The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-03-19
HAWAII'S IEPER COLONY.
Fhe People Are Strongly Opposed to
Its Being Placed Under Ma
tiOnal Control.

The Hawaiians are up in arms be-
cause of the prospect of the Molokaj
| leper settlement being taken over by
| the United States. The recommends
| tions of the senatorial commission
which visited the islands last summer
have caused alarm among business
| and other interests here, and petit
lions are being sent to Washington
| by cable and mail protesting against
| any change in the administration of
the affairs of the lepers, and they
themselves are protesting vigorously
against the coming of the aliens, says
Honolulu report to the New York
Sun.
The natives, as whole, are against
the proposed change. The Hawaiians
are peculiar people. They are all
related, and the ties of kindred are
unusually strong. Families with
members at the leper settlement op-
pose taking the control of the settle
ment from the territory.
The lepers are under peculiar sort
of government. Most of them are in
weakened condition and naturally
peevish. Their complaints are many
and varied and continual, but they
are comparatively happy and satisfied
as they are now governed. They
have no voice in their government,
| though their influence is felt through
the family friends. The lepers, of
course, are not deprived of the right
| IN Untn h,1f 1.
scented by any of their own number,
for the simple reason that none of
them is allowed to leave the settle.
ment.
Another objection to the proposed
change is the fear that segregation of
sexes may be enforced. At present
there is a strict segregation of the
lepers, but not of sexes. Itrarely hap
! pens that all members of the family
get the disease, and it is believed to be
hereditary. However, husbands and
wives often go together to the dreary
life Imprisonment of the settlement.
when but one of them has leprosy. Ex-
ceptlons are made in some cases per-
hitting this, and the natives fear now
| that this privilege will be taken away.
The epers intermarry and the children
are placed in home provided for them,
and often show no traces of the disease.
After a sufficient length of time has
elapsed those who do not show signs
of the disease are brought to Honolulu
and spend the rest Of their lives away
from the settlement. They are never
allowed to return unless they contract
the disease later.
Another objection to making Hawaii
national lazaretto is the fact that a
foreign element would be introduced
which would be continually at war with
the natives. The Hawaiians are quiet
and peaceful, and it is feared that
strangers from the mainland would
make trouble.
There is also the stigma which would
be attached to the islands as whole.
which would destroy all hope of at
tracing tourists, for which the mer-
chants have already spent thousands
of dollars. AS a matter of fact the
leper settlement is at present at Kaul-
apapa, very small section of the ISL
and of Molokai, hundreds of miles from
Honolulu. The place is peculiarly
adapted for its present purposes. On
every side it is inaccessible from other
parts of the island, and the lepers are
confined without the necessity of
prison bars or of guards. A high
mountain range surrounds the place
on three sides and the ocean covers the
remainder. The settlement is only a
few hundred acres in extent and would
not permit of the addition of a very
great number of lepers.