HUMAN LIFE.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2762, 2 October 1923, Page 9

HUMAN LIFE.

CHEAP IN CALIFORNIA. GTtEAT CARE FOR THE DEAD. Life is lived at high pressure, in SanFrancisco, likewise in Los Angeles, Judging from some words let fall by a recent scientific visitor from New Zealand to California, San Francisco •"sists serene, indifferent to faW as her poet Bret Harte described her, and pays little regard to the sacrifice of human life to lawlessness that goes on day after day. Interviewed by a representative of the Wellington Post, the visiter gave the impression that if one might judge from the newspapers of San Francisco* the Californians have very little regard for the sanctity of human life, limb, or personal property. ''The staple industries of this free and energetic West," he said, appear to be bigamy, bootlegging, shooting to kill, matrimonial differences (in most acute form), which could only be settied out of court, and last, but by no means least, motor car stealing. These are the standing dishes in the daily papers." It was suggested that these incidents were news, records of actual happening, a mere record of events. "Oh, yes," was the reply. "One has ample confirmation of it. I met many people in California who -fully confirmed the impressions I had gained of the cheapness of human life in that great State. DARING ROBBERS. "The motor car stealing is done in a most daring fashion, and the thief does not hesitate for a moment to shoot dead the owner or driver of a :ar. One method is for the robber to drive some old car, stop and tinker with it until another driver comes along. Then he holds up his hand, as if for assistance. The other car stops. If it is a good one, its driver is covered with a revolver, and the thief liops into the car and is away in an instant. If the car owner resists he is shot, and usually shot dead. This kind of thing takes place even in city streets. It is all done very quickly. The police have a special and armed section for dealing with this class of motor car robber —a most dangerous class too. The police never hesitate. If the driver fails to stop when challenged he is shot without more ado. ''But if San Francisco is seemingly indifferent to human life, it sets an example to the world in its care for the dead, in so far as its morgue is concerned. The city authorities have spared no pains, no money, no time to pay respect to the poor unknown knocked down in' the street. Their system of enquiring into accidental death is very thorough, and their care for the dead is beyond all praise. The coroner is an elective office, and is usually not a lawyer.

"The gentleman who holds the office at present has been elected several times, and so there has been a continual policy of improvement.

FINEST MORGUE IN THE WORLD,

"San Francisco can justly boast of having one of the finest morgues in the world. I accept that, for I nave seen morgues in England, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and elsewhere. The San Francisco building is attached to an administrative block. On the ground leved is a fine airy Court capable of seating about one hundred people. There are side rooms where relatives of the deceased can. wait, technically within the Court, and yet unable to hear all the gruesome details of the ordinary or scientific witnesses. There are a blackboard and screen behind the coroner's chair upon which diagrams may be drawn or sketched. There is a projecting apparatus which can trow pictures on the screen, so that the jury can actually see a reconstruction of the accident if need be. "By well-lighted stairs the jury or friends can proceed to the morgue proper. There is always a jury aitting with the coroner. I have seen nothing to come up to the San Francisco morgue in utility, good taste, and reverence. The' chamber resemble* j the entrance hall or a sober, old fashioned liotel or house. It is lit by electric light. In the centre is a table with dark red cloth —plenty of flowersare there always. On each side as you enter this one large room are the mov-. able tables upon which the bodies rest covered by really clean linen cloths. In the further right left-hand corners are chapels always lit up, with flower* on the altars, which can be used for any kind of religion? service. 'Quite away from this chapel or room of the dead, but easily accessible, are the rooms for the examination of the bodies. In their design, equipment and cleanliness they might' be the operating rooms of a modern highly specialised hospital. The rooms are all agreeably warmed, and the amount of in and out air is regulated. REVERENCE FOR THE BODY. "'Quite cut off. but forming part of the general easily-worked scheme, is a room, the sides of which form cases in which unidentified bodies may be kept at a temperature, which, while it does not alter the features of the dead, preserve them for months or years. Everything that could make for identification, justice, and reverent treatment of the dead has been carefully thought out, even to the opening of the dead person's eyes to help in his identification. "How few would be able to recognise even a well-known friend if he saw him laid out in the usual raiment of the dead with his eyes closed? '•'Of all the things I caw in San Francisco this truly was the most interesting, both from a scientific, and a political point of view. Scientific, because accurate and useful records were kept; economic or political, because here in this land of alleged 'graft' so much was being done for the man of woman who had forgotten the difference between Republican and Democrat, and, in any case, had lost his or her vote. Truly they are wonderful people. I have forgotten the name of the offlcer who explained the whole system to us, but, strange as it

may seem, a cultured man, he regarded this building as a never-ceasing source of interest, and an object which he was always trying to improve. "What about our local resting place for the lost one?"