by objects in external space. They are described as appearing and disappearing instantly, and in disregard of physical laws. The angels, in the Biblical record, do not come flying through the air, and approach gradually, as if from a distance, but manifest themselves, as we are expressly told in the case of the shepherds of Bethlehem, "suddenly." Thus the eyes of the young man who was with Elisha are said to have been opened, in compliance with Elisha's prayer, and he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha, which previously he did not see. So St. Stephen and St. Paul had visions which were invisible to their companions, and St. John prefaces his Apocalyptic utterances by saying that "a door was opened in heaven." The supposition does not detract from the truth, of which these visions were symbols, but by rendering them credible to the scientific mind, adds to their practical value. The unity of creation, therefore, the analogies of the sensible world, the instincts of mankind, as expressed in thought and speech, the facts of physics and physiology, and, to a limited extent, human experience, all combine to render probable the substantial nature of the soul and the existence of world within that of which our bodily senses take cognizance, which is adapted to the activities of the soul, as the outer world is to those of the body. What is needed now, is the observation and record of facts which shall either controvert or establish the hypothesis, and determine with certainty either that thinking is a mere function of the material brain, or that it must be ascribed to an inner organism, of which that brain and the whole body are but the incarnation and expression. Certainly, the achievements of science, of which we boast so much, are worth but little if they cannot aid us to solve this problem. More than a century ago Swedenborg ended a prologue to an unfinished treatise of the same nature as that of which we have made mention with these memorable words: - "Let us, then, gird up our loins for the work. Experience is at our side, with a full horn of plenty. The nine virgins are present also, adorned with the riches of nearly two thousand years. I mean, all the sciences, by whose abundance, powers, and patronage the work is constructed. . . . . All things at the present day stand provided and prepared, and await the light. The ship is in the har swelling, the east-wind blows; let us weigh anchor and The voyage on which he embarked led him ind whither no one as yet has been able to follow him, to which he has given us no chart. He was a C discoveries mankind has been unable to verify. emboldened to set forth with the imperfect infor furnished in his day, surely the time is not far off v adventurer, undertaking the task with the advantag perfect equipment, will follow on his track, and pilo factory conclusion. * The Animal Kingdom, I. 23. THOMA ART. VI. THE RELATIONS OF DEBT AND MONEY. If we have two material spheres revolving about a common centre, their relations to each other under the law of gravity are simple enough. But if we split one of them in two, and thus have three bodies gyrating under that law, to determine their relations to each other or relative positions at any given time is not so easy. So, in considering the relations of debt and money, if we take the latter to mean only metallic coins of intrinsic value, there is little to task the brain; but if we include in the term "money" a certain kind of debt, then we have in effect three related and variable elements acting upon each other, and problems arise more or less puzzling. Our solutions will be trustworthy in proportion to the care with which we study the two primary elements, and the chemical compound of the two which constitutes the third. Debt, supported by a sense of moral obligation, lies at the base of the highest civilization the world has yet seen. The savage man owns only what he can clutch and hold. Deficient in moral sense, he owes little or nothing, lacking credit to borrow. He may give, but till he begins to be civilized he does not lend. His first step in civilization is to lend to another for the sake of increasing his own substance by receiving back more than he lent. If the debtor does not pay as he promises, he will find his creditor still much of a savage. The progress in the law of debt from the savage state up to our present civilization has been exceedingly gradual. In early Rome the debtor who did not pay was liable to become the slave of the creditor. By the rather mythical laws of the Decemvirs the creditor, if so disposed, might kill him; and if there were more creditors than one, they could not only kill him, but divide his carcass pro rata. As we have no information that the Romans in that age were cannibals, we are tempted to believe that the Decemvirs wrote their laws somewhat figuratively. What is certain is, that for a Roman in those days to have as alienum another man's money-was a very dangerous thing, much more so than it now is. And perhaps it could not have been otherwise if the present civilization was ever to be reached. In quite modern times the insolvent debtor has been considered a criminal, and treated as such. Our own Franklin wrote, "When you run in debt you give another power over your liberty." Imprisonment for debt lasted till, by the increase of moral sense in the average debtor, the average creditor found it wiser to seize the debtor's property than his person. The law originally did not always allow him to do both at the same time. So when he imprisoned a poor man he prevented the payment of the debt by keeping the debtor in idleness; and when, not being able to touch the property, he imprisoned a rich one, that debtor lived like a prince inside the prison and laughed at him. When the law in all cases allowed property to be seized and sold for the payment of debt, it turned out to be useless to imprison any debtor, except for fraud, or to prevent escape from jurisdiction. The abolition of imprisonment for debt and the diminution every way of the creditor's personal power over the debtor would seem to tend towards the limitation of credit and the diminution of debt. But, on the other hand, the vastly increased facility of production by the introduction of steam and improved machinery has more than neutralized that effect. If this increased facility were applied everywhere, and to all departments of human industry in due proportion, and too much of it were not devoted to objects of mere luxury, it would not tend to increase debt, but only exchange, or trade profitable on both sides. But not being so applied, the redundant products in some localities and departments, being largely of objects that are perishable or liable to go out of fashion, must be sold on time. The over-producers must trust the underproducers, or do worse. Hence the vast modern increase of debt. The expansions of credit since the age of steam began have been epidemic, periodical, and excessive. They alternate with collapses in which production slackens, and vast masses of debt are swept out of existence by insolvent laws. In these seasons of depression capital shrinks to some extent, for much of it vanishes by disuse faster than by wear. But, however disastrous such collapses of credit may be to individuals, it must not be understood that the shrinkage of capital, and especially of swollen nominal values, and the wiping out of debt represent the destruction of material wealth to that amount. To a considerable extent there has been merely a redistribution of it, the effect of which will be to secure a better market for the future, in the very regions where manufacturers and merchants made their worst debts. They may never reap from the seed they too trustingly sowed on a soil not ready for it, but their successors will. Even if they have lost on ribbons and laces trusted to the wives and daughters of rude backwoodsmen, they have created a motive for raising more corn by and by, and still more if they have sunk their capital in Western railroads. Debt, both public and private, is of two kinds, that which represents productive capital, and that which represents either waste or unproductive capital. When debt represents capital productive in the hands of the debtor which would be unproductive in the hands of the creditor, it may be a blessing to both. All such debts may be regarded as partnerships in business, and to a vast extent they are so technically. The evil of the credit system, for which creditor and debtor are perhaps equally to blame, is, that in its tidal expansions it produces a large amount of debts of mere waste. Such also are most of the national debts incurred in wars. War may be necessary, and the results worth the cost. May we not hope those of our last will be? But the debt incurred on both sides represents nothing, in a financial sense, but the utter waste of so many thousands of millions of dollars, and the payment of that on the victorious side is nothing but a very imperfect method of equalizing upon the whole people the losses incurred on that side. Mr. David Ricardo was of opinion that of all ways of paying for a war the best is to tax enough to pay for it as it goes on, just as it is best for a man who is eating up his estate to sell rather than mortgage. But if a people cannot do this, they had better, when peace comes, tax themselves to pay the whole as soon as possible, than to incur the expense of protracting the payment by supporting an army of tax-gatherers through a generation or two. Most emphatically must this be true of a country which has immense undeveloped resources, whose value depends on immigration, a thing which will be encouraged in proportion to the immunity from taxes. This reasoning does not apply to a public debt which represents productive property in the hands of the public. Whatever can be done by a government, either national or municipal, more economically and more beneficially to the citizen than by private enterprise, presents a reason for public or municipal |