The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 2, 1896, Page 17

" therefo: THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 1896‘ It Is Braver to’ : It has nappened to each of zis that alone we have come irom a-great nnknown; we live out the" span called life with ‘he same passions, emotions, sweeping over our souls, and later we go alors into the infinity bévond. Those are the main conditions in life’s problem; pivilization has compli- cated matters for us by evolvinz powerful forces, intellectual and ethical; and now, at this close of the nineteenth century, s0 great is the need for.light ‘on-the subject, that a great “Is life ‘worth living? Is'suicide -The wholé universe is governed by far-reaching Obedience to law is the paper must needs ask, justifiable?” - law. All evélution ‘shows lgw. - great. rule of the universe. . It is the law that man shall be born; shall live, ind shall die when the time comes in the due process of law. This " cannot be broken without result somewhere, soméhow, any more than ¢én any other well-determined 1aw; even.if there were not ary ethical reasoning to guide us. teachings of Christianity enter into the problem,. there is an unwritten standard, which will not let a man go down before True brevery never consists in.laying down arms. - defeat. It means stay by the fizht till the finish! Life is. great, forceinl, mighty, o: infinite possibilities— to belived out to the.end, be that end bitter or siweet. may govern its conditions if.'we try—we cannot end them. No laws can be 1hade for' one individual only—no one can make laws for nimself, neither may hé break the-laws, Written or unwritten, “which gayern the human race. * But because we-know the exceeding bitterness of .life conditions—because. with infinjte ‘sympathy we_divine the. pathos in our'neighbors’ lives—we might muéh oftener take . a comrade by the hand and say, “‘Friend, let me_-help thee - over the hard place in thy road, it will’ be thy turn later on . 2 Morrie E: CONNERS. - t0 be helpful.” : rrrry Most Suicides Insane I believe that 95 per cent of the -people ‘who .commit sui- cide are insane or-laboring under temporary averration of Perhaps the percentage is too.small. There, are exceptionally few persons who will: deliberately take their the mind. own lives, for two reasons. In tie first place suicide, rather than being an act of ‘requires a tremiendous dea) of - cmxmuvek if it be - cowardice, corsciously committed. Secondly, people who would. so m:hzlv dxepose of - thexr own lives have no belief in ‘moral responsibility, nor ‘in the compensatory forces of the spiritual life,:for the knowledge that they descénd into darkness.and.annihilation would neutralize the physical: courage lhey might have to take their own lives. So suicide being. generally an act for which che ‘mind is nsible, it is almost useless to set up.the question of To be sute it is not justifiable if we that 1t can be a sane act, but'the argument against the fiability ¢f it has been presented: o often that it is noL not resp: g jastifiable. necessary to say another word about it. Jacos VeorgaNczr! Thinks Dr. Gustav Eisen, curatbr of microscopy of the Academ¥ ot Sciences and discoverer of the independence of the centrosome, said: **I'suppose that my views on suicide sre iikeély to shock a great many people, particularly when I say thai I think that.under many circumstances self-destruction is a good thing. In fact, I think that it should be encouraged. “Tome there is no dlswrace in some peoble commlmng suicide. the best and most useful- act 6f their lives: their-own lives. had no regard for those around him, people: It Al Bgerids—.—. Oaptain I.'W. Lees; chief of the detec- tive force of this City, does not belisve in the moral right of - a man to take-his life, biit his beliefis qualified. - He says: *It all depends on "circumstaAces. Sup-" pose a man is sick, and_that he knows he must die;- doctors whom' he_trusts have ° told him sp, and he feels it himself. pose he is in'pdin, and to Hveé is.on prolong his sufferings: _Hasn’t- he the right toend it all at mue! T .own I’ don’t-like to -av exactlv whether he “has the right or not: People may hot credit it, but I am" 'a good churchman and a believer in-the Bible: 1 am.satisfied to .take: what the Bible says, and suicide is'forbidder in tlie Bible:”- - »y e 2 . ’ S If'a-Good Thing— So the newspapers are taking interest in the “prevailing epidemic?’ It 1s time, for,” if suicide 1s a good thing we can’t have too much of it and the sooner we all ‘take our- selves off -and thts sdlve the ‘‘destiny of the race” the better. But‘if bad it'isa good time to.make quest of_ the cpuse. * Of this the lengthening ddily list is proof. But really it .is not a.matter of wonder " that so man¥ of thé landlords belpless, hopeléss slaves commit suicide. " There is no secret abont.it.. The marvel is that so many of ‘théem don’t. When Hope of ob- taining tHe nieans to a rational existenee Tras utterly fled it requires far more cour- age to live than to die... Hunger, want and the fear—no, the certainty of more and worse in store.sc erervate the character and. destroy the moral® force that there is nothing left” for that courage to feed on which is-reguisite to continué the =tru gle against the-dreadful odds. The i tion of land ownership hasa dead cinch” on the earth—the means df existence, The massis of men, women and children ve only on such terms as the owhers of the earth see fit to impose.. The _‘ternvs are limited ‘only by the avarice of the earshiowners. ~Abolish the institu- _tion of lnndbwnerlhlp, swing wide open - the-gates that saut men off the unused larid; _proclaim industrial freedém to the hmm;ung heart-bréken slaves,and suicide will ;pee(filv ‘be as a tale that is told. - . Jaxes S. REYNOLDS: *r ¥ AII Snctdes Are. Insane A. S Ilnlhd,le, ex-president of the Me- chanids Institute, said: “It is a subjedt “'that has- employed the thcught and specu- “lations of men from the earliest times. Libraries of books have been ¥ritten upon the topic, and yet, it remains ag obscure as at the beginping; a matter upon which * every man must form his own opinion if he cares to hawe one. " For myself, I be- “clieve that no sane man commm suicide. The act is, tmmy mind, an evidence of in- sanity, however sane the person may have appeased immediately before the act. The - hereaffer? We do not know ahont-that. ‘Men are placed here for a purpose no doubt.” We cannot say that when a man reaches that point where he himself cuts off his own life he has not by that very sign accomplished hisdestiny. Whoshall say that it is an interruption—that there might have been more for him to do? It is my beliei, as I say, that a man who commits suicide must be insane. - earthly existence,” Lrve JANUARY, 1896, 4th—ROBERT H. MOORE, pistol. 14th—E. L. MOLASS, pistol. 20th—E. F. MYNOTT, pistol. -23d—ALBERT MORATH, pistol. FEBRUARY. 7th—BERNARD LIGHTHOLD, pistol. 8tn—FRANK CACTEC, drpwnizg. 21st—MICHAEL COHN, carbolic acid. 2d—JOHN DOLAR, pistol. 25th—FRED KAIES, cut his throat. 28th—MRS. J. FONCLERE; coal gas. 28th—CYRUS CREGA, drowning. i MARCH. " 1st—GABRIEL BISHOP, arsenic. . 1st—JAMES MACK, opium. Not letting the We' 5th-—JOHN H. PETERS, pistol. GAGGI, cut his throat. . : VILLIAM GILUS, drowning. . 18th—BERTHA L. BRYANT, carbolic acid. 23d—JAY -GORDON, shot himselt. th—JOHN M. GRAY, pistol. th—HENRY MONTFARRAN, pistol. th—E. H. HATHERTON, drowning. th—PHILIP RAMOS, cut his throat. 31s1—MRS. OLGA DUESS, asphyxia by gas APBIL. 4th—GIUSSEPPINE ALBERA, strychnine. 4th—C. H. WARDER, shot himself, 12th—MARY BLAINE, carbolic acid. 15ta—H. HANSON, drowning.’ 18th—JOHN MUTH, shot himself. - 19th—JACOB SCHAERTZER, pistol. 21st—ERNEST WEBER, hanging. ~ 21st—CHRIST ‘HELM, hanging. 80th— 30th—T. H. MONAGHAN, coal gas. 30th—ALBERT LANGENBERGER, carboli MAY. 30—MAE KLINE, shot herselt. 5th—GEORGE.A. HAAG, strychnine. - 6th—ALEX ANDREWS, p'isrox. 13th—MARIE EISMA: . 15th—WILLIAM GAULATZ, carbolic acid. 19th—JOHN BRADLEY, arsenic. Sl Sl B Fowerazed What Dreams May Come! Shakespesra says. ‘On that the Everlasdng had not fixed His canon ’gainst self-slaughtcx‘” Generally speaking suicide scarcely seems a justifiable means of terminating one’s ennhly career. Itis frequently considered as a cowardly es¢ape from difficulties that might be'readily overeome by a little further exercise of personal ", determination. 1 do not think such a sweeping gsnemhzx- tioh is" aitogether warrantable. From one point of view it requires less courage to live, because we have a réasonable knowledge of what to-morrow may bring us, whereas the future is to many an unknown conntry, and to such people that plunge into the dark it requires some considerable courage. Punishment in the oid-fashioned sense I do not believe - in. Instead, I affirm the doctrine of consequence. That is * to say, the consequences of a man’s life become the deter- mining factors to his personal ¢ondition hereafter. Suicide is resorted to ta escape mental, moral or affec- tional worries, disgraces or dxsnppomzmems. Now, unless by the act the individual can destroy those portions of his nature he must necessarily take them with him with all that belongs to them at the time when he so unceremo- niously shuffled off the mortal coil. . As a matter of fact, he merely changes his condition of existence but not his state of consciousness. This fact, for fact it is, is the strongest argnment against and the greatest condemnation of suicide. ‘As we can never know the innermost thoughts of our fellow:creatures, it is unwise and unjust to condemn even the apparently most unreasonsble suicide. J. J. Morse. - Lecturer of California Psychical Society. *rr ey When a Man Is Useless : fs a man justified in comxmmng suicide? Will 8. Green, the United States Surveyor-General, thinks that he is—under certain, circumstances. . . .“Yes, there are times when a man is perfectly justified, ‘and is even to be commended for putting an end to his said the efficial who is better known as the editor of the Colusa Sun. “When a man believes that he is of no use to himself, to his family or to his country, and doés not believe in a life hereafter, I think the best thing he can do is to end an existence thatisa misery to himself and a burden to bis family or to the community. ] believe 1n a God and in a hereafter, but I believe that "God in passing judzment upon such a case as I have cited .will consider the causes that led to such a result and not to ‘the going to sleep,’ which clesrly resilted from other causes for which the person was responsible. God will no deubt pass judgment according to general natural laws in- stead of on special laws for one act, the act of taking one’s * life. Would you not suppose that the punishment would .be’as great for the atts that lead to self-destruction as it woudd be if the miserable man had decided to drag out a miserable existence for many years longer? I think it would, and therefore I justify a man not desiring to inflict his miserable presence upon a community when he is even a nuisance to himself.” ] L B 2 R . From a Spiritualist spmtnuhshc nh:losopby teaches us not to commit sui- cide, because in that other existence we do not get rid either of our wrouble or ourselves. We recognize the fundamental fact that man 18 8 spirit and that at death he only changes his environment but does not mitigate the evils of this state. According to our belief 8 man cannot escape the reaping of bis sowing. 4 Personally I believe suicide, under certain eircumstances, is perfectly justifiable. If I were being eaten up by a cancer or any other incurable malady, so that my life’s continua- tion meant only menace to the living, I'shourd take the exit by the shortest routeand relieve both my fellows and myself. Stili, I wouid not wish to say any more that might encour- age the mania. There must be something radically wrong with civilization that canses people to make away with themselves, rezard- less of the consequences. Dz. N. 8. Ravuix, 28th—THOMAS L. ADLINGTON, morphine. 1st—WILLIAM H. BYRNES, cut his throat. '23d—CHARLES SCHEFFER, cut his thmt cf In fact, many peop!e would be committing The .old vikings of Northern Europe always made it a practice to end If history is to be believed, it wns a disgrace for them to die 1n bed, as it indicated that the person The'old mén who had.'survived many long years of battle, as soon as they felt that they were not fit to fight as they did in the old days made it a practice to jump off a precipice and be crushed to.death dt the hottom.” These rhen received ah honorable funeral and were revered in the legends of the But those who were:too cowardly to end the\r existence, and, instead, waited in bed for the arrival of deathi, ‘were simply hauled to the phwe of burial and “everything was done to keep them from being remembered. In the casé of brave yuung men who died of uncoaquerable dmeasea such rules were of course cast aside. “But there is another side-to the question, and that is when a man who is a help to the nation and a head of a family commits suicide to ris d himself of His own troubles. .Such action is to be despised, as it is selfishness.”” of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them”-—The Melancholy Dane. B SOME LATTER-DAY OPINIONS Mote Prevalent Than We Think It would be very interesting in this connection to know how many of us have entertained the idea of suicide for ourselves, so as to consider the prefer- able form of it; and how far we are actually reserving for ourselves the possi- bility of it, and on what grounds. It would be more than interesting to make this.inquiry; it would be supremely helpful in the way of a fair examination of the whole subject. Within the memory of some of us there hasoccurred among the thoughtful of the world a change of mind in regard to future rewards and punishments that is almost unparalleled in the history of thought for rapidity, radicalness and importance. Men, with more or less consciousness of what they were doing, have thrown off the idea of a God and future state of arbitrary rewards and punishments, and are coming under the inward restraints of the idea of a God and future state of mercy, certainly limited only by regard for man’s free- dom, but of exact—natural and inevitable—justice—requiring that which has been given. But this, as an interior basis of judgment, is to most minds so far indefinite, open to various interpretation and evasion, and needing for its full efficacy a training of mind and conscience that we are but slowly subjecting ourselves or our children to. At first glance, too, it seems easy upon our self- indulgences, and we promptly avail ourselves of the letting-down; but, in its working, it is very terrible, excluding absolutely ail vicariousness and inter- cession in the sense of remission of penalty; all of propitiation of an arbitrary will; all postponement, even of judgment, and leaving us stripped of our ap- pearances, naked 1n the presence of truth. It works back also to the half- admitted justification of suicide, and, above all, to the beginnings of suicide in the trifling with life, in the practices of selfishness that are justified by the plea that it concerns no one but ourselves. What else than this falsity is the thought of the modern rich that they may do what they will with their own? I believe that suicide in its essence is far more prevalenteven than we bave assumed; that it is present in all idle crifling with the gifts of God of all kinds; and that if we could but see in the light of heaven the act or neglect of act of many of us every day of our life that is suicidal in its essence, it would be more shocking than the mostrevolting suicide. I believe in condemningin strongest terms the cowardice, the fatuity, the wickedness of the sunicide, but I believe the evil will be eradicated only as we see and labor at its roots. REV. JosePH WORCESTER, Pastor Swedenborgian C hurch, Coward or Insane Very few suicides occur except under great mental strain, or through a desire to escape the consequences of some pre- vious act. They would rather flee from the ills they know rot of than bear those from which they are made to suffer in this world. 1 do not consider it justifiable for any human being to take his own life, for it is either done through cowardice or while laboring under mental aberration. In the one case it is unmanly and unphilo- sophical, but in the other, of course, there is no moral responsibility. E. Brack Ryaw, Tax Agent Southern Pacific. Man Comes Back to Live A.garn The prevalence of suicide among Western people is due entirely to wrong conceptions of ife. These 1n their turn are the result of materialistic teach- ings of both religion and philosophy. The pure materialist flouts the idea that although in the midst of eternity he will ever have other than a fleeting glimpse of sentient life. For him the tragedy of existence consists of one act, and then the curtain is rung down forever. Egotism and ignorance have led men in the West to fancy themselves a class of beings having nothing in common with the rest of nature. Did they but recognize that God is in every portion of the universe, working out in each the divine will by infinitely varying methods, they would begin to suspect that the stupendous processes of evolution, going on all about them in nature, and occupying untold eons of time, might have some significance for the human soul itself, but another manifestation of Divinity. Looking at life from this larger viewpoint, we must believe that manis a portion of his planet, and that he will remain and evolve upon it until it can no longer afford him new, helpful, conscious experiences. And this is the theory to which a very large majority of the people of the earth subscribe un- der the name of reincarnation. Reincarnation is the very process of human evolution. v For the law of cause and effect is the unalterable will of God, and all evo- lution, human or not, must proceed under'its inflexible decrees. Therefore, as an individual center of conscience, the soul—and each soul—nas of its own free will evolved that character which has made its present experiences necessary, no matter how unbappy they may be. Nature is infinitely wise and infinitely just, and it is her will, expressed in the law of causé and effecf, whick has brought to the sufferer just those experiences necessary to correct some evil or vicious trait, or to balance evil he has inflicted upon others in some past life. Therefore the suicide is a rebel against the Infinite; one who is trying to evade the consequences of his own acts. He cannot succeed. Torn out of the body with the thought of suicide .dominating his whole being, it will remain the dominating thought during years of untola agony. He will repeat in his imagination all the grewsome details of his suicide, year after year, trying in vain to escape from himself. No power in heaven nor upon earth can preventthis, for he has appealed to the infinite law of cause and effect, and he must abide its action. JEROME A AxpersoN, M.D., F. T. 8. L O Suicide Cowardly and Unmanly 1 cannot imagine any circumstances that would justify a man in commit- ting suicide. Suicide is, from my point of view, a cowardly and an unmanly act. The true man will endure with fortitude whatever fate has in store for him, and bravely live out his allotted span of life. Committing suicide is like deserting in the face of the enemy. There is nothing heroic in it. My ideal hero is the man who stays with the fight to the end whatever betides. 1 believe that the prevalence of suicide is both a sign and a proof of the ex- istence of social disease in the body politic. I also believe that the disease is remediable and curable. Poverty ana fear of want are undoubtedly responsi- ble for a very large proportion of the suicides that occur in civilized society. Baut neither involuntary poverty nor the dread of it could have any existence in a system of civilized society based upon principlesof justice and reason. To assert the contrary is to blaspheme the Maker as well as to write the asserter . down as an ignoramus. We do know that poverty is not due ‘to the niggardliness of nature, nor to the oversight of the Cre- ator. We know that its existence and its persistence are due to the violation of God’s law of justice. We propose to abolish all man-made laws that restrict men in the exercise of their natural right to the use of the earth and rob them of the means of securing a comfortable subsisience during their sojourn on it. ‘When we have succeedec in attaining this object through the instrumentality of the single-tax there will be no provocation and no excuse for suicide. : JosEPH LEGGETT. Prr ey ’ e 1.1 Some Higher Responsibility Lieutenant Frank Greene, signal officer of the Department of California, U. 8. A., velieves suicide is unjustifiable and, as a rule, the result of cowardice. “Suicide is wrong,”” he said. **No man hasany right to take his life—that is, Idon’t think he has. There must be some higher responsibility on mankind, he must owe something to a higher power. He cannot know why he is here on this earth, and to leave it by means of suicide is shirking his responsibility as a man—it is cowardice. “I know there ate men old and sick and apparently useless to themselves and to every one else, but they may be happy in their own way, Anrl they may be fulfilling some destiny. A man’s life is not his own—I don’t think it is—it may belong elsewhere, to his family, for insiance, or his country, or to some higher power—it is not given him to lay dewn as he pleases. He has a respon- sibility upon him to live and bear his share of the burdens of this life. He has. no right to desert. Suicide is wrong—it is cowardly,” -hether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows 21st—ALVA E. SHEPHERD, cut his throat. 22d—CAPTAIN A. N. SMITH, opium. 25th—CHARLES REDECKER, shot nimself. 28th—JOHN COHEN, shot himself. 28th—UNKNOWN MAN, hanging. 80th—WILLIAM P. JOHNSTON, coal gas. 30th—F. N. SCHNEIDER, coal gas. 30th—JACOB ABRAMS, coal gas. 81st—KARL EKMAN, shot himself. JUNE. 1st—FLORENCE FERRELL, morphine. 3d—WILLIAM SPRATT, carbolic acid. 3d—DAVID REINERTSON, coal gas. 4th—T. NISHMURA, coal gas. 3d—H. H. JOSEPH, shot himself. 7th—MRS. LILLIE SWANSON, carbollc acid. 7th—MRS. MINA MCDOUGALL, pistol. 8th—JOHN H. ANDERSON, pistol. 10th—CHRISTIAN SCHUERUR, pistol. 12th—GUSTIN L. KEADING, laudanum, 13th—ORRICK N. MARYE, pistol. ; 15th—EDUARD RUDOLPH, cut an artery. 20th—WILLIAM GOTTLIEBE, shot himself. 218t—AUGUSTIN SCHMIDT, cut his thro 21st—D. C. C#R PENTER, drowning. 23d—GEORGE SIUTZ, shot himself. . 26th—DR. WILLIAM CROOME, coal gas. 30th—C. H. MILLER, coal gas. 30th—RALPH WILD, opium. JULY. 4th—FBANK G. SMITH, coal gas. 4th—GEORGE WALLENROD, pistol. 5th—WILLLA?Z HANSON, coal gas. 5th—WILLIAM W. MCCORMACK, coal gas. 5th—SIMON ASKINGS, coal gas. 8th—JACOB DIETRICK, coal gas. 12th—CHRIS LUTZ, drowning. 15th—MRS. MARY MATTI, carbolic acid. 15th—HARRY LUTHER, pistol. 18th—CAMILLO FERRARI, pistol. 18th—JOHN W. NEWELL, morphine. 21st—JOHN HERZMAN, nitric acid. 22d—HOLLIS W. COX, rough on rats. 24th—ALBERT L. STETSON, pistol. 24th—MRS. CLARA OLSEN, coal gas. 17 For Man Is Born Agarn The prevalence of suicide in San Francisco is not ‘to the contemplative mind surprising. The frantic strains after an artificial existence; the self- ishness and every form of uncharitableness; ambition for material gain at costs mostiniquitous; intemperance, greed, haste, waste of the precious nervous energy;. the insatiable ° thirst for sensation which makes hard and inhuman-the conditions of this century’s end, are, one and nll sources of self-destruction. The intense suffering which must precede a deed so mh should render the suicide, even under conditions most ro- volting, a creature desarvmg sympathy and reverence. from his surviving fellow-men—for we know not what act. of our own, thoughtless, ignorant or ill-advised, may have ° caused the untimely taking off of a brogher or sister. Each . ‘thought and deed should, therefore, be so regulated in our ° lives as to make impossible the xmplantmg of bm,erneu, desolation or desperation. R In the soul—that wondrous wor'd with one inhabitant— there are heights and depths and powers and possibilities, inconceivable to the imagination of mortal man. This alon® makes suicide an incomparable tragedy, not solely by Teason ° of the devastating depression widely perversxva to humlmly as a whole, but likewise for the harmony in nature which is’ thereby disturped, the long suspension, in the pmzrewon of . spiritual life. . The suicide cannot enter‘into the sweet repose of Knrmu & Loca nor the celestial satisfaction of Denachan, because he has not earned them; he must, in consequence of ‘the’ viv-, - lation of immutable law, be reborn-on exactly the sams plane of consciousness which he has sought to escape, . and thus wear out his allottéd earth 1if8, with all his miseries intensified, multiplied by compound rate of-interest...* .- ‘Whnen the co-operative shall have taken the place of ‘the, cruel com petitive system; when the mstennl is repllced AN the spiritual in human calculation; when leisure is wrestéd.’ from inordinate activity; cynicism'supplanted by reverence and deference; contempt eradicated by, kindness, and ostqn- tation no longer nsurps the plnce of simplicity ; when seren- ity rules where feverish haste now holds- sway, suicides will: ° % be a relic of the savage past. Euce~Nia KELLoGG ‘Horues: . ° The spmt should leave this existence as i‘ho Npenedo grain and gradually pass into that othér world-as the thind passes from wakefulness to sleep. Thére aré circumst-nces, " though, that to- my mind would render sujpide ]ustiflnbla.. 1f one were stricken with a loathsome disease that meant a -* lingering deathr } believe that.were the end hastened the person would be justified in so doing. .I have heard the theory expressed that undeveloped spirits are the cause of suicide, but I can hardly understand how this could be so: ., man can really commit suicide. caused him to be miserable, but he.cannot escape his own way of regarding his environ'menu, v'g.hlch s is really the cause of his unhappiness. He cannot realize the effect of good or evil . deeds done by him in this life unless his existence is continuous. S ‘‘What does the good that a man may do in seventy years amount to in consideration of what may be done in eternal life? It has been argued that consciousness is due to motion. science has succeeded in measuring and recording the motions which so result. sciousness is caused by motion without establishing a similar successful and accurate test, which never can be done: What is that whicb we call material? Is it not materal to you simply because you perceive it to be so? In some period of existence every person may realize the evil in bim sufficiently to have the:evil become a regenerating O influence. Some crimes cause those who commit them to be shocked so at their own dspr“uy that they aru . 5 thereby turned to better ways. Itis possible that a suicidal attempt may be a turning point. " The teachings of - the State University are all in opposition to suicide. Probably very few of those who attejupt to faketheir own - lives have ever read a book of philosopny. 5 B 2 BB 24th—JOSEPH FRANTZ, pistol. 24th—JACOB BILL, shot himself. 24th—UNKNOWN MAN, drowning. 26th—MRS. MARIA SCOTT, coal gas. 30th—WILLIAM H. WYMAN, pistol. When Men Beheve They Exrst Forever Professor G. H. Howison, who occupies the chair of philosophy at the University of California, uys thn n the environments which, he He may escape from Man is an immortal being. AMansfoeIersOwn I think every man onght to be nllowed to decide the ques- tion for himself whether he should take hisown life. I think it would be a crime for any one to advise or encourage another to commit suicide. But there might be circum- stances under which it might be the wisest thing a mar could do to put an end to his own existence. Where the circumstances are such that a perfectly sane man clearly sees that the prolongation of his lite will only result in misery and unhappiness to himself and to others he might wisely determine to end it. This, of course, is altogether apart from any religious be- lief. A man who believes in religious doctrines has noright to take his life under any circumstances, for it would be a sin for him to do so. A man’s life belongs to himself, and he has the right to quit it if it becomes too burdensome. Wisniax H. BEATTY. 2 rr e Henry M. Clement’s Guess Henry N. Clement said: “It all depends. Circum- stances and conditions must temper our judgment of sui- cide and the sunicide as they should everything else. When a man has lost his honor, when he is irredeemable in this life, he can do no better thing than to cut it off—provided always that he leaves his family or those dependent upon him in circumstances removed from want. Otherwise, if he leaves them to struggle for themselves under the weight of shame that he has brought. to them then his act of suicide only adds to his disgrace. Ralston could have done nothing bet- ter. He could not have recovered himself. Personally he was submerged. By killing himself he incurred no additional reproach. His memory is softened instead. Without honor a man better be dead. There are other circumstances that stand in palliation of suicide. A man has a right to judge for himself whether he benefits the world most by staying or going. But for the man who quits the fight leaving his dependents more helpless than before there is only the one judgment—that he is or was a coward. For the man who takes his life as the result of some temporary embarrassment or through chagrin at some disappointment or for any other such slight cause there can also only be contempt. As to how the act of suicide may affect the future state of the victim, that is a question that none of us can answer. 1am not prepared to believe that God follows the individual with rewards and punishments after deat I have =ought what information I could from the most reliable sources, and after my fifty-five years of life I have come to the conclusion that nobody knows anything about it. I am just as good a guesser as any of them, and I can’t guess. I hope for something better, to be sure, but I have ‘heard or seen nothing to convince me that death does not end all. Iam willing to subscribe to the beautiful sentiment inscribed on Huxley’s tomb. 2 e The Suicide Is a Cowarg Idon’t think suicide under any circumstances is justi- fiable. 1think that in the case of a young man who has wealth and a good family and & good home and everything that makes life worth living, it is only extreme selfishness that can bring him to an act of that kind. Because if he stopped for a moment to consider the effect on those who are near and dear to him he would realize that he owed it to them to try to make such use of his life as to make them feel proud of him. Of course there are times in the life of every man when the future looks dull and forbidding, but the old adage that it is a long lane that bas no turncan be constantly applied, and fortune must indeed be a very fickle jade if she will never smile upon a man. No matter how discouraging the present prospects are, it " seems to me that suicide is the act of a coward, because a man who has any energy or any ambition will certainly try to surmount the mishaps that befall him. Time will event- ually bring at least a measure of success, and with perse- yerance perhaps complete success. Jurius KAHN, Heat and light are the results of motmn ;hd 1 believe that when a life is changed so ruthlessiy-and suddenly that the spirit remains for u-pe-xod ungonscious in. the succeeding existence, on the fiwakemnz afl the- re- morse and sorrow returns .and abides with the spiritaudtil it has been dissipated according to the nltm‘al iaws. ° % Mgs. Dr. Louis SCHLESINGER. .’ thinks, have No one can determine that-con- - Is Never ]ustrfrable Itis my belief that exceedmgly fow pso ple commit suicide who ‘are not nsane, Of course there may be cases where a man, takes hisown life for good cause,.trut JI - believe .that insanity genaraflg‘ precedes - the act. . I speak thus from my own expe- . rience. Only recently sve had three m the . offices of the society which I represent. Icertainly don't consider selfdestruc.” ", tion ]usllfiabls under any q!rcumslancau, .even in acase where a man’ has disgraced himself. If a man has not got the ma hood to stand up and bear his troubles hs. . is weak minded in my éstimation. If we had any positive knowledge ot'tho other world we might ‘have some excuse for trying to .get out of this}-but we haven’t, and in my persopal opinion it is legally, morally and reliziously ‘wrong to . do so. & Frask A. HOLBROOK. .. e 8. Not Unpardonable F. W. Dohrmann, president of the Mer- £ chants’ Association: I would orefer not,, to talk about a thing abput which I can know so little. StiH I'am not one of - those who believe that suicide i the *un- pardonable sin; that the spirit of the vic- tim rushes into the presence of its Maker® fresh from the crime 6f murder. [ never, see an account sf a suicide without a sense of pain; for I feel that it must have . been the result of intense and generally long suffering. Suicides are fiot neces- sarily bad men. Theact may beand doubt- less generally is the result 6f such nervous tension as to have left.the person -irre- * sponsible. 1In such cases the death is n entirely one from natural causes as is some other that died of typhoid fever. If,° however, a suicide is so dellheut;ly -nd coolly planned that it ranks as mnrd\r, . then it may be punishable as such in . some future state. My pm.ouophy, how-- ever, does not carry me Beyond -this lifs,* : CE R A Sometimes ]ustifiable People who commit suicide in most ‘al cases are laboring undef a species of temporary insanity brought about by mis- , fortune, cares, anxiety and business, love or family troubles which they want to es- cape and for that reason perform the. It is true that many things occur in this world which appear unbearable. To, 8 sound mind these troubles appear of a ,° temporary character, while the weaker mind becomes unbalanced under the un- usual stress and atiempts to end it all by seli-destruction. I believe, however, that suicide in very rare cases could be considered justifiable. ApoLpH SuTRO. | . > > : Agrees With Ingersoll. 1 believe with Ingersoll that a man should be permitted to go out of this worid whenever he thinks fit—that is, when he thinks he would be better off out of 1t than init. Idon’t see where he in- jures any one by gomg out of it. Idon’t think it is established by any means that a man who commits suicide is insane. I believe many men commit suicide who are perfectly sane. Nordo I’ think it established that the act of suicide is an act of cowardice. E. L. Couxox.