Allan McLane Hamilton

“ I have always considered the system of small dwellings, that has succeeded so well in Philadelphia and other cities, an inestimable boon to the working-classes. A healthier moral and physical tone is engendered, both by elevating the self-reliance of heads of families, and the abolition of moral contamination so prevalent in tenement-house life.
The establishment of bureaus and other agencies for procuring work for immigrants, freeing the cities from the surplus of these people, would prevent much desperation, misery, and self-destruction. ”

“ This vice is perhaps not entirely characteristic of large towns, but the facility for indulgence of the habit, and the numerous ways of drinking in private, are more perfect in the cities.
In smaller places, there is a certain amount of contact with one's fellows, which makes him the cynosure of all eyes, should he indulge too freely. As I have before said, the busy life men lead in the metropolis, and the necessity for brain-stimulus, accelerate the facilis descensus. The disgrace of men in high position, impending ruin and other facts, will often prompt suicide as a mode of relief. ”

“ The number of cases of accidental death which have occurred through the criminal carelessness of certain druggists, who deal the most deadly drugs to persons unknown to them, is worthy of serious comment. There appears to be no difficulty for the would-be suicide to buy just what poison he desires. A large proportion of the inhabitants of great cities are confirmed in certain pernicious habits. Among them are opium-eating and chloroform-taking, which they pursue to what extent they choose, as these articles are always to be had. ”

“ Prostitution is a very easy way leading to suicide. The attendant vices of this class very soon destroy the mind. Opium-eating, inebriety, and snuff-chewing, are habits which nearly all prostitutes follow after a time. The classification of these causes of suicide and their victims is very incomplete, and prostitution is placed on the records in only one instance in 1871, 1872, and 1873, as the calling of the individual.
The prevalence of seduction in large cities is perhaps greater among the lower classes—the workers in factories and shops. ”

“ Among immigrants, particularly the Germans, there is a great disposition to suicide, and physical suffering doubtless awakens any hereditary tendency that may lie dormant. A great percentage remain at the seaport, looking for work. New York is particularly affected in this way. Immigrants come here, probably in most instances from occupations much more steady and remunerative in comparison to any found here; trades-people, skilled workmen, and mechanics, often commit suicide, who find it difficult to obtain employment, and finally hunger and disappointment drive them to this step. ”

“ They are brought together so, that every vice becomes, to a great degree, contagious. Bad examples are followed by the younger generation, and it is much easier for a seed of sin to take root here than one of virtue. Families of several nationalities are closely packed together in front and rear houses. Ground and labor are so expensive, in the larger cities particularly, that this mode of living is unavoidable.
Despite the earnest efforts of an efficient health board in the city of New York, many radical defects exist, and ventilation, light, and drainage, are defective in the extreme. ”

“ We lead, however, an individual life of our own, a life as original and striking as other startling peculiarities of our country. We live too fast; we make and lose fortunes in a day; we acquire professional educations in a few years which take ordinary individuals as many more to get the rudiments of in Europe. ”

“ In the five years preceding 1872 the deaths from nervous diseases in New York averaged 3,155.8, and for the years 1871 and 1872 were over 6,000, an unusually large proportion, the number of deaths from all causes being 59,623. The vices attending the colonization of the working-class (a great many do not work) are contagious, the moral contact of the vicious with the pure is certain to occur, the ruin of young girls, and depression of tone, are powerful inducers of suicide. ”

“ It is needless to say that the opium-habit, like alcoholism, frequently leads to self-destruction.
In this country, upon several occasions, certain individuals have taken their own lives after insuring them, that the policy might be paid to the family of the suicide. ”

“ A form of suicide which figures largely in American statistics is, jumping from an elevation. This may be chosen by the individual as an effectual method, if he hesitates to select one, or may be the result of a momentary state of delirium produced by the surroundings. ”

“ The seeds of every national soil are sown, and take root before we can employ measures to suppress them. Every thing that can excite the emotions, make tense the mental faculties, and suddenly relax them, is among us. ”

“ Legislation should strictly regulate the sale of poisonous drugs, and the police should enforce the laws. Friends and relatives of excitable and nervous persons should be alive to the necessity of keeping from their reach razors, cutting instruments, and poisons. They should also endeavor, as far as possible, to prevent the formation of the opium-habit, self-administration of chloroform, and alcoholic indulgence. ”

“ I have made comparisons between the statistics of London and Paris, and, although it is impossible to obtain the most recent records of these two cities, I think a few hints may be gained that will be of value in preventing its increase. Statistics do not give us definite information upon the questions of heredity, cerebral injuries, neuroses, or other valuable aid in drawing conclusions, so that many important links are left out of the chain. ”

“ The American people partake of the characteristics of their transatlantic brethren. They are impulsive, energetic, enterprising, emotional, liable to excessive mental depression or exaltation. We have all the different bloods of Europe in our veins. ”

“ Alcohol and its secondary effects have swelled the number of suicides, and the victims who have died by their own hands have been equally of the higher and the lower classes in this country. I think a great increase in the returns of mortality of this especial variety of suicide would be observed if the reporting physicians would conscientiously state the cause of death. ”

“ Careful watch should be kept on all persons who go up into high public buildings, church-spires, and other eminences. Physicians should employ caution lest their patients should habitually indulge in some narcotic drug originally prescribed. The boards of health of the different cities cannot be over-zealous in suggesting means for the improvement of the dwellings of the poor. ”

“ Our own statistics substantiate this, as will be shown further on, and the months of April, May, June, July, and August, really the most pleasant of the year as regard sunshine, are those in which more people kill themselves. ”

“ I can only suggest a diminution of working hours, the necessity for regular meals and habits, and means to prevent large cities from being over-stocked by the agricultural classes, who imagine themselves in these days particularly fitted for business and professional pursuits. ”

“ Paris, 1859, collected 4,595 cases, carbonic-acid gas and drowning being the favorite modes for self-murder with men, and strangulation with women. Of 463 suicides occurring in the year 1853, 92 men perished by carbonic-acid gas, 93 by drowning, and 131 women died by strangulation. The more ancient statistics show that voluntary starvation was a common form of suicide in the beginning of this century. The motive for suicide in the reported cases was extremely difficult to discover. Of the 463 cases in Paris in 1853, insanity produced the suicide of 53 men, 37 women ”

“ A most important study in connection with this subject is the influence of the mode of life of the poorer classes. I allude more particularly to the tenement-house system—to the colonization of many thousand people in a limited space, much too small for them. ”

“ Indeed, the chance for this crime among the many thousand young girls and men who are herded together indiscriminately in the large tobacco, hoop-skirt, paper-box, and other factories of great cities, is often made use of. Suicide follows ruin, though not in as many cases as it would in France. ”

“ Speculations and stupendous schemes, which in older countries take several heads instead of one to mature, crush down the nervous system of men who work themselves to death, hardly taking time to eat, meanwhile living upon stimulants to enable them to stand the strain. ”