The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-01-29
LANDS AND
LEPROSY
Memorials Which
Go Forward to
Congress.
Opinions and Arguments
of Business Bodies
Mailed.
Conditions Which Should Affect
the Houses of Congress in
Their Action.

Memorials addressed to the chairmen
of the committees of the Senate and
House which have to do with matters
affecting this Territory, were sent for
ward in the Alameda mail yesterday
and will reach their destination at the
close of next week. The memorials are
those touching upon the leprosy and
land questions. and represent the opin-
ions held by the leading bodies of the
community.
Tn ememorial on the subject of lep-
rosy is an able paper, drafted by Mr..
W. Q. Smith on the eve of his depar-
ture for the Capitol, he having before
that time drawn up the paper touch
ing on the land matter, and placed it
in the hands of the committee of the
Chamber of Commerce, which was APP
pointed for the purpose of dealing with
the matter The leprosy memorial
deals with the subject at large and
bears the signatures of C. NJ. Cooke.
president, and ]. G. Spencer, sec
rotary, of the Chamber; F. w. Macfar-
lane and w. w. Harris, president and
secretary of the Merchants Associa-
ton; A Gartley and J. H. Craig, pres
nd
Traders Exchange, and Clarence L.
Crabbe, chairman of the Republican
Central Committee. The land memorial
has the names attached of the officers
of the three organizations which lead
on the other memorial, only. The pa
pers are as follows:
To the Chairman of the Committee on
Territories, House of Representa-
tives, United States Congress.
Sir: The undersigned MemoriaIists of
Hawaii respectfully represent:
That the suggestion that the manage
ment, control and expense of the Leper
Settlement on the Island of Molokai be !
by law transferred from the Territorial
Government to the Government of the !
United States, and that the Settlement !
be declared and set apart for a lep- |
rosario for the protection and subsist-
ence of lepers from the Territory of
Hawaii and from the mainland of the
United States, meets with their earnest
protest.
Leprosy was introduced into the Ha-
waiian Islands from a foreign country,
and owing to various conditions and
was spread among the
native population until it became mat
ter of great national concern. In the II
year 1864 a law was enacted by the Ha-
waiian Legislature for the segregation
and treatment of lepers, since which
time over six thousand persons have
oeen taken to the Settlement at Moio-
lai and cared for at public expense.
OF the one thousand and ten thus
confined on the first day of January,
901 there were:
1awaiians $50
chinese ---...-..-.-...-..-.-' "a
Whites OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
other nationalities ............... II
The task of dealing with this national
alamity, of the care and treatment of
he afflicted, has taxed the powers of
he local government and the skill of
hysicians. The problem presented was
very serious one, and the more so be-
Of oh Of roanT1lf Is
0 being separated from their friends,
from wives, and parents from
and there were raised ques-
ions which at times threatened the
uthority of the Government; but wise
nd thoughtful consideration for the
ants of these unfortunate people has y
nabled the law to be thus far carried
ut.
At the Settlement cottages have been
rovided for the sick, the home life has
cen maintained as far as possible, all
ne wants OF the inmates DeIng supplied
V the Government at public expense,
nd a community of over a thousand
ersons live there in peace and har-
lony.
1t would be a great wrong to the Ha-
aiians who live at the Settlement TO
ave people from foreign countries,-I
with them, their Ian
uage. habits, traditions and sym
athies,-forced upon them, and, per-
APPS. in considerable numbers. Fur
lerrnore, the introduction of such peo-
lie would doubtless become a disturb g