The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1918-08-09
MEDICAL ADVISORY !
BOARD STANDS BY
John c. BR|DWELL
After investigation It Disap-
proves Action of Captain Field
In Discharging Secretary b.
WILL ASK GOVERNOR
THAT HE BE RETAINED
SeIective Draft Officer Stands
Pat - Mixup Over Draftees
Still Causing Much Discussion


The summary action of Captain H.
GOoding Field in dismissing John, g..
Bridwell from the secretaryship Of the
Medical Advisory Draft Board, on the
ground Of "disloyaIty and untruthful-
ness" is not going TO hold, if the
board has anything to say about it.
The board went on record Yesterday
as disappearing Captain Fields &C.
.tion, and infercntially as not crediting
the charges made by him against Mr..
Bridwell in the letter Of dismissal ad.
dressed to him.
The medical advisory board intends
to carry the matter up to Governor
Mccarthy, with a recommendation that
the action of Captain Field in dis
charging Bridwell be set aside and
that the secretary be retained in his
position.
A decision to this effect was reached
at a conference of the board held yes
terday afternoon, during part of which
Mr.. Bridwell was present. The charges
brought by Captain Field against the
secretary were fully gone into and
Mr.. Bridwell stated his side of the
ease, apparently convincing the board
that the selective draft officer was not
justified in his action or in the ac-
cusatiOns made by him.
Stin On the Job
Meantime, Mr.. Bridwell is still on
the job, though his status is not yet
definitely defined. DR.. f. d. Kilbourne
chairman of the board, says that Mr.
Bridwell is being retained for the
present to bring the work Of the Office
up to date. He added that the whole
matter will be laid before Governor
Mccarthy with the recommendation
that Mr.. Bridwell be retained in his
position. The secretary, he said, is an
extremely valuable man for the Parti-
cular work of the advisory board and
II would be inadvisablc to eliminate
him from the conduct of the board s
affairs. Doctor Kilbourne added that
it was greatly to be regretted that
anything had arisen to cause a breach
between the selective draft official and
the board IS secretary.
Field Stands Pat -.
Captain Field remained determined
yesterday that Mr.. Bridwell should no
longer be retained as secretary of the
board! Despite, the fact that. it has
been definitely established that MI
Bridwell did not supply The Advertiser
with the information upon which some
Of the stories relating to Captain Field
were based, as the selective draft off
Ger apparently believed he did, Field
refused yesterday to reconsider his
dismissal of Mr.. Bridwell.
As matter of fact, much of the
information to which the selective
draft officer seems to object came in
directly from him himself and is still
in existence in documentary form. 1t
was never mentioned by Mr.. Bridwell.
The only information obtained by The
Advertiser from Mr. Bridwell was that
number of FilipinOs, sent up from
,Hilo for the draft, but without papers,
were hungry, penniless and had no way
of obtaining either money or food. Mr..
Bridwel asked that The Advertiser en-
deavor to have something done to al
leviate the situation. He did not sug
gest that anybody was to blame.
Was Not Bridwell .
These men, sent to Honolulu through
an error which Captain Field lays to
the HilO draft board but which the
latter repudates and places squarely
at the door of Captain Field himself,
were without food from Friday morn
ing until Saturday noon, when Doctor
Westervelt, at his own expense, fed
them. 1t was not Mr.. Bridwell who
| supplied The Advertiser with the in,
! formation that when the matter was
br0ught to the attention of Captain
| Field, elected from him the reply that
they could go out and get jobs, although
there certainly was no chance for Fiji
pinos from the Island Of Hawaii to 90
| and find jobs for themselves on this
| island on Saturday afternoon. This
information was obtained elsewhere
Doctor Westervelt the next day ex
pressed his appreciation of the story
published in The Advertiser which led
| to the sugar interests taking up the
ease of the Filipinos and providing
them with food.
Captain Field later virtually assumed
responsibility for the men by saying
that If the sugar plantations did not
provide them with transportation back
| to HilO, the draft officials would.
The suggestion that plantations net
\ wrOngfully taken from their work 81
the Big Island, sent to Honolulu ahd
| then turned adrift here, And work OF
\ this island is not taken in good part by
the Hawaii plantation men, who are
! experiencing great difficulty In obtain
4 ing n supply of labor.
Were Fields Orders
| The question of who j.. responsible