The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-05
ENTIRE BLAME
BELONGS To
P|NKHAM
His Trickery and Lies
Held Back Leper
Home.

Through lying, deception and
fraud. trickery or laziness on the part
of the president of the Board of
Health" is the reason given by A.
l. c. Atkinson for the neglect to have
somewhere home for the boys born
they might be taken care of away
from constant exposure to the dread
disease from which their parents
suffer.
Time after time, practically every
time President Pinkham reported on
the work of his department to the
Executive, 1 brought up the question" ;"
said Mr. Atkinson yesterday. Time
after time he promised me that it
would be started right away. Time
after time he came back with ex-
cuses. One appropriation was passed
and allowed to lapse and nothing was
done Another appropriation was
passed, and still. year later, nothing
has been done.
Every minute, every day, every
month, every biennial period that is
allowed to pass without this matter
being pushed through is crime, worse
than murder in my mind, and should
lay heavy on the conscience of the
president of the Board of Health. He
is the man that is responsible. 1t was
not Governor Carter, for he urged the
matter right along; it was not /, for
have urged and worked for something
to be done in every way 1 could.
'sThe Legislature of 1905 voted six
thousand dollars tor the work. Pink
ham told me over and over again that
he was getting ready to use this, but
he Aprocrastinated. shifted and evaded
doing anything. The Legislature of
1907 voted fifteen thousand dollars for
this work, seeing for themselves after
their visit to the Leper Settlement the
awful necessity. but not a move has
been made by Pinkham except that
ridiculous Waimea trip of his, made
as a grandstand play when he was
making his campaign for the Govern
t,rsbip. Why has he not done some
thing? Can it be that he does not
want to bring those boys away, or is
it that he does not care?
when a public official has reached
that stage that he neglects a plain
duty like this, consider that his days
of usefulness are over. He talks about
how he saves up the nickels to build
places at the Settlement and he COM
plains constantly of the way he is
hampered for money, while all these
years money has been lying available
for this work and he will not spend it.
I venture to say that if Pinkham is
reappointed, this present appropriation
will not be spent and he will not build
that home, while if the matter were
turned over to man like Marston
Campbell the plans would be out the
site selected and an advertisement for
bids published before two weeks.
Il feel very strongly on this point,
as any man must feel who has visited
the Settlement and seen" the boys
there, the little bright-eyed chaps,
showing the signs of the disease, and
all, clean and diseased alike, exposed ;
every minute of their lives. Three /
years ago I talked to a little boy ,
there. He was clean. One year ago /
| talked to him again and he told me {
hat since 1 had been there last he {
had contracted the ieprosy. That such y
/ damnable thing could be, makes my t
blood boil. c
In his annual report, Pinkham says t
hat $4,000 was inadequate TO COM
nence on. 1 know that I could have
,uilt something with that much money L
o bring some of the boys away from [
ontagion. 1 would not have allowed i
he amount to go unspent, anyway. 1 o
lid my best urging upon Pinkham to u
10 something. 1 kept urging the mat v
er with Governor Carter and he in L
urn spoke many times to Pinkham u
bout it. But we were put off and put II
use. There can be no excuse. There II
Tas none then and there is none now q
Thy the home was not built.
Bishop Libert has offered site in >
1alihi Valley, he has through much "
and great effort Sc G
ured the promise of Sisters to take
are of the home and he has urged 50
lie matter. But Pinkham, so far as -,
ny practical results go, has not even al
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