The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-10-01
HIS WITNESSES DISPUTE HIM.

declared that ne favored the taking
over of the Leper Settlement by tn
Federal government, and that thi
would tend to give the people bette
feeling, those very people for whom h
4 was making the claim of indignation
/ against the administration were declar
ing in like strong and unmistakabl
language that they were in favor OF tn
retention of control of the settlement
by the local authorities.
Before the air was still after it haf
been rent by the high pitched voice q
the delegate, declaring that the people
| at KauIapapa were being starved. were
not clothed and were treated without
consideration, those very people were
signing a petition setting forth that
they were happy and contented and the
sum of their plant was that there are
minor details which might tend to i'm
prove our conditions" This from men
and women and children who according
to the representative of Hawaii at
the National Capital were being starv-
ed and illtreated This from people
who he alleged had to eat bad salmon
and wear rotten clothing, and who
could have no object in misstating the
facts to the senator's
To the observer of the case as pre-
sented by Wilcox and by the Lepers,
it would appear that the members Of
the Senatorial commission which has
been investigating conditions will take
away the impression that the man
elected to manage the Washington end
of their business, had deliberately mis-
led his colleagues, by making under
oath statements which were not upheld
by the very people in whose interest he
was presuming to speak.
1t is a terrible Indictment that man
chosen and seated as the representative
of a citizenship should with delibera-
ton misstate the facts connected with
one phase of an investigation by mem
bers of the highest branch of the ma
tional legislature. When Mr.. Wilcox
said that the people had no confidence
in the Board of Health, that they were
afraid of them and their methods, and
at the same time claimed to know the
wishes of the people, he was misrepre-
senting the ESQ out of less than 800 Lep-
ers who in closing their memorial pray
and earnestly hope that no change
will be made as far as governmental
control is concerned"
Then if the misrepresentation has
gone so far wrong in his statements in
this respect, by the most common rule
of reasoning he has been wrong in all.
FaIsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, is the
rule laid down in evidence taking, and
legal minds will without doubt. when
they see side by side in the records of
the committee, the hysterical denuncia-
tions of Wilcox and the hearty APPROX
al by the Lepers themselves, dispose of
the whole testimony of the Delegate
with an exclamation.
In line with the same thought is the
very interesting statement Of Senator
Mitchell of Oregon, one of the most re-
spected and sterling men in the upper
house of the national legislature. Will
cox, the braggart, has been telling the
people that he brought the senatorial
commission here. Without any effort
to discredit the local mis-representa-
tive, Senator Mitchell, the chairman of
the commission, tells how the sub-com-
mittee was thought of during a session
of the Committee on Pacific Islands and
Porto Rico and how he was asked to
put through the measure. He engi-
neered it past another committee and
through the vote and then was asked
to take up the work of the investiga-
ton, Never once, he declares, did Will
cox speak to him of an investigation,
either DeI0fe the trip Was pEopoSSd VI
in support of it after the matter was
before the senate. If he worked for the
passage of the resolution creating the
commission he must have done so in
the solitude of his own apartment. con-
juring with a rabbits foot, for certain
ly no man under other conditions would
claim credit unless he had at least
spoken to the senator who was in
charge of measure desired. proffering
help or suggestion. Perhaps however
he worked with others of the commit
tee But could it have had much effect
if it was treated so lightly that the fact
was never even mentioned to Senator
Mitchell?
1t would seem to be of a piece with
the other misstatements which his fol-
lowers are asked to swallow by their
misrepresentation, and is certain to
put him in such light before the COM
mittee of which he is thus boasting pro-
prietorship, that his greatest value in