The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1902-01-10
DANGER TO ThE LEpERS.

DANGER TO ThE LEpERS.
Hawuiians ought Co look a lone une
Before they leap into the bslmb.. bush
which presents Itself in tae form OF
the IaAn-Wi!cox Lazarett, bill
M TIC lrst place the ielers now a.
MuiokAi are living a free and go y pas
tIrai and village life much as they
ured g. lead at home They fish, battle.
cultivate the soil. have their church,
bnnd 81 music and little fIaterniii - OF
Enjoyment. Their lives are made as
pleasant as possible. and when they
become helpless their nearest OF KIN
are allowed to go and aid them At
stated intervals their friends, under re-
strictions, may see them and may al
ways, we believe, send them btit1. nm
ally the patients get the food TO which
they are accustomed and the supply OF
this never fails for want Of an appro-
priatlon, as 1t might do II the Molokai
exiles were the wards OF Congress
that is distant, always busy and sub
ject to strange freaks OF thrift.
Should the Kahn-WilcoX bill succeed
and not be nullled in practice by the
reserved rights Of states, tie condition
thus described would be for,urnly
changed. We should then find the pas
toral lepers turned into the victims Of
the clinic. Gathered into hospitals,
studied by young surgeons whose fin
gers itch for the scalpel, made to nve
by rote, the poor People of MolOkai,
victims of a disease as incurable as de-
composed flesh, would soon be fretful
and rebellious. The old semi-free life
would pass away: the "kukoas' or
helpers wouiu be warned off; uninfect-
ed friends could not land; owing to a
supposed relation between leprosy and
a fish diet the supply of sea food would
probably be curtailed or stopped alto
gether; perhaps, in the course of ex-
periments with food, poi would be de-
MED curing long intervals, or owing to
the want of specific appropriation,
crossed off the bill of fare.
Hawaiians should also consider the
ill-effects of crowding. Inc Kahn
Wilcox bill proposes to make the leper
settlement the common asylum for peo-
pie similarly afflicted from every part
OF the Union. We have shown how
much violence and turmoil are likely tn
ensue in the contact of desperate white
lepers with the races now at the settle
ment, but the matter roes further than
that. Given some thousands of lepers
and more room for them must be had
None can be found under the shadow
of the Molokai pail and the issue wal
lie between the transfer of eXiles to
some other place in this group where
an expensive guard and system OF wa
terworks must be provided and costly
land condemned and bought, or theii
deportation to the Philippines. Before
long a great leper depot in our East
Indian territory must be had. There
are 80 600 victims Of the living uea,u
there now. Assuming that our settle
ment would grow congested, and tina
there is plenty of room in he Philip
pines, what Is more natural than tina
the smaller colony should be merge
! with the larger one. Now the Hawaii
an lepers are safe at home, but unde
Federal power--an authority that BEN
to no sentiment and voices no 'alohaS
they might be taken to the Far Eas
to spend their remaining days; an
every fresh victim of the incurabl
plague. found on these islands, woul
follow them.
That Hawaiians can support n b
which might visit such results upo
them can be explained only on tn
ground that they think Delegate Wi
cox. leader whom they have followe
through quagmire after quagmire, OF
> ten to defeat and but once to any forI
of political success, is all-wise and in
vincible. They do not realize that. /
this matter, Mr.. wilcox is the uupe c
julius Kahn, who wants to get leper
; out of California because they ar
hurting the State" He is willing tina
: they should add 10 our discontinue bu
he naturally wants his own bailiwiC
: cleansed. Hawaiians, for their safety
should warn Wilcox that these island
have evils enough without importin
any, and that he viii serve his nativ
, people best by doing what he can I
keep the pastoral villages under tn
Molokai cliffs inviolate.