Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-03
HAWA||ANS OBJECT
Want No Importation Of
Lepers.
ENOUGH OF THEIR OWN
A LEPSoSARIUM WOULD FRIGHT
EN- AWAY TOURISTS.
What Has Been Done by Native Health
Officers in Segregating the
Unfortunates.
ENOUGH OF THEIR OWN
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.


Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
HONOLULU, January 20, 1903.
A strong and unanimous antagonism has
been stirred up IN our community by
the arrival Of an advance report OF the
measures recommended for Hawaii by
Messrs Mitchell, Foster and Burton of the
senatorial commission, who lately visited us
The measures most adverse to the senti-
ments Of the people Of Hawaii are those
relating to the leper settlement on the Is
land OF Molokai. The commission, in the
first place, wishes to take the care Of our
lepers away from the territory and to place
these unfortunates under the care of federal
officials. Still worse, 1t proposes convert
ing settlement into national Ieprosarium,
whittier all the lepers in the United States
shall be transported. To both these propo-
sitions we of Hawaii are strenuously OPP
posed, especially to the latter.
The First Objection.
Our first objection to bringing here the
lepers Of the continent Is that 1t will intro
duce a large foreign and uncongenial ele-
ment among the native Hawaiians, who
constitute almost the entire body Of those
so afflicted. The settlement is now con-
Quoted with reference to the peculiar habits
and needs of the Hawaiian race. The very
few whites there have their own separate
arrangements, being too few in number to
interfere with the great body of the natives.
To crowd in among the latter several hum
dred white American lepers would introduce
elements Of friction and disturbance. Diff
Guilty would be created In suitably providing
for such different people living together.
Especially would the newcomers be I'M
happy and discontinued in their remote ex-
lie, and would communicate their discomfort
to the rest. The two races should be kept
apart
Another result of the plan proposed which
more unpleasantly impresses us is the mark
eddy evil reputation which will be conspicu-
ously stamped upon Hawaii as the general
sink and cesspool Of leprosy for the whole
United States. We dread and abhor such a
consequence. Our little island country pos
sesses many rare attractions of climate and
scenery, fitting 1t to be favored resort for
tourists. It has not unity been called
THE Paradise Of the Pacific" Unlike all
other tropical lands, Hawaii never suffers
from severe heat. For seven months, be-
tween October and June. the climate is
charmingly mild and balmy. 1t rarely
rains Of the tropics. No place on the globe
can be found so well fitted for the enjoy
ment Of those who desire to escape the ex-
tremes Of cold and heat so prevalent on the
american continent.
Want to Encourage Tourists.
Now, this is a very valuable asset of ours.
We desire to encourage the visits and So
1ourn among us Of large numbers of tour
lists. We already have splendid hotels for
their accommodation. Many palatial
steamers are prepared to transport them
in a five or six days passage over a quiet
ocean. The Geographic cable is in full
TO-, -. -.
their homes. But how many tourists will
feel attracted to a country to which all the
lepers Of the United States are to be sent,
and which is stigmatized as the "lepro-
sarium of America? The association will
be felt by them one of horror and loath-
Ing. AT present the evil exists only as a
local incident set apart by itself. But as
proposed, numbers of these loathy sufferers
Will frequently be in process of transporta-
ton as passengers on the steamers with the
expected tourists. The latter will prefer
not to encounter the loathsome evil and will
shun Hawaii.
1t would seem plain enough that simply
as matter of convenience and economy
the victims of leprosy should never be re-
moved to places very remote from their
homes. Places of segregation should be
maintained In several localities on the con-
tinent, not so remote but that the sufferers
might be within reach of kindred and
friends who could assist to provide them
with comforts and take commissions about
their affairs. And then humanity requires
that such unfortunates should not be con-
signed to absolute exile in a strange land
do not know what power the federal gov
eminent may have to deport citizens away
from their respective states on sanitary
grounds. but distant exile seems needless
and inhuman.
Management Of Leper Settlement.
The senator's report indicates that they
formed unfavorable impressions respecting
the management Of the leper settlement,
ard especially as to the care and efficiency
OF the medical treatment of the lepers
They made no personal inspection of the
settlement. and so depended on hearsay.
aside from the official reports of our board
of health. One criticism made by the sem
ators relates to the absence of segregation
of the sexes at the settlement, resulting in
much lawless concubinage, and in the births
of some children from leprous parents.
Now, any one who is familiar with the in
Veterate proclivities and loose living of the
native Hawaiian knows that such promis-
cuous living is no less in native homes out
side and he knows well that no system of
policing or force could prevent 1t at the set
Element, nor could anything do il short of
an absolute separation of the sexes In two
settlements remote from each other. There
seems no sufficient necessity for in
human and expensive measure.
We are really doing very we'll with our
lepers, and are content to be at the expense
OF their support. And we believe that our
long experience in caring for them and our
familiarity with the Hawaiian's needs and
peculiarities will enable us to minister to
their comfort vastly better than can be
done by strangers from the continent. 1t
is true that until the end of the monarchy
just ten years ago-the segregation of the
lepers was incomplete and ill-managed, be-
cause the rulers exercised the grossest IA
voritism about their arrest. Since that date
the arrest Of lepers has been active and
segregation thorough. Before 1893 one