The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-10-27
I SUICIDE IN JAPAN.
Changed Conditions .stonnreur srfenEthei
- tho Impulses Of Dospair.

Changed Conditions eSNnnstcr Strengthen
- tho Impulses Of Despair. :
An Interesting essay, On the preva,
fence of suicide Ii Japan has been writ
zen by .Mr. Saito .kokufu, a native staS
tistican. The statistics extend over ten
years and show tia suicide has been on
the increase In Japan both actually and
in proportion to the. total number Of
deaths. In 1855 and 1856 the number
in proportion to the population reached
It's highest. Mr.. Saito observes that
during these years there was a great
rise in the price of tho necessaries Of
life. s< =:
In the case of Jatanese women The
age DIT which suicide is most frequent is
about 90; the corresponding period
with men is as. Comparatively few
women commit sriicide otter the 25th
year, but men are. not safe until they
are past 40. The women after marriage
usually .tal;S life: as they find it and sub
NIT with stoicism to its conditions. The
suicides of men are due to the worries
aud reverses Of business and are often
Tie result Of cool and deliberate choice
between two evils.s Female suicides
are rather more than iialf those of males
but with q distinctte tendency to increase
From January to May are the. worst
months for suicides. The number
mounts rapidly month by month from
January to May and keeps high until
July and itfalls to its lowest in Novem.
Der. The suicides of December. and
January are attributed partly to pc.
cuniary troubles at the close of the
year, when all accounts are supposed to
be closed and all liabilities met. A. rise
in July is attributed to financial
troables at the half year. : !
In recent years the use Of the sword
by suicides is decreasing greatly; bang.
ing is the method most frequently en-
ployed, nearly three-fourths of the male
suicides and nearly half the females
having terminated their lives In this
way, but among women drowning Is
more common even than hanging.
Firearms and poison are very rarely
used, probably because they are not
readily obtainable. while japanese OF
either sex always has q long girdle and
always has water sufficient to cause
drowning at hand in The deep wells in
every village and adjacent to almost
every house.;
!. The figures show that the number Of
suicides varies year by year with the
price rice; it rises when the price Of
rice is high and falls when rice is cheap.
1t is also evident that the great centers
of commerce and industry have
greater properties, than country dis
tricts. -.sss-
Mr.. Saito has endeaTored to tabulate
the causes of Japanese suicides and
From the figures for four years which he
gives it appears that about half the
total number are due to mental derange.
nent, about quarter to general re.
verses of fortune and the difficulty Of
making living" on eighth of the whole
are attributed TO eaesrffering and
the remainder to love, romance, shame,
bereavement. domestic auarrels, etc,
No attempt is made in the statistics
to distinguish between educated and
unctfucated persons who commit SUI.
eide. It seems, however, that the view
OF the educated Japanese is that he has
@ right TO commit suicide IL he thinks
his life has been q failure or that it Ia.
become al intOlerable burden to him.
london Times.
''It is not generally Known" says a
wisconsin man, that the state of Wis
consin is large tobacco grower. OF
course, only the lower grades can be
raised in so cold climate, but we sup.
ply the western plug manufacturers
with almost all OF their coarser fller
leaf. II one cares to see beautiful
growing crop he should take drive
through lower Wisconsin ct the present
time. To all appearances finer yield
never stood in the feids of that state.
The recent copious rains. coming as
hey did just after good proportion Of
The early set had been tapped, insure
large growth"