicious sick
ness. I offer these simply as points of
view of the press and ask you. are they
not reasonable?
Mr.. Rhodes: Mr. Chairman, may I be
permitted? Something has been said
here that the San Francisco papers kept
the plague quiet, said nothing about 1t,
that that was their attitude. Now that
was not the whole attitude of the San
Francisco press or of San Francisco. The
attitude there was this: There were
cases which the Board Of Health there
declared to be plague Not only the
newspapers of San Francisco, but the
Chamber Of Commerce and every public
and quasi public body joined in the con-
spiracy to bulldoze and did bulldoze the
Board of Health until they were unable
TO find any more plague cases and
there has been no epidemic there or no
possibility for the newspaper to say any
thing about plague because the Board of
Health could not find any, they did not
dare to.1t was not conspiracy of silence
because, as Mr.. Smith has pointed out, the
conspiracy or silence was bound to iail.
Not only the agencies that he has spoK-
lulu paper, the New York and all otne.
N papers, and there are 100000 people in
San Francisco. a great many of whom
can write, a great many of whom did
write and a great many of whom wrote
TO Honolulu to persons here that there
was plague. I myself have received let
ters and seen others which stated that
there were on an average a half dozen
cases Of plague a day in San Francisco.
Tt is the same here: there are 10000 peo-
pie here and a large number of them can
write. Supposipg the newspapers here
said nothing. and the correspondents OF
whom Mr.. Smith has spoken said norh-
ing, what would be the result? The very
next steamer will take anywhere from
fifty to five hundred letters, every one
of them viii tell about the plague, and
people, too. going. Every one of, those
letters viii find publicity somewhere fei.h-
er through San Francisco or the pa oers
big or little or by word Of mouth scat
tered around. and the conspiracy of 81
lence here or in San Francisco, or any
bther place, must fail: and the smaller
the place, the more impossible the con-
spiracy of silence San Francisco han