The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-23
TO SUPPRESS PUBLICITY.

In an age when progress goes hand III hand with the
development of the telegraph the telephone the fast mail
clans proposes the enactment of law suppress
paper publication remedy for-what do you sup
pose?-as a remedy for suicide! AS if the American
newspaper the of suicide!
This society of surgical knives and medical nostrums
should have lived in newspaperless age in the time of
the Assyrian and Babylonsh empires of Cleopatra in
Egypt Of the Roman and Grecian civilizations when
there were no newspapers to expose suicide and when
suicide was advocated by the philosophers and doctors
Had there been newspapers in those times there is
doubt that society of doctors who believed in suicide
would have advocated the measure Of newspaper
suppression that is being advocated by doctor
society that preends believe that newspapers are the
cause OF suicide.
1t is doubtless the Minneapolis coroner AYERS
that weak-mnded person on the verge of suicide
may have been influenced by newspaper report of
suicide. But that same person would be influenced by
reading history fiction; and the law be effective
enough protect such person should be broad enough
to cover not only newspapers but all literature For the
protection of the suicidal class let pass law which
shall eXpurgate from every Bible in the land Matthews
of how Judas got sick of himself and the world
and went and hung himself
Our doctor reformers in their awmaking should
not restrict themselves the small subject suicide
Let them consider the danger of publicity suggestion
from books and papers in the of murder robbery
rape bgamy, bribery gambling and all other crimes
and msdemeanors including prize fights football pound
ing, malpractice and dosing with nOstrums. Let the
and literature be expurgaed Of all that is NICE
and let the doctors be appointed committee of censors
to determine what is nice.
Coroner Williams has made an Investigation and dis
covered that the newspapers responsible for the
spread of epidemic of suicides from the of
bolic acid Morphine is another expedient for the
cides Others still have awaited themselves of ether
ohlorofor arsenic, prussic acid and srychnine But
who of all professional authorities originally
sponsble after ALL for this drugs as means OF
shutting off the mortal coil? How have the people been
educated drugtaking habits For whom and at whose
instance these drugs manufactured and sold? Who
has taught the public ages that these drugs are at all
necessary?
After Coroner Williams has answered these oues-
TONS let him ponder upon another Would it not be
much to the point stop the sale and Of the
drugs than to suppress the newspaper Of the
fatal results Of such use?
1t is quite common fad, although it is less com
in this age and country than in any other for
certain class of thinkers advocate as remedy for
this or that symptom, sort of universal panacea:
Say this thing be kept quiet the facts not get
out; must suppress the newspapers This is the
remedy, the identical panacea which the ostrich
discovered and invented when he stuck his head into
heap of sand in the desert and imagined himself
from danger 1t is application of the old adage
where ignorance is bliss It's folly to be wise.
If Coroner Williams is going society in the in
teress of the suicides and the unacs he should Begin
by aboshng legal hanging; for that is the origin and
of the suggestion OF suicide by hanging He should
prohibit the of knives and blood-Iettng in surgery
Tor that has given the fatal suggestion to many mind
sick crank He should make unlawful the religious
excitement which carries the weak-mnded the bor-
der into insanity and crime. He should stop railway
trains from travelling faster than six miles hour; for
the fast express tempts death many fororn suicide
He should close the theaters and the galleries with
their fatal suggestions by vivid portrayal in colors and
dramatic presentations. He should likewise tear down
the bridges for there suicides may be counted by hun
dreds Let also all precptous banks be eveed all trees
be shorn of limbs all barns be relieved overangine
beams, and all sleeping apartments especially Jail cells
be kept free from sheets Blankets towels Shirts
any other article that may be transformed into