Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-11-10
, COIN FOR LEPERs.

Good American gold and silver is
now circulating at the lepep settlement
instead of the Kalakaua silver, which
the lepers some time ago petitioned the
board cf health to redeem before wa
forever too late, says the Honolulu Ad-
vertiser.
Superintendent Jack McVeigh has
been acting as exchange agent at the
settlement, through the medium of the
board of health store, and now all but
about 500 of the Hawaiian silver has
been taken up. Originally there was
$4,000 of the silver in circulation at the
settlement-the entire circulating med
ium of the lepers. When they heard
that congress had passed a. law pro
viding for the redemption of the
Hawaiian silver the lepers Immediately
petitioned to the board to redeem their
money. They said they did not want
to be caught at the end of the year
with a lot of money on hand that
wasn't of any value except as so much
bullion, and didn't want to take chan
ces of so per cent depreciation.
Tfe~board of health appreciated the
reasonaibleness Of the request, but
when it tried to remedy the difficulty
a large sized snag appeared in the way.
The First National Bank is the agent
to redeem the Hawaiian silver, under
appointment of the secretary of. the
treasury. When PresidentsCecil Brown
was requested to send "a man to the
settlement in order toredeem the coin
he 1emurred. the First National Bank
was, to be sure. the agent to redeem
the silver but could only do so when
the Hawaiian money was presented
over the counters of the bank in Homo
lulu. BESIDES there wasn't any way Of
paying the expenses of such a trip. the
agent was not getting a profit tor act
ing for the national government, and
was reimbursed only for the expenses
of insurance and freight to rhe. San
Francisco mint. Consequently that
scheme was reluctantly abandoned
Next it was suggested that Supcrin-
tendant 8IcVeigh bring the money 10
Honolulu for the lepers. Mr. McVeigh
said ne was willing enough to do this,
but that tie lepers were not entirely
of a truStfu1 nature. and however much
confidence they might have II him. II
some Of the coin happened to be mu
tilated Or defaced, so as to have v1e
preciated IN value. he would have to
suffer that loss. for. when his charges
gave him money to redeem they cx-
pected him to bring hack the full face
value. This idea was also abandoned
J11p Gtca1anp dnlnUa+nI tn
call upon treasurer l<epolKai to fnrn-
ish $4,000 fo..s +Ee redemption Of the
money at the settlement. He consen-
ted. and it was the intention Of the
legislators upon their visit of lnvesti
CATION to take the money along and
take in exchange the Hawaiian silver.
But the legislators forgot all about 1t
when the time came and the lepers
were still left with the Hawaiian coin
in their hands.
Then superintendent McVeigh acted
AS fast as the Hawaiian money turned
in at the board of health store at Kau-
laupapa he stored it away. and when
he camc to Honolulu brought 1t with
him, making a deposit to the credit of
the store, and receiving United States
coin in exchange. Announcement was
made also that the silver would be re
deemed at the store even though not in
the ordinary course of trade, and the
lepers brought in their little stores of
money. receiving gold and silver with
the American eagle stamped upon it in
exchange. The amounts generally
ranged from 500 to $50. and now
bright new silver and gold is in circu-
la ton at the settlement instead of the
KaIakaua coins, which from long use
had been worn almost smooth. Some
of the lepers. too, received gold as
for the first time.
OF course, all the money as it was
taken from the settlement was fumi-
gated and disinfected, just like every
thing else that leaves Kalaupapa. 50
there wasn't any danger from con-
tagon when it was finally turned In at
the bank Superintendent McVeigh
said that. all told. there wasn't a hun
bred dollars of the Kalakaua coin still
in the settlement, and he
expects to bring the balance down upon
his next visit to Honolulu.
superintendent McVeigh has also
added to the circulating medium Of the
settlement 5000 pennies. at the request
OF the lepers. He said the money was
needed for making exact change at the
settlement store. and spurned the sug-
gestion that it was his intention to hold
n marked down" sale at the store. He
didn't believe. either. that the lepers
wanted the pennies for the purpose of
PLAYING penny ante" or anything of
that kind. Anyhow. the lepers have
job rot of pennies for the first time
and they are welcome to use them in