Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-10-12
Special Correspondence.


~. PETERSBURG, sept "a
y Both m Russia and I'm Germany
there has been tremendous M
crease in the number of suicides
among children I'm recent years. IL is
far more prevalent I'm these tao coun-
tries than among the people Of any
other nationality.
1t is we'll known that throughout the
civilized world suicides among adults
are increasing. The reasons for this
are not far 70 seek They are found
in the growing completely and strenu-
business OF modern life. the decline OF
religious faith and the discomfort
OF poor folk with their lot stimulated
by the glaring contrasts between pow
erty and riches.
HEATHENS DON'T DO 1T.
Any one who has looked Ufe in the
face has some comprehension Of the
causes which impel so many men and
women TO make an exit from "A world
IN which they have ceased TO find life
worth living But 20 form any con-
ception of the state OF mind which
leads children TO kill themselves Is
difficult. There is something so in
finitely pitiful and tragic about the
temptation of il stuns the mental
faculties. II is so grossly unnatural
There is no record OF little heather
savage ever taking his life.
TWO EXTREMES.
Isolated cases may be attributed to
something abnormal I'm the mental and
moral makeup OF tho child that ter
inmates its own existence But when
they occur I'm such numbers as they do
in Russia and Germany IL Is proof that
there Is something radically wrong IN
the conditions 20 which childhood Is
subjected I'm those countries. These
conditions differ greatly. II would be
hard 10 find two countries which pre-
sent such striking contrasts as Russia
and Germany. The latter probably Is
the mst highly organized state I'm
Christendom. Pretty near everything Is
done there according to some system
nicely calculated 10 produce the best
results. In Russia nothing is system
affixed. II is species Of happy goo
lucky chaos that exists here. And yet
the perfection OF system iu one country
and the absence OF IL in the other lead
90 an appalling number OF juvenile self
murders.
TERRIBLE FIGURES.
Prof Chopin. lecturer al the Wom-
ems Medical Institute at Petersburg,
when speaking ~ this shocking epidem-
a. recently. stated that 33i cases Of
actual suicide and % cases of attempt
ed suicide had been examined. These
figures. terrible though they are. are
smaller than those given by Prof. Eul-
enbcrg Of Berlin Tor his country. he
has within the last ~ years traced LISP
cases ~ children who actually havo
committed suicide, more than half Of
whom were driven 90 this desperate act
by failure 10 pass examinations aud by
oyerwork an school The terrible part
about a As tho reflection that the speak
or being "a German ana. therefore. ace
curate in his statements. no room can
bc LETT for exaggcration
SCHOOLS HUSH THEM.
Tho figures given for Russia embrace
"a much shorter pcriod-fvc years
but what lends such an appalling em-
phasis 10 them rs the fact that they DO
not by any means represent the whole
sum az child suicides committed during
that time n is impossible 10 get even
approximate statistics for Russia be-
cause the head masters ana mistresses
of the schools ln which these TRACE
dies occur hush them up 90 such an eN-
tent that probably not one-fourth u
them got into the newspapers. As /
have Indicated, tho causes that UNDER
ne these epldemics ~ youthful self
destruction are as different in both
countrlos as are the characteristics of
the two races who inhabit them
HORRIBLE FACTS
Ia Russia the question In far more
complicated, but oven here, who're Gale
lousnesa prevails. "a few people have
realized that this problem must be-
looked into. Nobody a. more alive 90
The dangers OF such "a state ~ affalr.
than 81 Kaufman. tho new minister OF
edncation New and-it IL said-trust-
worthy reports are being drawn up
Tor his eyes alone. Were u possible 90
horrlAsd By the accounts OF Juvenile