The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-04-12


portions the men of the tropics are the
superiors OF the men of the temperate
zones. one has only to think of the
we'll developed and well nourished
denizens of the tropics to see the fall
acy of the following:
IF we wish to know the effects of the
poor diet of the tropics combined with
The effects OF the heat, we have only
to look at the inhabitants of these
countries. AS a general rule they are
thin, poorly built, and unfit for intel
lectual or physical labor"
Another argument use by DR.. Semele-
der runs as follows:
Even the foods which are produced
are insufficient in amount, so that the
least interference with the annual crops
results in famines as is the case in
India today. Indeed, India has always
been the land of fabulous riches of a
few and of famines of the millions. I'm
til recently i'm the cold countries there
were none of fabulous wealth and but
few famines."
To any one who has made any his
torical study it is well known and prov
not caused because portions of it are
within the tropics, but because the in
habitants have for centuries and prob
ably for aeons destroyed the country.
India has been denuded of it's forests,
hence it's water supply is variable, 1t
depends upon the rains, instead of hav-
ing a large storage capacity. The fam
ines of India are by no means due to
it's being a tropical country, they are
due to economic causes. Moreover, fam
ines, that is a shortage of food sup
ply, are by no means confined to tropi-
cal countries. At the present time there
is a terrible famine in the South East
ern portion of European Russia. Not
long ago there was a terrible famine in
China. Neither of these are tropical
countries. Within hundred years or
so famines were common all over the
continent of Europe. One feels almost
ashamed of arguing against so i'll read,
and so patiently uniformed a man as
the writer of this letter. AS a fact
famines were many in the history of
Europe. In the middle ages famine
was a chronic condition in France and
Germany, and that condition was also
accompanied by the fabulous wealth
of the few
The peroration of this precious letter
rises to the sublime. DR.. Semeleder
says;
Everything in hot countries is
harmful to man, the ground, the water,
and the air, swarming with miasma
and vermin, and with torment and
danger. Life is as much torment as
pleasure, for what ever makes life
worth living is lacking. They depend
for indispensable necessaries upon the
temperate zones, to which they fur
nish only the luXuries."
Why unfortunate man goes to the
tropics it is hard to understand. He
ought to keep away from them, and
only send his convicts into their limits.
Earth, air and water being hurtful
what is there for the poor wretch con-
demned to the tropics to do, but to seek
rest in the grave. Life as torment
can hardly be endured. Think of the
torment life is to US on these tropical
Islands, how everything is hurtful us,
and how everything that makes life
worth living is lacking. We ought to
start a general suicide club.
Who DR.. Semeleder may be The Star
knows not, but that the gentleman is
talking about what he knows nothing
about is very certain. What particular
brand the doctor must have been in
dulging in is not set forth in his letter,
but it must have been a particularly
bad one. Then again his crossness with
the tropics might have been due to an
unpaid hotel bill. To whatever this
/ TRADE was due it certainly was not
due to the short comings of tropics.
The tropics may be mankind's Capua,
but they are no "arida nutriX," no bar
rem nurse of those that are dependent
on their breast.