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7 


ANNEXATION OF HAWAII. 


SPEECH 


HON. RICHARD A. WISE, 


OF VIRGINIA, 


IN THE 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 


Tuesday, Junk 14, 1893. 


WASHINGTON. 
I898. 


*■ 


SF 


68676 


f 


<y x 


SPEECH 

OP 

HON. EI CHARD A. WISE. 


The House having under consideration the joint resolution (H. Res. 259) -to 
provide for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States- 
Mr. WISE said: 

Mr. Speaker: In the limited time that has been allotted me 
to discuss this question I will be compelled to confine myself to 
only a few points. I confess that up to a recent date I was op- 
posed to the annexation of any more territory by the United 
States, but a condition of things has arisen in connection with the 
war with Spain that in my opinion makes the annexation of Hawaii 
a military necessity, and I shall vote for it just as I voted to give 
the soldiers in camp the right to vote in our elections and as I 
voted for the war-revenue bill, in spite of the fact that it had been 
hampered by certain Senate amendments to which I am opposed, 
some of which I deemed inexpedient, and one of which I regarded 
as a violation of a principle which was advocated by the sound- 
4noney people of this country in 1896. 

• The responsibility for this latter amendment, namely, the com- 
^jpulsory coinage of one and one-half million dollars of silver 
monthly, I shall leave to those who fathered it. These measures 
are demanded by the exigencies of the times, and, being necessary 
to the successful conduct of the war and the upholding of the 
hands of the Administration now, I vote for them. When we rec- 
ognize that Hawaii is only about 2,100 miles from our Pacific coast, 
and that the heaviest battle ship, steaming at the rate of 15 miles 
an hour, can reach it in less than six days, and that it took more 
than that time for George Washington to move his army from 
the neighborhood of Philadelphia to Yorktown in 1781, we can see 
how conditions have changed since then and how thoroughly fal- 
lacious it is to quote, as others have done, the sayings of Wash- 
ington about the acquirement of other territory. The principles 
enunciated by Washington are correct, but the application of the 
principles vary under varying conditions. Since his day we have 
acquired much territory, some by conquest and some by purchase. 
Alaska is practically farther away from us than Hawaii. At 
any rate, Mr. Speaker, it appears to be a well-settled fact that the 
judgment of the American people demands this annexation, and 
as one of their representatives, since they are in favor of the ver- 
dict, I am not disposed to set myself up as the "stubborn twelfth 
juror. ; ' 

Naval battles were heretofore fought by ships with sails, that 
could be absent for years from their base of supply; to-day the 
most powerful battle ship is unable to exert her power either for 
3183 3 


offense or defense unless supplied with coal. It is said we have 
by treaty a coaling station in Hawaii which is sufficient to supply 
our needs in that direction. 

Will it not be as hard, or, indeed, harder, for us to defend this 
station in time of war should other nations assail it as it would 
be for us to defend the whole island as part of our territory? 
But, Mr. Speaker, all these questions have been gone over and 
more ably discussed than it is possible for me to do. I will con- 
fine myself solely to one objection which has been raised in oppo- 
sition to the annexation of this territory, namely, the existence of 
leprosy there. 

It has been said that we will be annexing a colony of lepers to 
spread the disease over the United States. " This shows the great 
ignorance on the part of some people in regard to this disease. 
What is leprosy? Osier, who is the author of one of our best and 
most modern works on medicine and who stands as high as any- 
one else in medical authority, defines it to be — 

A chronic infectious disease caused by the bacillus leprae, characterized by 
the presence of tubercular nodules in the skin and mucous membranes ( tuber- 
cular leprosy) or by changes in the nerves (anaesthetic leprosy). At first 
these forms may be separate, but ultimately both are combined, and in the 
characteristic form there are disturbances of sensation. 

The disease is widespread and there is a popular belief that it is 
on the increase. 
Osier says: 

It is one of the oldest of known diseases. At present it prevails widely 
particularly in hot countries. In India it is estimated that there are over 
^50,000 lepers. In Europe, where it prevailed in the Middle Ages, it has become 
almost unknown, except in Norway and the Orient. It exists in the Gulf 
States and extensively in Mexico. 

At Key West, Berger states that there are 100 cases, and Blanc found 40 
cases in New Orleans. In the Northwestern States a few cases exist among 
the Norwegian and Icelandic settlers. On the Pacific coast cases are seen 
not infrequently among the Chinese. 

An endemic focus is at Tracadie, New Brunswick; a few cases are also 
met with in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. At Tracadie, which is on a bay of 
the Oulf of St. Lawrence, the disease is limited to two or three counties 
which are settled by French Canadians. The disease was imported from 
Norway about the end of the last century. The cases are confined in a 
lazaretto, to which place they are sent as soon as the disease is manifest. I 
made a visit to the settlement two years ago with a medical officer, A. C. 
Smith, of Chatham, at which time there were only eighteen patients in the 
hospital. It is interesting to note that the disease was gradually diminished 
by segregation; formerly there were over forty under surveillance. 

The disease attacks all classes and persons of all ages. It is probably com- 
municated by contagion. Inoculation was successf uly performed by Arning 
in a Hawaiian convict. Graham, who, some years ago, carefully investigated 
the Tracadie settlement, came to the conclusion that the disease was very 
probably transmitted by contagion, and A. C. Smith, the present medical 
officer, tells me that he knows of no facts which are opposed to that view. It 
is, however, only contagious in the same sense as syphilis, and just as acci- 
dental contamination with this virus is extremely rare so it is with leprosy. 
The closest possible contact may take place for years, as between parent and 
child, without transmission, and not one of the Sisters of Charity who have 
for more than forty years so faithfully nursed the lepers at Tracadie has 
contracted the disease. 

It is difficult to explain the rapid spread of the disease in the Sandwich 
Islands on any other view than contagion, and yet it is strange that there is 
no evidence of a primary lesion or external sore comparable to that of syphilis. 
Morrow states that— 

In the immense majority of cases the disease is propagated by sexual con- 
gress. The disappearance of the disease in the Middle Ages no doubt resulted 
from isolation enforced at that time. The disease had possibly, in some in- 
stances, been transmitted by vaccination. Hereditary transmission can not 
be excluded, and there is no good reason why the disease should not be com- 
municated, as in syphilis, from parent to child. 


Hansen, of Bergen, first discovered this organism, which has many points 
of resemblance to the bacillus tuberculosis, but can be differentiated from it. 
It occurs in extraordinary numbers in the tuberculous tissue. It has been 
cultivated successfully (Bales), but inoculation experiments on animals have 
been negative. 

I quote this high authority, as it clearly defines the disease much 
better than I could. My object is to show that, while it is a dis- 
ease that is hard to cure by medicine and which is very chronic, 
running from three to twenty-two years in the tnberculated cases 
and in the anaesthetic cases running from five to thirty-five years, 
its ability of contagion is very slight. 

The words infection and contagion here, it is well to say, can 
not well be separated and defined differently in the light of the 
modern germ theory. A man may take into his system a germ 
that has emanated from the body of another and become infected 
through the atmosphere or by the water he drinks, or he may by 
actual contact with a person be infected by the germ direct. 
These are confusing terms for many, but they may be regarded 
almost as convertible. 

It is not my intention to give a dissertation upon medicine, but 
simply to state that the most enlightened medical opinions of to- 
day show that by proper cleanliness and nutritious food and the 
isolation of infected subjects this disease may be stamped out. 
For years past in the Hawaiian Islands a colony for the segrega- 
tion of lepers has been established at Molokai; but while the num- 
ber of lepers on these islands has diminished to a considerable ex- 
tent under this system, the safeguards which have been thrown 
around the colony to prevent the spread of the disease have been 
defective in many respects. Friends and kokuas (or helpers) have 
been permitted to associate on the most intimate terms with the 
lepers. These kokuas receive no rations from the Government, 
and in many instances are reported as having tried to catch the 
disease that they might be fed and clothed and furnished with 
tobacco free of cost as the lepers were. 

In an article on " Leprosy in Hawaii," published in Berlin at the 
time of the recent international leprosy conference, and written 
by Dr. J. Ashburn Thomason, of Sydney, he says: 

As the good management of the settlement became better known and na- 
tives began to see that lepers, once deported, had no cares, but were fed, 
clothed, and furnished with tobacco, without any need to work for the rest 
of their lives, many persons actually sought to acquire the disease in order 
that they might share that fortunate lot. So that while all natives would 
without hesitation, and apparently without noticing the unsightly and some- 
times disgusting aspect presented by the lepers, continue to live in ordinary 
household intimacy with them, there sprung up a number who are reputed 
to have actually done their best to acquire leprosy. 

As regards natives outside the settlement, Mr. Meyer told me that he had 
recently reproved a dozen men whom he found eating out of the same poi 
bowl with a tuberculated leper advanced in illness (poi being eaten by dip- 
ping the fingers in the sticky mass and sucking them); but the only answer 
he got from the party was given by one who at last said, sententiouslv, " Do 
you call it a bad disease? I say it is good. If I catch it, what then? I shall 
go to the settlement and work no more. 1 ' As regards natives already within 
the settlement, though not affected. Dr. Swift, at that time resident physi- 
cian, wrote to the board in 1892: "Let it be understood (for I can prove it) 
that to be a leper is a desideratum; if not on the outside, it is so at the settle- 
ment; " and, "Let me state that I can at any time get twenty or twenty-five 
Kokuas to submit to inoculation with a view of contracting the disease, to 
the end that they may be endowed with the privileges and supplied with the 
rations of the regular leper." 

Strange to say, in spite of these disgusting facts and the laxity 
of the segregation of the lepers, only a very few of these Kokuas 

8488 


contracted the disease. The original holders of the territory on 
which the settlement is located, known as Kamaainas, and who 
live there still on their property, have been singularly exempt 
from the disease, although they associate constantly with the 
lepers. The report of the American representative to the Berlin 
conference has not yet been printed, but I have ascertained that 
said report will confirm the idea that leprosy may be stamped out 
by proper quarantine regulations. Much confusion existed as to 
the true character of this disease prior to the isolation of the 
bacillus lepra?. Now its real nature is understood, and its ex- 
termination or confinement to a few localities maybe well assured 
by proper legislation and governmental control. 

Despite the large number of lepers in India it was stated by Dr. 
Phineas S. Abraham, of London, before the Berlin conference, 
as follows: 

In 1889 Sir James N. Dick, K. C. B.,the director of the medical department 
of the navy, informed me that "not a single case of leprosy among the of- 
ficers or men of the navy could be traced in the office," and at the same 
date the late Sir Thomas Crawford, K. C. B., director of the army medical 
department, could discover but little evidence of the disease among the Brit- 
ish troops. Only one case, indeed, had come to light, viz, in a soldier taken 
in Madras, whose fattier was an Irishman and mother a native. Sir Thomas 
Dick has also, upon the present occasion, kindly investigated the matter, and 
he has been able to state again that no case of leprosy has ever occurred in 
the navy. 

The present director-general of the army medical department 
has also been good enough to have the records of the service again 
examined, and it appears that — 

During the past ten years only one case of leprosy has been reported to 
have occurred among the British troops and non-European troops (exclu- 
sive of native troops) in India. This case appears in the annual report for 
the Madras command for the year 1893. It is probably the one referred to 
above. 

I could multiply these statistics to a great extent, but I have 
not time, nor will I worry you with such quotations. I will con- 
clude by quoting the following. 

In the transactions of the American Dermatological Association 
for 1883 a report by Drs. Fox and Graham is given which em- 
bodies the results of their combined investigations. The follow- 
ing ten propositions were submitted by them as their deductions 
from the facts observed: 

First. Leprosy is a constitutional disease, and in certain cases appears to 
be hereditary. 

Second. It is undoubtedly contagious by inoculation. 

Third. There is no reason for believing that it is transmitted in any other 
way. 

Fourth. Under certain conditions a person may have leprosy and run no 
risk of transmitting the disease to others of the same household or com- 
munity. 

Fifth. It is not so liable to be transmitted to others as is syphilis in its early 
stages. There is no relation between the two diseases. 

Sixth. Leprosy is usually a fatal disease, its average duration being from 
ten to fifteen years. 

Seventh. In rare instances there is a tendency to recover after the disease 
has existed for many years. 

Eighth. There are no valid grounds for pronouncing the disease incurable. 

Ninth. Judicious treatment usually improves the condition of the patient 
and often causes a disappearance of trie symptoms. 

Tenth. There is ground for the hope that an improved method of treat- 
ment will in time effect the cure of leprosy, or at least that it will arrest and 
control the disease. 
3188 


Walter Wyinan, M. D., Supervising Surgeon-General United 
States Marine-Hospital Service, in the Medical News of June 16, 
1894, in an article on the national control of leprosy, says: 

National control of leprosy within the United States has been frequently 
advocated, particularly by State and municipal boards of health when find- 
ing such cases upon their hands and desirous of being relieved of their care. 
The arguments for such control, of course, are based upon the presumption 
of the contagiousness of the disease (even though moderately contagious), 
and also upon the claim that where no segregation of cases or no supervision 
of cases not colonized is enforced the disease gradually increases in preva- 
lence and that where segregation and colonization have been enforced the dis- 
ease has been made to disappear. 

Granted that the danger of contagion is small: granted, in the language of 
another, that a case of leprosy within a family should be regarded with less 
concern in its relation to the health of the remaining members of the family 
than a case of tuberculosis; granted that the disease appears chiefly among 
the lower classes. In the movement which is now only near the starting 
point, but which promises to be a controlling movement, and which will 
inark the close of the present century and the beginning of the next, so far 
as medical science is concerned, as distinctly as any other evidence of progress 
in the healing art (1 refer to the settled resolution to exterminate every con- 
tagious disease), it would appear to be incumbent on the profession to leave 
nothing undone to exterminate this, together with other communicable dis- 
eases. Now, with regard to national control, there are two considerations 
involved. 

First. Does the right of national control exist? 

Second. If it does, how may that right be exercised? 

Concerning the first consideration, I find a difference of opinion among 
eminent medical men with whom I have conversed, based upon their differ- 
ent views regarding the Constitution of the United States. A strict con- 
structionist will inform you that the United States Government can only 
legislate in accordance with powers expressly delegated by the Constitution, 
and that the general-welfare clause of the Constitution applies as a qualify- 
ing clause to the specified prerogatives— that the latter are only granted 
when necessary for the general welfare. 

The Doctor says again: 

For this purpose, and that Congress may be assured that the medical pro- 
fession and sanitary officers had not acted upon insufficient premise, it is 
suggested that a leprosy commission should be appointed, of three or five 
members, to make report upon the prevalence of leprosy in the United States 
and the necessity and proper method of its control. A preliminary bill might 
be introduced, empowering the President to appoint such a commission, and 
as the success of the bill would be enhanced if' it called for an additional ap- 
propriation, there might be included a provision setting aside a portion of 
what is known as the "epidemic fund " to meet the expense of this commis- 
sion. "Whether a national leper hospital would be the result of this action or 
not, a commission of this character would cause a sense of relief to the people 
of the United States, whatever its conclusions, either affirmative or negative, 
as to such an establishment. As for myself, I believe that leprosy should be 
under national control. 

Mr. Speaker, I heartily concur in the ideas expressed by Dr. 
Wyman, and I think this Congress should at once take measures 
to pass such a bill. I also favor a national quarantine law as the 
one method by which we can prevent and control the spread of 
any infectious diseases in the United States. I believe, sir, that 
our forefathers in constructing the Constitution gave us under 
the general-welfare clause ample powers to protect the people 
against disease. I am not one of those who believe in that paretic 
view of the Constitution that is taken by certain " statesmen " 
whom we find here crying out for a crippled and narrow-minded 
construction of that instrument. We are now truly one people, 
and the Constitution is sufficiently elastic to protect us in every 
way. 

By taking a few of the islands of the sea we are but extending 
our pickets for the protection of our homes. Along with the mil- 
itary features of this extension I have particularly dwelt with this 

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019 944 355 


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subject of leprosy, as it is much misunderstood by our people. It 
is a loathsome disease, but not beset with the horrors with which 
it is painted. I have said nothing that is original, but I believe it 
all to be true, in the light of modern medical knowledge. It may 
be well for people to know it, and to disabuse their minds of the 
scarecrow which some people have attempted to make of it. The 
power, the energy, and the inventive genius of the United States 
I believe is capable to meet any emergency and protect itself and 
its people against any conditions that may hereafter arise. Let 
us use this power for the good of the people in every way, and let 
us, in the light of modern science, adopt an advanced and liberal 
policy whereby we may overwhelm our enemies, whether they 
come as martial hosts in all the panoply of war or in the insidious 
forms of disease. I will add that it is estimated there are about 
250 lepers in the United States. 


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