Huntsville gazette., 1883-04-21
Suicide m Germany.


"Such events occur almost daily"
are the concluding words of dispatch
from Berlin announcing the fact that a
military officer committed suicide in the
Thiergarten there The statement is
an exaggeration, but there is a strong
stratum of truth at the bottom of it-so
much so that the German press has de-
voted columns to the subject during the
past few months. Germany has long
had an unenviable reputation on ac-
count of the frequency of self-murder,
but lately the number of cases has be-
come quite appalling, especially in the
army.
The complaint is general in all CIV
ilized countries that suicides are largely
on the increase owing to the break-neck
speed at which the human machine is
driven in this age of progress. The
pace is too rapid for many bright fel-
low, and rather than undergo the
tortures of apprehension he jumps off
on the way. There are peculiar condi-
tons in Germany, however, which lead
men to this desperate act. In the mil
itary service they are especially con-
spicuous. The German army officer is
almost invariably well-educated. we'll
connected person, but he Is also very fire.
quently as poor as were the soldiers OF for
tune of old, whom he resembles in moth
inc else. Heretofore this caused him
but little inconvenience, the respect
paid to the man in uniform with sword
by his side enabling him to go through
the world in tolerable comfort even if
his purse was empty. A change has,
however, come over the spirit of the
Germans dream lately. The passion
for wealth and the good things that the
possession of wealth implies has entered
the national SOUL and the military caste
has not been exempt from the con-
tagion. "Put money in thy purse" has
been the motto of many a poverty
stricken fellow of high position. OF
course many time it happens that the
way in which he does it will not bear
investigation, and flight being much
more difficult to him than to the Amer
lean bank cashier he blows out his
brains.
Another reason for the extraordinary
prevalence of suicide in the German
army is the harshness, the brutality of
the discipline Many one feels life to
he burden simply because he has to
submit for several years to routine Of
daily duties that crushes out every spark
OF individuality. Among the men in
the ranks there are. of course, many
more eases of self-murder prompted by
this circumstance than there are among
their commanders. In fact, the vast
r,,a in,.itK- of who annually
slaughter themselves are brought to it
by the treatment they receive from those
above them. And the number doing
so is something to astOnish foreigners,
while it has alarmed the Berlin authori-
ties to such a degree that some very
radical changes viii in all probability
be made shortly in the soldiers duties.
\ That religious skepticism has great
deal to do with the high average of sui
cides in Germany is not to be denied,
but it makes itself felt simply by offer
inc no restraint on the mans natural
impulse In Catholic countries and
among women Suicies are much less fire.
quent than in Protestant countries and
among men, simply because Catholics
and women both have more fear of the
hereafter.
According to Prof. Morselli, the for
mutation of character is the only cure
for self-slarghter. One thing, how
ever, viii lessen the number of cases in
Germany, and that is the making of
the soldiers lot a happier one. The
pay of the officers is not enough to sup
port them respectfully in the changed
conditions Of life that have come in
during the past ten or twelve years, and
they are put to all sorts of acts to make
ends meet, while the private is made to
lead an existence that is little. if any,
better than slavery.-N ]. Graphic.