The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1904-10-24
MANILA HAS Her IW!LEI.
CAPITAL THE PHILIPPINE AMERICAN PRESTIGE INJURED
AND THE NATIONAL CHARACT Err LOWERED FAR
EAST WOMEN TRAVEL THERE

HONGKONG, August 49, 19O4-A re-
sidence in Manila is not calculated to
render Americans representative with
regard to social conditions in any res
! pect Least of all does such a stay
tend to sharpen the acuteness with
which breaches of the traditional code
of morality are felt by the average man
The system of legalized, inspected and
taxed prostitution which has been in
augurated and maintained by the Phi
| lippine commission, and the loose re-
| lations between foreigners and native
women which are sanctioned both by
law, custom and public opinion in the
Philippines, effectually destroy any
namby-pamby or squeamish notions on
such subjects that observers or resi-
dents may have brought from home
with them. But, however freely one
may think on questions of morality of
this special kind, a very brief residence
in Hong Kong is quite enough to raise
many doubhts in the most hardened,
and to put an entirely new face on
some subjects very lightly regarded in
Manila.
Here is the plain, ugly fact of the So
cial situation in the East today: Amer
leans are utterly discredited and in
some places almost universally ostra-
! cised, in consequence of the flood of
American women of disreputable char
acter who have rushed to the Philip
pines during the past five years, and
have spread thence to the mainland of
China to Japan and to practically every
international port of Asia. The con-
ditions in Hong Kong are perhaps
worse than in most other places, be-
cause the place is larger, the number
of travellers passing through greater,
and the scale of all outlay higher But
what is true here is true elsewhere. and
Hong Kong may be taken as represen-
| tative of the general conditions in the
East of this SUBJECT. Throughout Hong
Kong there are scattered numerous
houses of resort, each inhabited by from
two to half dozen white women. In
practically every case these women
claim American citizenship, and are
protected by the American consul. You
might look indefinitely without finding
a single white woman of other than
American parentage Except perhaps a
Russian here and there) engaged in this
nefariOus traffic. This in itself would
be a singular fact if unexplained, but
it can be understood when l state that
practically no other country except the
| United States tolerates the residence
of prostitutes claiming it's nationality
in any of the ports of the East An
English woman of doubtful character
who arrives in Hong Kong with the
| idea of engaging in her profession
there is promptly and urgently invited
| by the authorities to return home. The
same policy is observed by the consular
| and diplomatic representatives of other
! countries, and so far has this become
| the case that. as already stated, scarce
| ly any dem- mondaines save those of
American origin can be found in any
oriental ports. This policy on the part
of practically all countries except our
own is not founded upon considerations
of moralit as such. 1t is based upon
the fact that the presence of prostitutes
! of a given nationality diminishes in a
very marked and striking degree the
respect accorded by orientals to the
| members of that nationality One may
safely say that the policy pursued by
the foreign representatives. of western
nations rests solely upon the desire to
avoid loss of prestige in the eyes OF
Orientals. We can understand. there.
fore, that the United States must lose
such prestige at an artiIcially accele.
rated rate when it alone not merely
refuses to prevent the migration of this