The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-31
InRersoll,s Moral Liability.

A week or so ago the new 1OEk hOtlu
published over the signature of Robert G.
Ingerson an article justifying a resort to
suicide in certain cases. The arguments
used in the article are well calculated TO
influence persons worried by troubles of
one kind and another, and who are without
strong religious convictions and who are
incapable Of reasoning clearly. The
publication Of the article was followed
by a crop of suicides. II is said that in
some cases the persons who had taken
their lives had been influenced 70 do so
by the Ingerson article. The article was
found with the remains of two persons
who had committed suicide in
Central Park, New York, and
with the remains of another who had
drowned himself in Lake Superior. How
many others were led to self destruction
by Ingersolls argument it is impossible
to say. 1t is pretty certain, however,
that the number is greater than it is
known to be.
The question has been raised whether
Inge~soll was justified in presenting such
an article for publication, and whether
the World was justified in publishing it,
Not few plain speaking people are in
clined to hold both Ingerson and the
World responsible for being the indirect
cause of the death of a nun Der Of people
Ingersoll himself does not relish the
SOFT Of criticism he is receiving He is a
lawyer and hence an officer of the courts,
and it is rather unpleasant for him TO be
placed in the position of Counseling the
breaking of the law. He has made
statement, in which he asserts that he
did not write the article on suicide, and
that the signing of his name TO it was
without his authority. He pretends to be
much grieved over the fact that he should
have been the cause OF number Of sui
cides.
According to his story reporter came
TO him and put number of Hypothetical
questions to him relative to suicide, which
he answered. To his surprise the next
day the World published an article on
suicide for which it held MIR. Ingersoll
responsible.
1t is noteworthy, however,, that Col.
Ingersoll did not deny the authorship
of the article until it was so harshly
criticised that he found it uncomforta BILE
TO remain silent. He had another iu-
terview published, therefore, in which he
denied that he was the author OF the
article
If he was not the author of it and knew
the harm it was likely to do he should
have made a prompt denial. By waiting
until he was practically forced to do so
he gave the public good reasons for be-
lieving that the article was his, and that
it had been published with his approval.
But is not the World blameworthy for
publishing the article2 1t must have
known the effect it would have. But
then, according to some of its New York
contemporaries. it doesn't care what it
publishes as long as it acquires notoriety
and makes money out of its sensations.
The story of an incident, reported in
our Waycross dispatches yesterday, is
worthy of repeating by the way of pointing
a moral. The actor in The bucolic TRACE
dy was Berrien county farmer. 1T
seems that he was trying to stack his
fodder before the rain came. The fodder
'bulged out and fell from the pole three
tlIlGS III SUCCESSION, al UST ne ndu dDOuG
completed the stack as many times. The
last attempt vexed him. The rain had
begun to fall in drops here and there, and
the fodder bulged for the third time,
throwing him down beside the foot of the
pole Wearied of the task, the man fred
the fodder. The rain never came, but
the fodder was burned" Let the Ber-
rien farmer represent the people of Geor-
gia, and the fodder their material pros
perity. Would it be an act of good iudg-
ment for them to fire their fodder" be-
cause there are clouds in sight, as the
popuists are urging them to dor The
Berrien farmers impotence, because he
didn't succeed in his undertaking as soon
as he thought he should have done, cost
him his fodder stack, when, with little
patience and well directed effort, hecould
have saved it, Nine farmers i'll ten who
read this paragraph will laugh at the
Berrien mans childish exhibition of tenn
per Yet they are individually and col
lectively being importuned by the popu-
lists to burn their fodder" merely be-
cause a shower might fall.