Evening star., 1933-09-24

with the weakening Of belief in religious sane
tions it Is doubtful II that fear acts as An in
hibition in most cases Of contemplated suicide.
II one is to judge by the news headlines. sui
ctdes have been rapidly increasing during the
past three or four years The cause IS not hard
to recognise. The authors Of this study Of
suicide third vice president and statistician,
and research assistant, respectively, Of the Met
ropolitan Life Insurance Co., have considered
the question from almost every possible point OF
view. They have had IS source material the
best available, namely. the records Of the larg-
est life insurance company In the world Who
the people who commit suicide? What
are their races nationalities? How age
and related to suicide? What is the in
fuence of poverty, illness. bereavement, mental
unsoundness? Is there a type of personality
which predisposes to suicide? Is our machine
age which Is in the opinion of many econ
onlists. responsible for the economic depression.
fundamentally responsible also for the escape
through suicide Of an ever-growing number of
those who no longer find life worth the effort?
Is the increase in suicide part of the aftermath
of war-war which destroyed belief in spir-
itual values at the same time that it also de-
stroyed' material opportunities? What is the
influence Of social institutions. those upbuiding
forces Of the community, in preventing suicide?
Have the church, the school, the library, the
family, power to give courage to endure what
seems unendurable and to restrain from the
way out through suicide? All these questions
are raised by Dr. Dublin and are answered,
not dogmatcally, but with presumption in
favor of his conclusions.
Judging from statistics, at least % 900 peo-
pie in the United States will this year decide
the question ito be or not to be?" in favor Of
suicide. There are, in addition probably an
equal number of unsuccessful attempts. which
do not get into the public records. and
which are likely to be repeated, another time,
with success. And the suicide rate of the
United States is only about half that of Aus
tria. Germany or Czechoslovakia and somewhat
half that Of Switzerland Japan The
rate Of England is considerably lower than that
OF the United States. Why? The suicide rate
OF whites in our country is approximately two
and half times the Negro rate. The rural
Negro has one of the lowest suicide rates re-
corded" Men commit suicide much more fire.
quently than women suicide may be called q
masculine type Of reaction. More than half
OF all recorded suicides occur at or above the
age Of IS. Adolescent suicide Is comparatively
rare. in spite Of spectacular cases featured in
the news. Suicide Is more common in the city
than in the country. and the greatest number
of suicides take place in the Spring and early
Summer. The first fact is explained by the
simpler needs of country life and the resulting
lessening Of social conflict The second has
been variously but according to the authors un-
satisfactorily, explained. The Catholic suicide
rate is much lower than the Protestant, the
Jewish rate formerly low, has been rapidly
increasing. But we cannot statistically meas
ure the influence of religion as such = for
have no data showing whether those who
have committed suicide were devoutly religious
not" Excessive suicide is found among the
divorced Of all ages and among single persons
As years Of age and over. An almost unlimited
number Of statistical facts might be quoted
from DR. Dublins book on suicide. He has put
most Of them, for easy references. in appen-
dices at the end. The chapter on the His
torical Background" traces the custom of sui
eide from its beginnings among primitive peo-
piles. The legal aspects are treated in Law
and Life Insurance" The last two chapters
are socially constructive: THE Psychology Of
Suicide" which analyses motives and the rela-
tion of suicide to mental disease, and "Preven-
ton of Suicide" which offers remedies promo
tive Of sound mental health, but without too
great confidence in their effectiveness. The
photography and index are excellent. Alto
gether. DR.. Dublin, who is past president of
both the American Public Health Association
and the American Statistical Association, has
made in this book valuable and up-to-date
contribution to special field of sociology.
MILLION MILES IN SAIL. BY John Her.
res McCulloch New York: Dodd, Mead
& Co.
CAPT DIXON, who first went to sea when
~ he was 10 and became captain while
he was still very young, furnishes the story Of
his million miles," and Mr.. McCulloch tells
it without losing should say, particle of
the salty flavor. The captain was born in
Nova Scotia port and all his ancestors were
sailors, so he could hardly escape his destiny.
He has enjoyed it thoroughly. His most vivid
childhood recollection dates back to stormy
ocean in 1881. when he was with his father
in the S. Vaughn, sailing from liverpool to
ValDaraiSO weather then
the Irish Channel and the ship il the
center Of the storm. The long weather cable
snapped and the captain the elder Nixon
faced with the probability Of losing his