The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1911-12-15
DOCTOR SCUDDER UPHOlDS
CUTTING OF BANANA TREES
In Letter TO the Slariie Conscts tits FOrmer
Statement and Endorses Sanitation
Committees Work

The following letter from Rev. m,
DoFcmus scodder IN regard 70 tho aanl-
tafy campuieil and mosquito crusade y
not tnly Of much interest, but OF i'm.
portanee as upholding tho work Of che
commission. The letter. as written 20
tho Star, explains itself, and is as fol-
lowss isa n,.
Editor star g-4Your reprint Of an. edii
torial in The, Friend. has. led 80 many
TO express their agreement with its
point of view that Il seemed to voice
the detlnesiorS made by q large NUNS
her of citizens inero. thaA conduct of
the, alitl.sehqNi,o campaign as observed
by them and as reflected in the columns
of tho piess. Yesterday afternoon, in
response to ah invitation to meat and
talk ihc question over with the IL
zeps' ecmmittee,. l felt it incumbent
! to. occepc, and nearly three hours wefe
spcnt ~ frsnit, -earnest discussion with
titles cUminittee and the president of the
board. Of .health.s. n,...ss.. s...-
The result OF, this conference was a
decided mobilization of opinion ais to
Soma features of the Sampaian, which
it is both pleasure and duty to make
public. Though doubt as to the gem
uineness. of the, alleged eases of yellow
| fever exists, it should be said first,
that the members 0f the board and
EcomiGittee are unanimous in their con-
lvie;iou that the diagnosis was correct;
second, that the text of the Yokohama
eablegram does not neeessitate the conf
elusion that The Japanese health au-
thorities declared that the patient sad-
Judged i'll with yellow fever here did
not have that disease while OF Homo
iitiu, and third, that the scare, SO com
ing to this community as to lead to a
determined antimosquitO campaign, was
an unmixed blessing.
The statement made by Colonel Ebert
as to mosquitoes in bamboo house poles
was, 1t seems, twice told in the hearr
ing of the committee, and it was made
plain to, them that the, bamboo in ques-
ton was not 'holeless, but had split
so that both water and mosquitoes
could find entrance-+a very different
statement from that understood by. "A
number of his hearers in his public
address. It is only just to apologize
for the reflection in The Friend article
upon the colonel, whose misfortune il
was not to have made his, point. clear.
in hurried informal talk.
There is no doubt that the persons
engaged in cutting down and grabbing,
out bananas have in some instances ex.
hibited arbitrariness and insolence as
charged. This the committee regrets,
and in order to prevent repetition OF
this Gonduct and correct those guilty
of it is very anxious to have any such
violations of decency made known at
once. For this purpose it maintains q
bureau of complaints, where every citi-
zenstEi a grievance is urged to reports
so to report should argue lack Of public
spirit.
With reference to the main ;conten-'
Etion of critics, that the concentration
of attention by the health authorities
upon the banana was not justified by
scientific necess ty, there is no doubt
that the ealopas has been found breed
ing in bananas here and there on the
one land, and also that thousands of
the liants have been mosquito free on
the other. The committee has evidence
that not only bananas. but all trees
within a fixed distance from dwellings
were cut down ruthlessly in the Canal
Zone during the early stages of the
mosquito fight there. In Durham, South
Africa, the committee states that a
most effective antimosquito campaign