The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-06
LAND OF SUICIDES.
China Has the Unenviable Record for
 Self-Slaughter.

Self-Slaughter. Chicago Chronicle.
 Hardly any evil or crime, whichever 1t may be called, connected with human society, has so long and so successfully defied analysis and yielded so little satisfaction in all efforts to restrain or suppress 1t by legislation or other vie as that of suicide. It proceeds In a way that upsets all theories and scorns all precedents. It might natur- ally be supposed. for instance, that pe- riods of general prosperity such as the United States now enjoy would witness a marked diminution in the number of victims of the suicidal mania, yet, &C., cording to statistics recently published, the very oposite seems to be the case.
 Suicides among people of high social stations and comfortable circumstances are quite as common as among those where other conditions prevail, al- though in theory this should not be the case. There is a law in several States of the Union making an attempt at sui eide a punishable offense, but there is no record of a single case where the penalty provided by statute for this crime has been imposed. Would-be sui cides are often fished out of rivers or forcibly relieved of a dose of poison and hauled off to a police station un- der arrest. but that has always seemed to be the end of the proceeding
 And thus 1t should be. for in the vast majority of cases 1t would be the refine ment of cruelty and stupid injustice to inflct further hardship and suffering upon such persons for whom a hospital or asylum and not aprison is the proper place. Such are the almost invariable conditions accom- panying attempts at self murder that 1t may well be doubted whether they ought ever to be classified under the head of punishable offenses, for 1t is absolutely certain that no good whatever has come from such treat meat.
 writer in a London periodical recently compiled a, list of the men of noble birth and high station. who within the last cen- tury or so had ushered themselves out of the world. The list included Prince Ludwig Of Austria. who slew himself a few years ago because of love affair. and Sir Hector Mac donald, the hero of the Boer war. who kill ed himself in Paris. rather than face dis grace. and there are many others. but the list does not include the host of high Chi nese officials who have committed hara-kiri in recent times and often under what would be considered elsewhere slight provoca- ton.
 There Is country in the world where self slaughter is so common as in China or where 1t Is regarded so lightly. Statistics on this particular subject are unreliable, but one authority on China estimates that over 2500O persons die bv their own hands in that country every year. In India suicide among the wretched victims of the child marriage system rolls great total every year.
 Among strange motives for suicide may be included that of Lieutenant Jovanovitch. of the Servian army who killed himself he cause he was not allowed to share in the plot against King Alexander and Queen Draga. He had the same Idea of honor, probably that led a young German officer recently to lay violent hands upon himself after he had been treated seornfully by his brother officers fro not using his sword on a drunken private who had ventured to Fin suit his uniform with some personalities.
 Prof William B. Bailey. of Yale, has brought out some interesting afcts based on 29.344 cases of suicide. covering the period from 1897 to 1901 Using the 10000 unit, he finds that 7.7St males and 2.219 females found life intolerable. and. despairing of mending. ended 1t
 This leaves the ratio of cowardce 3h 10 in favor of feminine courage Almost two thirds of the suicides occurred between the ages of 20 and 50. Curiously enough. there are more married than single suicides. While married men more likely to take the plunge than married women. single. widow ed and divorced women. are more prone to kill themselves than unattached males. Bus mess losses are more likely to direv people to suicide than i'll health. insanity. disap- poIntment in love and strong drink.
 Monday Is the favorite day for the rash deed, while few take the step on Saturday Prof Bailey's explanation is as follows; For those who have endured throughout the week there is payday at hand followed by a day of rest" Among the males Monday is pre-eminently a day of suicide. Females prefer Sunday to Monday. Religious ex- citement may have something to do with this. but nearly third of te domestic trou- bles leading to suicide come on Sunday. More than one-fourth of the suicides from financial trouble and ill-heaith among fe- males occur on Monday. The apparently lank the courage in the 1T weak or impovsr~