davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington times., 1922-12-31
Discussion Comparison Claims Psychological and PsychAs.
New Science All Nervous Diseases and Physical
Observation-Disclosures Methods Explained

by some word or token TO COM
municate it to the conscious side
OF the mind. The auto sugges-
tionists claim that everything
that happens to everyone Of us.
from birth to death, whether good
or evil, is recorded Enthusiastically,
correctly and unfailingly upon the
subconscious mind, mind you,
without us being aware of 1t.
Just as a phonograph disc re.
ceives every tiny sound and re-
cords 1t, so this subconscious
mind. like the disc, when started
by one who knows how, gives
out, maybe after many years,
that record which has been made
without the knowledge of our con-
scious mind. Now, il our ailment
is a nerve" ailment. the auto
suggestionists maintain, it is the
consequence OF the subconscious
mind having recorded some evil
in the disc" In other words,
our ailment , is the result Of the
subconscious mind making us
believe that we have a certain
disease. The auto-suggestionist
therefore, goes back to this hid
den self of ours, and induces it
to erase the evil disc" and i'm.
plant a new one. This explana-
ton may not be satisfactory to
the psycho.analysts, it may not
be in conformity with the psy-
chological-analysts' language, but
unfortunately the average psy.
biologists English Is like the
language used by corporation
lawyer; It 10 not intended to be
understood by the layman. In
recent years several American
Universities have decided to- make
psychology a compulsory study
for medical students. Some day
we hope they will make English
composition compulsory for the
psychologists and other scientists
so that they may be able to
write for the man Of average in
telligence.
Psychological analysts claim
that all physical breakdowns,
when once discovered to be the
consequence OF nervous diseases,
slight or serious. are due to the
manifestion or attempted mani.
festions or suggestions Of the
subconscious mind trying to com.
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

sis of his patient convinces him
that the victim is suffering from
nerves" has often resorted to
the method which is now uni
versally known as autosuggestion
without the doctor himself re-
alizing that he was prescribing
Coueism when his medical pre-
scription had failed.
SUBCONSCIOUS MIND.
The autosuggestion practitioner
fully sizes up the patient and
traces the physical breakdown to
some mental ailment, and those
who scott at it as new fraud
are as a rule people whose knowl-
edge of it is simply acquired
through newspaper headlines,
never having studied it.
The psychological analyst justi-
fies his autosuggestion method
on this ground. He says that the
mind is composed Of two layers,
the unconscious" or "subcon-
scious" and the conscious"
They claim that we use the con-
scious mind in our everyday life
when we are sober and while we
are awake, and the unconscious
mind, which is often let loose in
dreams, we use in our sleep, even
if we don't know 1t.
In order to corroborate this
assertion one of the INSTANCES that
they give is: Many of us remem-
ber wrestling with problem in
algebra until late in the night.
Finally in sheer. desperation we
close our book and go to sleep.
In the morning with little
effort we solve the problem. No
doubt when our conscious mind
was tired and drowsy the uncon-
scious mind. unknown TO the con.
scious mind, wrestled with the
problem and prepared the answer
which, on awakening, was handed
out to the conscious mind. The
ancients must have known some.
thing Of this phenomena. In the
Orient today parents often tell
children struggling with their les
sons to put the book under their
pillow and they will wake up in
the morning with their lessons
learned.
The subconscious mind is the
store house OF memory and is al.
ways waiting for the opportunity
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

swing, made the lame walk and
the blind see.
Now, In order to understand
Coueism explicitly It is necessary
that we understand what these
auto-suggestionists mean by such
terms as conscious and uncon-
which respond more readily to
auto-suggestion. and where hypno-
tism comes in this modern science.
Nearly one man out of three,
and one woman out OF two, are
in one way or other suffering
from diseases and ailments which
are directly attributable to ncrv.
Gus disorders" And especially
under the strain of our present
scheme of civilization we suffer
kinds Of diseases or neurasthenia.
Neurasthenia usually manifests
itself in the form Of fear of
death. disease or poverty, and
finally develops into various forms
Of obsession, resulting in complete
physical breakdown.
1t must be stated before we
proceed further that Emile Coue
is not an analyst. lie has sim
ply propounded cure for these
ailments, and so far he has not
attempted any analysis of the
causes Of various diseases. But
it is essential that we understand
the basic element. of diseas, i'm
order to comprehend his method
of cure.
A certain school of psycholo-
gists assert that in it's more acute
development neurasthenia, due to
some kinds of love trouble, or
unsatisfied sexual affection, may
cause other mental disturbances,
the patient not knowing the
cause. This mental disease has
still other methods of manifest
ing itself, such as religious mania
(fanaticism), fixed ideas (the single
track mind, and inability to con.
centrate ones mind on, a given
subject Che lack Of consistent
reasoning ability. Now the
disease has so far been mental,
but gradually II would develop.
affecting the body. and physical
breakdown becoming inevitable
This is where the old.fashioned
family physician, because analy-
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

he remarks. they had no way
Of learning the boys anything"
His first criminal" escapade
was the theft of q horse. He
worked for a Montgomery county
farmer five months after leaving
the House of Refuge, without
receiving a cent of wages, or any
clothing.
Take his old horse" counseled
a colored' man. So away rode the
boy Sullivan on Maud" and, Of
course. was caught next day. At
Rockville they sentenced him, a
minor by seven years, to a decade
in the Maryland State treadmill.
That should be enough to finish
any juvenile.
1T was hell" wrote Sullivan.
II worked in the shoe shop. I
worked on just one part OF a
shoe for four years and three
months: nobody was allowed to
talk" Gould the cobbler Of the
Bastile have Jared worseO
Sullivan, obtained pardon
after the four years, but the seed
was sown.
HAD NO TRADE.
II left the pen weak and in bad
health" he continued. "unde.
veloped. and not knowing any.
thing about any kind OF work.
and without a friend and with
s17. and with no place to 60"
He got several "chore" jobs,
but was kicked out" each time;
he didn't know how, to do what
ever thing he was put TO. II
seems. He did learn one thing.
however, and that was to hop a
moving freight train. You'll
know there's hope for Sullivan,
IL you've ever tried 1t. Getting
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

tho governor Of New York that
will secure his release. It's .
matter of education with Sulli-
van, however. II someone doesn't
take him in hand and teach him
a trade-which he says the peni-
tentiaries never did-he'll be back
again in Sing Sing. or Atlanta,
or Leavenworth. or the Maryland
State Pen. all of which he knows.
There are high points in this
mans record that appall, when
one considers how very easily
ignorance and inaptitude may de-
prive an essentially harmless
person of the light of day. What
would you do yourself II you
had neither the brains to push
a pen, nor the Drawn to swing
a pick?
I'd-I'd-
There's a mighty good chance
you'd land up exactly as has Will
liam James Sullivan.
ORPHAN AT TEN.
Before taking up a condensed
narrative of Sullivan's trail Of err
rors-it might be called a comedy
by the satirical-with a few ex-
cerpts from his letter. it may be
remarked that the missive itself
is not couched in at all bad Eng
lish. 1t argues that Sullivan came
of good stock and takes instructive.
ly to a better type Of diction than
a city gutter snipe or a country
yokel. The potentiality was there
probably is there still.
His father died when he was
five years old, his mother when he
was ten; he ran wild around the
Maryland countryside. He was
sent to the old House Of Refuge
in Baltimore when twelve. where.
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

We cannot scorn him; we can
i approve him. What we could
ID educate him, but we do not
Yet choose that economical meth
Cd, being reader to support vast.
hideous and highly expensive in
stitutions of stone and steel in
which to smelt from base metal
perhaps a piercing blade Of Grim
inality.
Some day there will be no more
william James Sullivans, no more
tale;, such as he wrote from Sing
Sing to a New York newspaper;
the weary cry of a man of prim-
itive, intelligence who is tired Of
being in Jail and yet can't stay
out-because he is stupid, and can
subsist during his rare vacations
from confinement only by petty
larceny tricks.
He is. thirty-eight years old and
hes been in Jail by far the
greater part Of the past twenty
three years He never carried
run, he says. or knowingly bur-
,larized an. inhabited dwelling,
ID he is, no enemy. of society;
Just q bungler who has no trade
outside. Of: picking up scraps
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

would end It all. I tried to kill
myself one night and was almost
dead when the doctors worked
over me and saved my life-for.
what? For this?" The nature OF
this obscure attempt fourteen
years ago in the stronghold of
Trenton is not related.
At last he escaped. having been
put on q road gang. but he was
soft and weak" previously hav.
ing ''sat at brush machine five
years. just on one part of a
brush"
After more perfectly futile trials
to find work, he beat 1t to Wash
ington. d. c., Xmas. 1913"
SOMETHING TO EAT"
He ate dinner at "the mission"
but one meal isn't a week prov
ender. and he wandered, hun
ger-pinched, to Chevy Chase. into
a house and into a lot more trou.
bic. The inevitable something to
eat." an overcoat and a suit were
the loot OF this dread exploit. The
sequel was his arrest the follow.
ing day. when he tried to induce
uncle" to produce cash for the
coat-three years In Leavenworth.
Back to Washington he came In
1916. and again he essayed an
honest job. But to the question
What can you do?" he was forced
again to answer: Nothing; but
III try anything" That's a fine.
willing retort in the school of
Horatio Alger, but try 1t yourself
some time.
well, I went Into a house:
got about 81 worth of stuff; ! got
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

expressed recently by a successful
disciple of Coue. Christian Sci
ence has got hold of this truth
by the tail"
The mental suggestion method,
as elaborated by Coue. is also
in variance with psychological
analysm. Quite a few Of the psy-
Geological analysts attempted to
wrangle with disciples Of the
French pharmacist over some
terms which to them are impor-
tant and huge as mountains, but
to the layman this controversy
was nothing but a pickering over
words.
SELF.HYPNOTISM.
So Coue, although sometimes
utilizing hypnotism as a weapon
to induce the patient to accept
suggestion. has found a method
to induce him to utilize hypno-
tism on himself. Thence the
term: DAY by day, in every
way, I am getting better and bet
ter" The patient is asked to say
this to himself in order to self
hypnotic himself until be has
implanted auto.suggestion, and
has become quiescent. and is
in a state of dreamy feeling.
Coueists. psycho-analysts, and
other auto-suggestionists maintain
that in this state Of drowsiness
the patient is susceptible to sug-
gestion.
Psycho.analysts often find 1t
necessary to resort to hypnotism
to induce the unconscious mind
to accept suggestion, but 1t has
been found that nine out Of ten
persons are not easily hypnotized,
and, as cure by suggestion de-
pends upon suggestion to the
subconscious mind" 1t has. been
observed that the patients who
are subjected to forced hypnotism
can not be suggested to-" and
the result Is that no cure can be
made.
On the contrary self.hypnotism.
as propounded by Coue, has
been successful, 80 much so that
it's author for many yeae.s has
been treating patients at the rate
of 10000 a year. He has not
only cured neurasthetic diseas ases.
but has made withered arms
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

as far as Chicago, he was tutored
in the technique of stealing
"eats from ice-boxes.' In De
Kalb. I'LL. he even compassed the
feat of entering a home in the
absence of the family and secur-
ing grub. a cheap suit and $3.50.
1t was too good to carry through.
He was "pinched" next day at a
water tank, waiting for . rat
tier"
GOT SEVEN YEARS.
This cost him but six, months
incarceration. and on release he
essayed farm work again. sHe
was fired as soon as hired; the
foreman didn't like the set-up on
the jail-wracked stripping.
BY degrees of misery. humiliat-
ing odd-job work and animal ex-
pedient. he retraced as far As
Rutherford. N. j., and there oc-
Cured his second debacle. He
porch-climbed a dark house. stole
something to eat-always some
thing to eat-a suit and a hand
kerohief.
A night watchman caught him
shinnying down a veranda COL
umn. On October s, 1908, he was
sent to the pen at Trenton, and
opposite his name and number
seven years" was entered.
II done as l was told" comes
this stupid humans cry. IL never
had any trouble. for five years |
had clear record. tried twice
TO get out on parole. was
turned down. l had no one
on the outside to speak for
me or to give me a job. i got
so discouraged with life l thought
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

third degree burglary. and at
tempted burglary. third degree.
Quite a respectable assortment Of
active and potential villainy.
Sullivan says he had tried to
saw through a screen door. given
1t up and lain down on the porch
to sleep off the moonshine.
GRANT KNOWS HIM.
Sing Sing may be body warm
ing. but it's soul chilling; especial,
ly for a man who sees the better
years slipping away and middle
age around the corner. Some.
thing Of this he probably felt
when he penned his letter to the
newspaper. And many stand
ready to offer him jobs. they
write the paper. The question
is whether they want to salvage
a soul beset with stupidity and in
aptitude, or satisfy a sentiment of
sweet charity by temporary aid
which will lead Sullivan. when
aid ceases, to the same old
formula:
Il couldn't get any work. Then
I entered a house and got some.
thing to eat and an overcoat.
Next day l was arrested"
Clifford l.. Grant, Washing.
toms Inspector of Detectives, re-
members Sullivan perfectly well.
THE last time I saw him after
he got out Of Lorton," said Grant
a few days ago. 'he said he was
going straight" He did. sure
enough. straight into Jail.
On the back of the gallery
picture" of Sullivan, alias George
O'Brien, alias George Callahan,
furnished The Washington Times
by the police is scrawled, House
breaker" 1t should rather be.
"Grist Of the Mill"
And we and our system are the
millers.
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

we can Judge Emile Coue's
hcoming American reception
that accorded to him in Eng
we must expect these two
nents to raise a hue and cry
ler him and his cures. A few
bre Coues. then we can visualize
our minds eye a string of doc
rs lined UP in front Of a soup
ltchen. We can also imagine
ke attitude of the old theologian
mo will not allow any scientific
hethod to interfere between him
Id his pet theory that disease
I'd sickness are meted out to
humanity by God in His eternal
|isdom.
EACHING GODS WAYS.
Emile Coue visited London just
bout a year ago on the invita-
lion Of . British peeress. and gave
)ublic demonstrations OF his cures.
was Dean Inge, the foremost
ktish divine whom Gilbert Ches.
lon, perhaps rightly, has termed
elamity Inge,' who attacked
mile Coue and his method both
nm the pulpit and through the
Is for interfering with Gods
k. Coue came back in a
ement disclaiming such inter.
hce, but maintaining that, in
of interfering with Gods
he was trying to teach
to understand Gods ways.
is this Coueism? What
scret?
H id not discover the Sc
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

WHATS TFIE ANSWER =?

VoU look at the pictures opposite and say, perhaps:
J. bad face. Criminal face. Couldn't do anything
with that chap
Remember these rogue's gallery reproductions;
stamped by the hard cruel mercury light that line
may be lost And remember that these the circum
stances that brought William James Sullivan to such
things as "muggngs' and jail terms -.
Loss of both parents by the age of ten.
tenyear sentence for horse stealing when fifteen.
More than Of arrests for petty pilferngs die
tated by cold and hunger.
Not day of education not days instruction at
a trade. 49,, .-
Stupidity, not natural but fostered by croumstances
ineptitude He hasn't training enough to push pen
Drawn enough to swing pick.
He wants job that will teach him something when he
has done his two and half years in Sing Sing
The Washington times., 1922-12-31
BY J. J. BOsDAN.

Tke ,cter of this article has read the aOors of nearly
authorities this subject, especially comprehensive
,port recently published by Mr.. Shaw Desmond, the fd-
ous Irish Investigator and from other data gathered
first hand information that be relied upon, sums
the claims of different schools of cures" in acords
mprehensible to the lay mind, telling how the science
mental healing is practiced)
- OMETIME in January Emile Coue the famous
"healer," will reach America in response to an in
- vtation by wealthy New York woman, and will
10 doubt give demonstrations Already tens of thousands
bf men and from every part of the country
rantcally making preparations in the hope that they
Aay hear the French pharmacist and, who knows per-
haps be cured by this modern miracle" man. And al
eady certain section of the medical profession we'll
the old school of theology preparing to denounce
linn as an impostor.
The Washington times., 1922-12-31
REPRESSED MEMORIES.

In order to understand Coueism
more fully we may quote still
another step Of the psychological
analysts method.
The psycho-analyst brings up
the repressed memories of the
subconscious mind and mskes
theme fully conscious, so bringing
them fully conscious, so bringing
Z. that the moment they are ex.
planned to the patient they lose
all their terror and ultimately by
prolonged auto-suggestion meth
DDS. cease completely to set up
disturbances, leaving the patient
cured.
Now let us give an example:
A. child is frightened by a
ghost" in his room. He IN ter.
rified, and upon his mother show.
ing him that his ghost" is only
a white sheet hanging from
nail. the child loses his terror.
The mother. without being con.
scious Of 1t, has used the psychic
logical method. The fright of
the child was an evil record on
its mind, It was an Illusion. The
mother simply told off the bad
illusion and explained the matter
to the child.
The subconscious mind Is a rs-
ceptacle for GHOSTS" that cause
nerve troubles which ultimately
result in various nerve diseases,
but when these ghosts are
brought into the light Of con-
scious reasoning we are able to
see them for what they are.
and consequently they lose their
power as ''bogey-men."
Coue. however. doesn't aak ques.
tions, he doesn't make any at.
tempts to grapple or reason with
the subconscious mind; he either
puts the patients, sometimes in
groups, into a dozy, half-slespy
state, and shouts at them in .
commanding tone that they are
CURED. and so they are or he
leaves the patient to administer
the dozy, sleepy feeling to him.
self, and also leaves it to him to
assert to himself that he 10 being
cured. Day by day, in every way
I am getting better and better"
,Copyr,ght By the World wids New
Service. Inc. Boston, MsssD
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

caught: ] got five years at At
lanta under my right name" You
see. he wearies at his own pro-
>lixity in setting forth a long rec
ord.
CAME TO CAPITAL.
Back to New York and trouble.
He was found In a basement one
cold night and thrown into the
Tombs, but, marvellous to relate,
on this occasion the grand jury
ignored the information brought
against him. He returned to
Washington.
IT left New York in a hurry. l
thought for once had been
lucky; l thought my luck had
changed. had a false rap
drumped.up charge) put agains,
me. but I did eight months any
way. did my time at the d.
c. Reformatory and they treated
me like a man. / worked at some
thing I liked. have always
wanted to be a house painter. It
was the nearest I ever came to
learning anything"
His Wanting ambition was
achieved when he was turned out
of Lorton: he got several odd jobs,
but when he had risen to 50 a day
he signed out with a boss painter
who was a drunkard and soldiered
on the contract. and Sullivan
never received a cent.
This was last September.
Straight as a ship drawn to a
lodestone, Sullivan went back to
New York and was smashed.
Only the lodestone this time was
a bottle of bootleg whisky. He
says he remembered little after
he drank it. until the familiar
blue-coat loomed before him.
The police say he was arrested
October 81 at No. AT East Nine
teenth street. Brooklyn, and
charged with first degree bur-
glary, possessing burglars tools,
The Washington times., 1922-12-31

cret, and he disclaims any credit
for it. He says he does rjbt cure,
people cure themselves, that he
only teaches the sick and the dis
eased how to cure themselves.
Coue was originally a drug
gist and somehow about eighteen
or twenty years ago he got hold
OF a circular advertisement sent
out by Rochester, New York.
Correspondence School, on hypno-
tism. Perhaps through curiosity
he took a correspondence course
on hypnotic which cost him five
dollars. He says that although
hypnotism is sometimes resorted
to by himself and his disciples In
order to affect a cure, he him
self makes very little, use of 1t.
Instead Of resorting to hypnotism
Coue persuades his patients to
semi-hypnotize themselves. He
claims that all diseases are the
consequence Of our being hypno-
tized to the belief that something
ails us. He simply turns the
table on the disease by persuad-
ing the patient to unbelieve that
he is Ill.
NOT CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
But this explanation of Coueism
must not be confounded with
Christian Science teaching. Coue-
ism. like psycho-analysis and psy.
chological.analysm, has nothing
to do with Christian Science. But
this much may be true that, as