This letter comments on an earlier study by G Singh & M Siahpush. It agrees with their findings that suicide rates for rural men are high & rising, but finds the explanations provided by the researchers for this situation unsatisfying. The authors suggests agrarian cultural values as a possible explanation for disparities in suicide mortality. Singh & Siahpush respond by contending that these cultural factors can not change rapidly enough to affect the demographic trends discussed in the article. (11 refs)