The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-04-29
DR., ALVAREZ
AND HIS VIEWS
POINTS OUT THAT HE EMPRESS
a 1855
I'D HIS present VIEWS FIVE
YEARS AGO, OFFICIALLY.

EDITOR STAR: Your editorial of
yesterday concerning my humble per-
sonalty requires some explanation.
can assure you that l have never
sought employment of the Board of
Health neither have | asked to be en-
pioyed by the committee of the House
of Representatives as an expert on
leprosy. The chairman of the commit
tee came to my office to request me to
accept the position. / may state fur
Their that when the President Of the
Senate asked me to allow my name to
be submitted to the governor for APP
pointment to the Board of Health two
years ago, l refused to comply with his
repeated request. l have no desire TO
hold office, having enough to do with
my private practice.
Allow me to quote from my report of
1898 to the Board of Health which viii
show that my attitude" was the same
when l held position under the Board
Of Health as now.
Segregation will not stamp out
leprosy until We secure the cooperation
of the people or aJ least overcome their
hostility to the law. 1t would be ad-
visable to have modern hospital I'm
Honolulu where cases in which the di-
sease is not sufficiently developed could
be kept under observation until a posi-
practice at present in vogue Of sending
suspects to their homes may lead to the
perpetual ton of the disease among us
These people should not be kept one or
two months while waiting for an eEa-
minatiOn by the Board of Examiners i'm
the same rooms where confirmed lepers
are kept When a person detained in
these is finally declared not a leper' the
wrong becomes more apparent. We
need hospital built according TO mo-
dern ideas with well ventilated rooms
capable of easy and thorough disinfec-
ton. The apartments at present used
for the accommOdation of people who
are waiting to be examined for leprOsy
cannot be properly cleaned or disin-
fected."
The same rooms that We're used to
house lepers at Kalihi in 1898 are used
at present. We have then good reason
to suppose that not only the floors but
the whole of the two buildings are
thoroughly infected with bacilli of le
prosy. When the committee visited
Kalihi these buildings We're overcrowd-
ed with people among whom the COM
mittee noted some of the most repul-
sive cases with large undIessed open
sores on the feet.
Now, Mr.. Editor instead of supposing
unworthy motives for my statements
you could readily see that 1 was merely
repeating what l had stated years ago
to the Board of Health in my reports
in the hope that these crying evils
would be corrected. Can any one be-
lieve that 1t is right to keep people who
have no leprosy eating, drinking bath
ing and sleeping with lepers in such
/ crowded rooms? Is 1t not the duty of
the press to expose these wrongs and to
advocate their abatement?
You state that | have a desire to
have untrammeled control of the leper
settlement. This statement is without
foundation; for even if the hospital for
the treatment of leprOsy We're built. its
superintendent would have absolutely
nothing to do with the settlement.
If you read the whole of ~ report
you will find that 1 have avoided SEN
satiOnal language or accusations
against any one; that l have confined
myself to relate facts; to express my
ideas as to improvements, as | was in
honor bound TO do by the instructions
of the committee, mich were stated
very clearly in my commission to be
found at the beginning of the report.
AS to the circumstances under which
l left the Board of Health l will say
that, if any charges We're ever made
against me l have never received a
copy of them. | can assure You that
l will be most happy if you would join
me in asking a committee of the legis-
lature to investigate those circum-
stances. Such investigation will show
that l have done my duty to my fellow
men regardless of the consequences.
The following words of Lord, the his
tOrian which he uses in speaking of
Socrates have never swayed me:
NO matter how enlightened society
is, or tolerant the age, he who utters
offensive truths will be disliked, and in
some way punished
L. F. ALVAREZ NJ. D.
Honolulu, April 20, 1903.