The Growing Problem of Suicide
A COMMISSION appointed in one of the great cities for the special purpose of checking the frequency of suicide, testifies to the magnitude of the present growth of this baneful sign of the times. Such a commission has been appointed by Mayor Tom Johnson, of Cleveland, Ohio. Mayor Johnson is reported as being “appalled at the number of suicides and attempted suicides in Cleveland during the past nine months,” and the aim of his commission will be to dissuade would-be suicides from their rash purpose. The plan is to invite all persons contemplating suicide to write a letter stating the nature of their trouble to the anti-suicide commission, which will then make an effort to provide relief. Christians may find food for contemplation in this remark of Cleveland’s director of public charities on the subject:— The need of some means to counteract the condition has been felt, and we have expressed our willingness to aid any one who is in the depths of despair, and to whom life no longer seems worth living. How many suicides would be prevented if the sick, poor, and despondent had friends to go to, a place to get relief! Of the eighty-six suicides in the first nine months of this year the one word “despondency” is the keyword of all. In nearly every case the kind word of a friend or helper will prevent self-destruction.