Chicago Tribune Leased Wire
Chicago, Ill., Feb. 15—Dr. Alfred Adler of Vienna, former associate of Dr. Sigmund Freud, in an interview today declared that the desire to hurt some one is the motive behind the epidemic of student sucides. Dr. Adler is in Chicago attending the congress of the American Medical Association.
"Usually it is the parents who are hit," said Dr. Adler. "Sometimes it is some other person who has repressed him. Or it may be a sweetheart who has rejected him. The normal person says to himself, 'This woman does not love me. Her tastes differ from mine. But that is no reason for ending my life.' The neurotic, accustomed to having his own way from the days of childhood, cannot stand having his wishes slighted, and cannot sympathize with the other person's view.
"He determines to hurt that other person. Like all those asserting their superiority on the useless side of life—the suicides, the criminals, the neurotics—he lacks social feeling and courage. He lacks the self-confidence to fight against the obstacles of ambition or love. He strikes out in impotent revenge against the one who has defeated his desire, just as a Japanese commits hari kari before the door of his detractor, or as a child exposes himself to danger to spite a parent who has refused some wish."
Fuente: Buffalo Courier-Express (Buffalo, Nueva York), miércoles 16 de febrero de 1927, p. 2; despacho sin firma del Chicago Tribune («Chicago Tribune Leased Wire», Chicago, 15 de febrero), publicado bajo el bloque de noticias sobre la «ola de suicidios» estudiantiles. Transcripción hecha sobre la imagen de la página (fultonhistory.com, «Buffalo NY Courier Express 1927 - 1232.pdf»), cotejada con el OCR de la plataforma. El pliegue de la encuadernación oculta las primeras letras de las líneas de la columna; se restituyen sin dudas por el sentido (así la «d» inicial de «door», en la penúltima frase). Se respeta la errata «sucides». La misma entrevista circuló en versión de Associated Press («Revenge—the desire to hurt some one—is the motive that drives youths to take their lives»: Sedalia Democrat-Sentinel, 15-2-1927, p. 8; New York Evening Post, h. 16-2-1927, «Revenge Motive Seen»); el original del Chicago Tribune no se ha localizado.