Arizona republican., 1919-01-13
SOCIETY ISLANDS
 THREATENED MYTH
 EXTINCTION BY FIJI

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12-Threat- ened with extinction by influenza, the population of the Island of Tahiti, a French possession in the Society Is- lands group in the Pacific. has waited in vain word of the sending of relief in response to repeated and urgent wireless appeals, sent since early in December. The scourge has run it's course but plans for aid are proceed ing while answer to an official query is awaited.
 When the first cablegrams asking aid came, the American Red Cross. be- sieged with appeals from nearly every quarter of the globe, decided that noth- ing could be done for the distant island CTS. They hoped the epidemic would wear itself out in a few weeks, or long before a relief ship could make the voyage. More appeals came, and now the Red Cross, the state department and the French embassy are seriously considering plans for getting supplies, medicines and doctors to the stricken people. Replies were anXiously await ed today. to wireless messages sent to the island, asking for a report on pres ent conditions.
 More than one seventh of Tahitis population of about 12,000 inhabitants were dead month ago. and the older generation of natives practically was wiped out.
 Official information is meagre. but it coinsides with the story of the islands dreadful plight as told in dispatches from The Associated Press correspon- dent there.
 On the island are two doctors, one of whom is the American consul. Dr. Thomas B. Layton. Medical supplies l long ago became exhausted Dr. Iav- ton, as American consul, telegraphed the state department more than q month ago asking for aid, and the gov ernor of the island about the same time appealed to France. The French en- l bassy here also brought the case to the attention of the state department, which | turned he appeals over to the American l Red Cross.
 1 Investigation by she Red Cross l showed that it would take a. vessel 1 about six week to reach Tahiti from San 1 Francisco, and that none would be sail 1 ing for two months. Honolulu, 5000 miles away, was considered, as were 1 Wellington 2,400 miles, and the Island ] of Samoa, 1900 miles, but at these 1 points there were not sufficient medi- cal supplies on hand, and the doctors ana nurses cOuld not De spared.
 The French government feels unable
 to act directly because of the great
 distance. The only hope officials now think, is the immediate dispatch to the
 scene of either British or American de- stroyers in Pacific waters.
 A dispatch last month from The As
 sociated Press correspondent described the island as charnel place, with great | pyreS on which the bodies of the vic tins were thrown.
 Europeans and Americans who es- capped teh scourge had organized volun-
 teer corps, to give wht aid they could
 to relieve the suffering and dispose ot
 the dead. The disease already hat
 spread to Moorea, and it was feared i
 would sweep the entire Society group
 Tahiti is mountainous, volcanic
 island, and one of the beauty spots O
 the Pacific, with warm climate. Int
 chief commerce is shell and pearl fish
 cries and tropical fruits, amounting tt
 about $9,000,009 a year.