The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-12-12

lnnfT lMNNf NNHIitHN N'Ah
nouncinR tho arrival of the steamer
Hebrashan Of the Amcrican-Iiawaiian
Steamship line. the Tacoma Ledger OF
November 2S quotes officers OF that
steamship as authority for the follow
ing:
'The Hawaiian Islands were left for
the return trip November IL. Al that
time. state the officers OF the Nebras-
Kan. the papers OF all the principal
cities of the islands were devoting
great deal Of space to a bubonic plague
scare. They report that the quarantine
regulations were being enforced TO the
very letter and that "A great deal was
40 be heard about the spread OF the
plague. The officers are not of the
opinion that there is great deal or
the disease In the country however
and charge most Of the scare to the
newspapers. The bubonic plague al
ways exists, they say In the islands,
but is usually confined to the lower
classes, the natives, Chinese and Japa-
nese residents. At the time the Ne
braskan was in Honolulu, the disease
seemed to have spread to few fami-
lies of Europeans and that was the
probable reason for the scare"
AGENT MoRSE's VIEWS.
The article was clipped In full and
shown to c. p. Morse, General Freight
Agent for the American Hawaiian line
at his residence yesterday afternoon,
but he did not seem to attach much
importance to the incident After read
ing the entire article through slowly,
Mr.. Morse said:
THAT can not be the master or one
of the officers. 1t must be one of the
petty officers or one of the crew. The
high officers would have enough sense
TO know better and would not do or
say anything of that kind. The Off
GERS and men had to go through pretty
severe quarantine inspection here.
Their clothes were all fumigated and
they were personally inspected twice
before they left here"
Asked II anything could be done to
prevent a recurrence of that sort of
thing, Mr.. Morse said, Yes, we can
there he paused long time). We can
instruct the masters to instruct their
officers and crew not to make such wild
statements. 1t seems incredible that
reports of that kind could have been
given out by competent officers"
Mr.. Morse's attention was called to
the fact that the report read as II 1t
might have come from the master, pur-
ser or chief engineer, the officers OF
abe ship usually seen by reporters, ant
to the further fact that the Tacoms
Ledger was a reputable journal tina
would not be likely to quote petty Off
GERS or sailors without saying their in
formation was received from petty of
ha, st
from the captain himself, so far as th
article states or members of the crew
Mr. Morse then said: "You may sa,
that we will take the necessary step
TO see that the masters are instructe
to instruct their officers and crew nc
TO make rumors or give out untru
reports" He said further that he wa:
of course, thoroughly aware that
was absolutely false that "the paper
Of the islands were devoting O grea
deal of space to a bubonic plagu
scare" or that at the time the Ne
braskan was in port there was a grea
deal to be heard about the spread o
the plague" or that there is a grea
deal of the disease in the country" i
fact none at all for some time then
or that the "bubonic plague has alway
existed in the islands," there havin
been but few sporadic cases sine
the thorough cleaning up at a cost O
millions of dollars in 1900, and particu
larly that there was absolutely n
truth in the statement attributed I
the officers that "at the time the Ne
braskan was in Honolulu the diseas
seemed to have spread to a few fami
lies of Europeans" no European case
having existed for many months.
BUSINESS MEN SPEAK
Frederick ]. Lowrey, president OF tn
Chamber of Commerce. had the artlcl
from the Tacoma Ledger read to hin
over the wire and, responding TO tn
reporters inquiries of what he though
should be done in regard to it, mad
these remarks:
Il think the article might be brough
up before the joint meeting of tn
Chamber of Commerce and the Mer
chants Association tomorrow.
THE most that can be done about Il
3 i suppose, is to give an emphatic de
nial to the statements in the article
- They are so utterly false, especial,
J with regard to European families, tina
they should not pass uncontradicted.
Il thing that, considering the larg
and intimate relations of the American
Hawaiian Steamship Company wit
Honolulu, the heads of the compan
should be requested to restrict the
steamship officers to telling the trut
in giving reports to newspapers 6
mainland ports"
George w. Smith, on being informe
OF the contents OF the Ledger articl
said:
"As n skipper dealing largely wit
the Americana Hawaiian Steamsh
Company, i would say that II is Il
duty of the company's local represents
tive to send strong contradiction
the statements to the head Office
San Francisco.
"As president of the Honolulu Me
chants Association, l would say thi
a very emphatic protest should !
made to the company against the star
ing of such false and damaging repor
hnu bxyA AfFi 90 etc