The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1902-09-19

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Ii. Insisted IrHf UH.rt should Do. uH
mon rHHfI.I IuI fHI ltii Ia.Ir Hn1
fHHf IN. planters should be- compelled
f1 rIye bond iUat h,g would H.i .m-
HsE uUt Oriental loo The miIH nr nf
..H.i labor
srpT MNEIGH TEsTuIEs
. j. %. N,Neph testified nt some length
concerning conditions. lie said there
wen. 900 september ON. SIS l.psrs. 81
whom 5lj were men. lie said Doc had
never known OF but one case where a
child removed from the settlement had
shown signs 90 leprosy and that was ct
tine age OF thirteen years others had
lived ln the community leaving the
Eapi1lani home al sixteen years and
some had married. lie described the
settlement at length and said he
thought the only way to separate the
sexes would Doe 90 make the place into
two settlements. senator Burton ask
cd &C. 81 would not Doe preferable 90 make
some division which would make il
possible TO stop the breeding OF the
disease. and Mr. McNeigh said there
seemed no way in which It could be
prevented without further hardship to
the people.
w. o. SMITHS VIEWS.
Mr.. W. O. Smith then took the stand
and talked of tine leper situation, tell
ing how long he had been connected
with the Board Of Health. lie then
told of the great opposition there was
by the natives In the beginning. Sew
egal people had been killed. A sheriff
on Kauai was shot dead by lcper and
his own brother, Or. Jared Smith of
Kauai had been shot and killed in his
own house because he had denounced
certain laborer.
\ person suspected of l-proay is
first examined by a physician and If
believed 10 be infected is sent TO the
receiving station, where he is treated
until it be finally decided by a COM
mittee of physicians whether or not he
is a leper.
The marriage relation has always
been a serious matter. It had been
deemed better that couple should
marry than live together without mar
riage. For a period Of nearly 40 years
the late r. w. Meyer was superintend-
ent of the settlement. a man of very
high character and married to a Ha-
waiian woman. Different well-known
physicians were resident there, one be-
ing DR.. Emerson now present who was
the physician for two years. This So
cial question had always been discuss
ed with great zeal and with such men.
The Catholic and Protestant clergy
concurred in the general assent to the
marriage relation. Witness related his
own experience in dealing with lepers
extending back to 1868. In recent years
he had paid frequent visits to the set
| Element He knew many of the lepers.
some of them before they went there.
This question of wedlock had been con-
sidered from every point of view.
a spirited colloquy ensued between
Senator Burton and Mr. Smith. The
Commissioner strongly suggested that
men and women might have reasonably
adequate social intercourse without
| living together. His idea would be to
erect a high fence athwart the settle
ment for the separation of the sexes.
1T would have to be a very high
and a very strong fence" Mr.. Smith
remarked. He said the Senator's inn
preston seemed to be that the inn
proper practice was officially approx
l ed.
NO" said Mr.. Burton, but my i'm
preston is that II is universally prac-
ticed and tolerated"
You are mistaken" rejoined Mr..
Smith. 1T is not universally prac-
ticed. There are many married people
living together"
Burton-I don't think the moral ques-
ton is so serious as the birth of chill
dren there.
Smth-The only preventive would
be complete segregation. Very few
children were born. The tendency of
the disease was to make the victims
sterile. Very few children were born
lepers. Those who acquired the dis
ease later did so from incubation.
The care of young lepers was an eX-
tremely grave matter for the Hawai-
ian people. Witness told of the Home
for Girls founded by Chas. II. Bishop
and the Home for Boys by Henry p.
Baldwin. He diverged to discuss the
pathology of leprosy. In many coun-
tries the attempt at segregation pro-
duced revolt. 1t was evidence of the
fine quality of the Hawaiian people
/ that they had been so tractable in sub
hitting to the severe trials of separ-
, alton from home and kindred.
Mr.. Smith spoke of the encourage
, ment given to moral influences at the
settlement, where there were Catho.
/ lie, Protestant and Mormon clergy
men, He proceeded to pay high
, tribute to the work Of the Catholic
Sisters, as well as Brothers. in taking
, care of the homes for girls and boys
? Witness Sed on to clerical Interior.
ence, stating that this was at the bot
. tom of the necessity for removing {
former superintendent, himself a lep'
er When Brother Dutton was put il
; charge of the Baldwin Home, Father
Wendoln asked the witness why h,
had done so without consent of th'
Bishop, and was told that neither tn,
Bishop nor he would be allowed to in
terfere with the management of tn,
.