The herald., 1896-06-15

(Tho Herald under this heading pr1nte
sponsibility for the sentiments expresssd.)
Thoughts About Suicide
Editor Herald: I am first and fore
most a fatalist. and believe and contend
that men and women are footballs OF
fate, creatures of destiny, and the sub
jects for good or i'll Of an imperative
fate over which they have no control,
and of which they know absolutely
nothing.
In consideration of the subject Is Sui
eide Sin we dig into the very soul
of things. into the very core Of LIES mys-
teries.
In the first place take the fact Of birth.
Man cannot say where he will be born,
when he will be born, or OF what parents
he will be the offspring. He is born
into q world, not of his own volition or
consent. but is, perhaps. thrown out in
to existence through the passion or lust
full communion Of two criminally dis
posed human animals. If we consider
the suicide criminal we must take into
consideration some facts regarding his
BIRTH environments and life. The GRIM
inal. the savage of civilized society. may
be divided into three classes: The nat
ural born criminal. or the criminal born
of criminal parents, and hence predes-
tined In measure through hereditary
bias toward criminal pursuits; the GRIM
lndl Dy COnpulSlOn OF t0TOuSn ldCk OL
proper and fitting opportunities to make
living by honest means; and the GRIM
inal by suggestion. such as our dime
novel heroes and many Of our boy brig
ands of today.
In the second place, good and evil are
resident in everyone. In some the good
predominates; in others the evil.
Those in whom evil is predominant in
great measure are the criminals and vic
ious classes. Considering suicide
crime, it Is an act which destroys the
criminal himself; and one who is deter
mined on ending his existence and leav-
ing this world of carping care should be
allowed by society to do so. 1t Is bet
ter for the individual. 1t is better for So
ciety. In ancient Greece deformed chill
dren were killed and put out Of the way.
Anything that did not lend itself to the
beauty, grace and strength of life In the
and properly sQuelched. But we do
things differently in our civilization. De-
formities and monstrosities parade
themselves before the public gaze as od-
dities and freaks. I think the Greek
method the better Of the two.
Again, there are limitations to our hu-
man nature. Shakespeare was genius.
but his genius was bounded by finite
limitations. The material cannot con-
tain the immaterial. nor the finite mind
comprehend the things of infinfty. Our
thoughts, our actions. our purposes.
moral and immoral, are bounded. mar
rowed, restricted and governed by the
five senses of our physical body. We
have great capacities for enjoyment.
in the consumption Of more food or more
liquor Some have more pleasure in
the amassing Of wealth, while others
may enjoy more fully a course of intel
lectual exercise. But our capacity for
enjoyment is limited by physical limita-
tions from which we cannot rid our
selves for by destroying the limitations
to enjoy we destroy also the capacity
to enjoy. So with pain and suffering.
There Is limit beyond which no man
can suffer and live. True, some people
can suffer more disappointments, trials
and tribulations than others. Some
have larger stomachs than others and
can eat more food. Men are not born
equal in their capacity to enjoy and suf-
fer. Trials that might kill one might
act as a determinant toward better
things for another. But when man
gives up hope. and ambition ceases to
play an important part In his life. de-
spair. forerunner OF suicide ana insanity,
secures to itself another victim. Some
1t drives out into a wild world Of crime
to prey as savages upon society; some 1t
drives to madness; while others 1t kills
by poison or revolver. by knife or
watery way.
In this connection society should re-
spect Individual liberty. Why should
It endeayor to keep a man or woman
bent upon self-destruction in a society
for which he has no desire. Society has
a perfect right to protect itself from
injury by one member of another. but
when a man takes his own life into his
hands none but the Omnipotent should
say him nay.
that 1 would call noble. self-sacrificing
suicides. 1 remember Of one case where
a young man. an invalid, with peculiar
and complicated disease. seeing he could
not earn living for himself and wild
owed mother sold his body to medical
college for $500, the money to be paid to
his mother after death, and then COM
mitted suicide.
The case is on record Of a Joseph Her
mann Of New York city, who. seeing he
could not earn a living for his wife and
five children, deliberately committed su-
icde in order that his wife and children
might realize something from his life in
surance money I don't know, however,
whether they did or not.
Again, a German peasant woman had
hard work to get along to keep herself
and two children alive in a certain small
place in Germany. The children were
a girl and boy. aged respectively nine
and ten, and considering themselves as
burdens on mamma and in mammals
way, they deliberately drowned them
selves in the river Seine
Again, the story comes from Chicago
of happy married family, husband.
wife and little girl. parted through the
wiles of the seducer The wife deserted
her husband and little girl to join her
lover. asking her husband in letter d.
rected to him for a divorce He gave
her divorce but 1t was through suicide.
Many other incidents and Illustrations
might be given, but in the above think
that the suicides were not even a sin
in the eyes of Him who said: "Greater
love hath no man than this that he lay
down his life for another!"
JOHN A. MORRIS.
Pomona. Cal, June u, 1896.