The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-08-27
MOSQUITOES AND
RATS DANGEROUS
D ocfor Hobby Warns Against
Allowing Pests to
Flourish.

early, unsupported case OF yellow fever
to slip through quarantine or one yell
low fever infected stegomyia mosquito
to fit up Fort street-after which the
deluge."
"Yellow fever would find this indeed
Paradise Of the Pacific. Everything
is ready for its coming and only a
fresh case or an infected mosquito is
needed to start an epidemic of alarm
ing proportions, the eradication of
which would cost this Territory literal
ly hundreds of thousands in actual
money spent and millions in the dam
age to commerce from the actual restric
ton and from the mere reputation of
its presence here. Only consistent, con-
scientious hard work and some measure
of good luck will protect US from an
epidemic sooner or later
eff, then, in addition to its cam
paign against rats the board could in
stitute a relentless and uneeasing war
against mosquitoes, arousing the inter
est and enlisting the sympathy and help
of the entire community, this city could,
in my opinion, be rendered to all in
tents and purposes noninfectible. -
Such are in brief some of the senti-
ments expressed by DR. w. G. Hobby,
Chief Quarantine Officer of the Terri
tory, in a paper read some time ago
before the Medical Society. This paper
was considered SO important and valu-
able by President Mott+Smith of the
Board of Health that he has incorpor-
ated it bodily into his report to the
Governor
DR.. Hobby takes very serious view
of the situation here Cholera, typhoid
fever and smallpox he looks upon as
practically negligible, so far as any fear
of an epidemic is concerned, but plague
and yellow fever he contends are
enemies which are imminently threaten
ing and against which the greatest pre-
cautions must be taken if Honolulu is
to escape an epidemic that will cost
hundreds of lives and millions of money.
The rat and the mosquito must go.
says DR.. Hobby, or the results will be
disastrous. Hawaii is bounded on all
sides by disease infested ports, and the
deadly germs are liable to be brought
here at any time. Once here. under
present conditions, and it will be too
late to head off an epidemic. One mos
quito infested with the yellow fever
germ will be sufficient to start such an
epidemic.
DR.. Hobdy's paper. which appears to
be written in humane vein and from a
practical standpoint, is as follows:
Hawaii has been properly called the
I" Crossroads y of the Pacific. Situated,
geographically, in the midpacifc, a
glance at the map will show her diverg
ing lines of commerce running in all
directions to all the important ports on
all that ocean s shores Only to the
northward is there any exception TO this.
She is at the same time stepping stone
and stopping place between all these
ports, no matter what your starting
point may be, nor what your destina-
tion.
Commercially this has its advan-
tages, but it also has its drawbacks
from the viewpoint of the sanitarian
and especially from that of the quaran-
tine officer because. owing to her geo
graphical position, Hawaii gets it both
coming and going.
Let us glance for a moment at a list
of these various ports that fringe the
shores of the Pacific Ocean, surround Ha-
wall. and with which we are in constant
communication: To the east we have
in our own United States, Seattle, San
Francisco and Los Angeles, not at pres
ent plague infected, but the terrain
back of San Francisco is, where. the
disease has spread to the ground SOUR
rels and all three cities participat-
ed in the recent epidemic on the Coast.
Next we have Mazatlan, with its cpl
denies of plague and smallpox Man
zanillo. with its smallpox, malaria, and
possibly yellow fever, and Acapulco and
Salina Cruz the same. South of these
come Guayaquil, Babehoyo. Milayro and
Talti, all of which are at present plague
infected while the first named enjoys
the doubtful honor of being doub1v in
feeted with both plague and yellow
fever. 1t was here that DR. Wightman,
an officer of this service lost his life
about three months ago fighting yellow
fever. Still further south are Mollendo,
Callao, Lima. Paita and eight others,
all plague-infected and all infectible
| with yellow fever and malaria, while
still further south are Antofogasta.
africa, Iquique and Taltal. also all
plague-infected. Within the last three
months new steamship route has been
| opened from Japan which takes in ev-
cry one of the above mentioned ports,
except those in the United States, and
which touches at Honolulu both going
and coming. Almost directly south we
have Brisbane, Newcastle and Sidney
all of which are lague-infected today
| and all of which have had from two
to half dozen epidemics of plague
Swinging round the circle to the
northward from these ports we come to
| Calcutta, Bombay, Singapore. Cholen
and Saigon all of which enjoy the IN
enyiable fame of being infected. today.
| with plague, cholera and smallpox and
some of which furthermore have not
been free from any of these diseases in
the last FIVE years.
To the eastward and a little nearer
to as lies Manila. the capital of the
Philippines, that blood and treasure
bought jewel of ours in the Far East.
infected at present with smallpox and
cholera the latter disease alone having
to its credit, during the third quarter
/ of 1908. nearly $4,000 eases, with over
| 1000 deaths.
Northward again we have Canton.
Hongkong, Annoy and Shanghai, all of