The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-01-04

Hawaiian, seventy years of age, who
for thirty-four years had worked in
Honolulu as a pressman in a printing
Office. The bacteriologist had decided
that he was a leper, the Examining
Board had been unable to make up its
mind and that day all had come out for
another examination.
When at Molokai, the declared leper
has the privilege of denomination,
and patients are continually coming
back to Honolulu for that purpose. The
steamer that took me to Molokai had
on board two returning lepers, both
young women, one of whom had come
TO Honolulu to settle up some property
she owned, and the other had come
to Honolulu to see her sick mother.
Both had been at Kalihi for month.
The Settlement of Molokai enjoys
far mere delightful climate than even
Honolulu, being situated on the wind
ward side of the island, in the path
of the fresh northeast trades. The
scenery is magnificent; on one side is
the blue sea, on the other the wonder
full wall of the pail, receding here and
there into beautiful mountain valleys.
Everywhere are grassy pastures, over
which roam the hundreds of horses
which are owned by the lepers. Some
of them have their own carts, rigs and
traps. In the little harbor of Kalau-
papa lie fishing boats and steam
launch, all of which are privately owned
and operated by lepers. Their bounds
upon the sea are of course determined,
otherwise no restriction is put upon
their seafaring. Their fish they sell to
the Board of Health, and the money
they receive is their own. While / was
there, one night S catch was four thou
sand pounds.
And as these men fish, others farm.
All trades are followed. One leper, a
pure Hawaiian, is the boss painter. He
employs eight men, and takes contracts
for painting buildings from the Board
of Health. He is member of the
Kalaupapa Rife Club, where / met him,
and I must confess that he was far bet
ter dressed than |. Another man,
similarly situated, is the boss carpenter.
Then, in addition to the Board or
Health store, there are little privately |
owned stores, where those with shop
keeper s souls may exercise their pc |
culiar instincts. The assistant superin- |
tendent, Mr.. Waiamau, finely educa- |
ted and able man, is a pure Hawaiian
and a leper Mr. Bartlett, who is the |
present storekeeper, is an American who |
was in business in Honolulu before he
was struck down by the disease. All
that these men earn is that much IN /
their own pockets. If they do not
work they are taken care of anyway by |
the Territory, given food, shelter,
clothes and medical attendance. The /
Board of Health carries on agriculture,
stock raising and dairying for local
use, and employment at fair wages Is
furnished to all who wish to work.
They are not compelled, to work, how
ever, for they are wards of the Terri
tory. For the young, and the very
old, and the helpless, there are homes
and hospitals.
Major Lee, an American and long
a marine engineer for the Inter-Island
Steamship Company. | met actively at
work in the new steam laundry, where
he was busy installing the machinery.
| met him afterward, and one day he 4
said to me:
''Give US a good breeze about how
we live here. For heaven 5 sake write
us up straight. Put your foot down
Dig this chamber-of- horrors rot and all
the rest of it, We don t like being
w We gOI some 4eft-
ngs. just tell the world how we really
are in here. -
Man after man that I met in the
ana woman after woman,
in one way or another expressed the
same sentiment. 1t was patent that
they resented bitterly the sensational
and untruthful way in which they have
been exploited in the past.
In spite of the fact that they are
afflicted by disease. the lepers form
/ happy colony, divided into two vii
ages and numerous country and seaside
tonnes, of nearly a thousand souls. They
rave six churches. a Young Men 5
hristian Association building, several
assembly halls. band stand, race
rack, baseball grounds and shooting
anges, an athletic club. numerous glee
lubs. and two brass bands. :
.'They are so eontented down there,
dr. Pinkham told me. ''that you can I
lrive them away with a shotgun.
This I later verified for myself In E
January of this year eleven OF the lep
rs, on whom the disease, after having !