The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1903-12-05
GRAND MARA1s, MIMI, DEC. s. 1903.
GOLDEN GATE CITY LEADS.
San Francisco Shows the Largest Per.
ccntnEe Of Sutcides-ChlcaSo
Ranks Third.

The number of people who volun-
tarily shuftied off this mortal coil in
American and other cities during last
year has been investigated by some
deliver in statistics and the following
figures indicate the results: San Fran
cisco leads with the largest ratio, 39.l
per 100000 of population. Next comes
another Pacific coast city, Los Angeles,
with a ratio of 29.S. The reader has
naturally been looking for Chicago,
and that city does, in fact, come next
with ratio of $40. followed by the
neighboring city of Milwaukee, whose
ratio is 222. New Orleans was the
scene of the self destruction of 21.S
persons per 100000 of population. and
Cincinnati followed close with 21.2.
New Haven is next with 900, and then
comes the borough of Manhattan with
900. though greater New York as a
whole is we'll down the list with a ratio
Of only 1876. This is less than Roches-
ter, indianapolis, Philadelphia, Pitts
burg, Baltimore, Boston. Detroit,
Omaha and Louisville, besides all of
those specifically enumerated above.
AS to the forei en- cities, Paris leads the
list with ratio of ~, followed by
Berlin 36, Vienna 20 and London 90.
There were more suicides in SaXOny
than in any other country. 81 per 100.-
OOO In Denmark the ratio was 1913, in
Austria 21.2, in France 1871 in the Ger
man empire 1913, and Sweden. Norway,
Belgium. Great Britain, Italy, the
United States and Spain followed in
the order given.
The table referring to American
cities is somewhat difficult to explain
Why the city of the golden gate. and
California. with it's glorious climate.
its sunshine, it's fruit and its flowers,
should show the greatest number of
suicides seems mystery. unless the
presence of a large Chinese population
explains it. The high suicide rate
of Chicago is. perhaps. accounted for
by the rush and struggle of that great
city and the large foreign element it
contains-a foreign element, more
over, which comes mainly from those
countries where suicide is most fire.
quent. The same is perhaps true of
Milwaukee and of Cincinnati The hig,
rate at New Orleans may possibly be
attributed to its relation to France
and the ideas and traditions brought
here from Paris, the suicide capital of
the world. But New York city casts
cloud over some Of these explana-
lions. Here are the large foreign pop
ulatlons, the stress and strain of liv-
ing and working, the poverty, the ex-
cltement. Yet Philadelphia, the
sleeping city Of the humorous para
graphers. has higher ratio of sui
cldes than greater New York. And
how is it to be explained that New
Haven leads all the other New Eng
land cities in the number of suicides i?
st. Paul and Minneapolis lie side by
SIDE. but in Minneapolis the ratio is
ia and in St. Paul it is but 6.5. It
seems that the conclusions must be
mat there is no method in suicide mad
ness and that the effort to reduce it to
rule is doomed to failure.
Guardian Microbes.
A writer in knowledge thus denomi-
mates certain wandering cells found in
the healthy human body, which de-
stroy harmful microbes introduced
into the system. 1.-The tonsils, for ex-
ample, are crowded with these guar
dian cells" The scene under the micro
scope when protective cells are intro
duced into lively culture of typhoid
bacilli is described S very striking, II.
resistibly bringing before the ina gina
ton 1.-The fierce struggle which goes
on when disease germs invade the
BODY"