The sun., 1919-09-14
a, r. cuNLnFE.owEN.

FEW YoRK'S action In repeating
Nj that section of her penal laws
y which made attempted suicide
,r,ne and her removal Of the stigma
:, ,slonv from self-destruction is des-
.,od If we may Judge by precedent.
=. lead to an alarming increase in
,no number of those who take their
0vn lives. Some nine or ten years
,,o ex-Emperor william reversed the
y.rdict of a court-martial which had
oo.hiered an officer Of his army, Count
Hans Won Pfeil, for attempting to kill
himself. indorsing the papers in the
..ss with a declaration over his sig
rsture TO the effect that the Count
was responsible only to God and
10 his own conscience" and That his
act was not a subject for punishment
ar even for consideration by any mill
tary or civil tribunal.
This official announcement by the
tormer Kaiser, in his capacity as
scvereign-promulgate in all military
journals and official gazettes, and ex-
nloited by the entire German press
resulted in an altogether phenomenal
Increase In the number of suicides, the
annual average of 10000 in Prussia
alone being treb1ed and even
oua6rupled. the ratio being four sui
cides Of men to every one on the part
q, women. A startling development
was the prevalence Of acts Of self
destruction among schoolboys and
schoolgirls.
Hindenburg Furnishes Act.
Before there was time to devise
some means of checking this danger
10 the commonwealth-for every act of
self-destruction is a crime against the
community, regardless of what the
LEGISLATURE of New York or the for
mer Emperor Of Germany may say
the great war broke out With its
consequent privations, sorrows and
troubles of every kind among the
civilian population that had remained
behind when the soldiers went to the
front, self-destruction still further in
creased in numbers by leaps and
bounds. By the year 1917 suicide on
the part Of officers and soldiers in the
field, wearied Of the war. their illusions
Of victory dispelled and appreciative
Of the hopelessness of any further
struggle, had reached such proportions
that Field Marshal Won Hindenburg
issued a general order to the effect
that self-destruction of officers and
men in war would thenceforth be re-
garded as equivalent to desertion, and
that it would have the result of de-
priving the widows and the children
of those who had killed themselves
Of all pension assistance and relief or
the part of the Imperial Government
Ever since the ex-Kaiser wa.
jockeyed by his revengeful kinsman
Prince Max of Baden, into abdicatiol
and realized that after having playet
for the greatest stakes in history
the military, economic and politica
supremacy of the entire world-he hai
lost the game. it has always been
surprise for those acquainted with hi
peculiar views on the subject of suicid
why he should not have made an en-,
OF his own life, which can hold nothinj
for him in the future save neglect
humiliation, worldwide execration an
above all contempt. Inasmuch as h
does not look upon suicide as a crime
but merely as a matter between him
self and his Maker, one would hav
thought that he would long ere nov
have sought refuge in death from hi
present mental sufferings-more crut
In the way Of punishment than an
human hand could devise, and woul
nave endeavored to atone, with tn
sacrifice Of his own life, for the mil
Hons of lives that have been wipe
out In the war, through his agency
irreparable losses, the responsible
Tor which must forever lie at hi
door.
Ex-Emperor William in private dis
eussion before the war always too
me ground, like his kinsman, Ca
Alexander II. of Russia, that peopl
have perfect right to take their ow
lives in order to escape suffering
Like Alexander he stoutly asserte
that there was not a single word l
the whole Bible. from Genesis I
Revelation, which could be taken I
imply that suicide is Scripturally for
nidden. He pointed out that sine
seh-destruction was a common praS
ice among the ancients. the Almight.
It were against His viii, would III
suredly have condemned II, eitht
through Moses or through Christ. TT
ex-Kaiser went even further than thi