can be shown, for example; Hegel says of gravitation, it is the desire of that which is the real of matter to individualize itself. Already it would find in a common center that intelligent oneness for which the Spirit first went forth. Theosophy sees in gravitation the principle of Desire urging every atom of the sentient universe to mutual contact in an instinctive attempt to overcome the illusion of separateness.

This desire for oneness, manifest in the wheeling of suns and planets, is, to Hegel, as also to Theosophy, the ultimate cause of those mysterious affinities which the chemist has noted but not explained. Belief in original and final unity inspired the alchemists in their exoteric search for what to Theosophy is the gold of transmuted desire, even Divine Love.

In certain quarters men of distinguished attainment have overleaped the walls wherewith modern physical science has encompassed itself. These investigators have turned to those tabooed subjects, telepathy and spiritism, of which Theosophy essays a detailed explanation. Such investigation is a hopeful sign. Evidently the wave of materialism is expending itself even among the inheritors of the questionable legacy of John Locke. Less and less contempt is now expressed for "German Transcendentalism" and

the so-called wild and extravagant assumptions of Indian thinkers. Though the gradual substantiation of the Darwinian theory is working adversely toward the doctrines of Swedenborg, Theosophists claim that when to wireless telegraphy, and the unique behavior of radium, and our latest knowledge of the atom-said by Theosophy to be like man, a miniature of the solar systemScience has added a few other important discoveries, men will look with amazement at the half-revelation of these in that semi-esoteric work, The Secret Doctrine, of H. P. Blavatsey.

Although such thinkers as Hamilton and Mill have deemed the knowledge of God no province of philosophy, and though Kant himself considered his Being a matter of faith, and though Spencer relegates Deity to the regions of the unknowable, Leibnitz made the Universal Monad the indispensable primary of his system, and Hegel deemed that he himself had reasoned even to the Absolute One. And so Theosophy, which, like Hegelianism, declares for the perfectibility and unification of mankind, stands also for "That," the Divine Parent, the All in All when suns and systems and time itself shall be no more. EDWARD C. FARNSWORTH.

Portland, Maine.

MR.

R. THUM'S proposal for public works high schools, in connection with which boys could support themselves while getting a good education, both industrial and general, is a very interesting proposition.

It is perfectly clear that something should be done to ensure the better edu

cation of our young people. Every boy and girl is entitled to at least an education of high-school grade on two lines: (1) academic, and, (2) industrial.

How far we are at present from this desirable minimum is apparent from such facts as the following, secured by the writer within the last two months:

Many of our agricultural colleges and other institutions of learning, especially the state universities of the West, afford the means of employment whereby young men and women may support themselves while getting an education. All that is necessary is the extension and improvement of methods already in use, so that the way to the high school and college may be open on such reasonable and attractive terms that the great mass of boys and girls will finish at least the high-school grades, instead of drop

ping out before the end of the grammar course, as they do now.

The industrial, civic and social benefits of such a development of our educational resources are beyond estimate. It will multiply enlightenment; and the benefits of true education rise in geometric ratio. In the ideal city education will become the leading industry, instead of being a halfhearted side-issue, attaining but a small fraction of its due efficiency, as is the case to-day. FRANK PARSONS.

Boston, Massachusetts.

THE

may

HE PROPENSITY to gamble is one of the most subtle of evils and amongst the most degrading. It is not confined to any class of people but be found assailing the honesty, integrity and purity of men and women of all classes. It makes of the public official a betrayer of his oath and the trust imposed in him as such, the trusted employé an embezzler, the private individual a thief and deceiver, the husband to forget his marriage vows and his duty to his children, and the wife to forsake husband, home and family for the gaming table and the race track. The feverish unrest it produces unfits men for business, saps their moral stamina and renders them unworthy, unreliable and dishonest. The life of a gambler is one of constant deception. The desire to get something for nothing is itself opposed to right and justice and renders the victim of the gambling habit wholly unmindful of the rights of others. This propensity to prey unjustly upon others finds its way into what might otherwise be legitimate business, in stock transactions, the trusts in their various forms, and in speculation of all kinds as contradistinguished

from legitimate business for legitimate profits. In many cases the habit of gambling is as intense as the drink habit or the abnormal taste for drugs, that overcomes the will of its victim, making him its veritable slave until its mesmeric influence over him is overcome and destroyed. This very condition of bondage costs him his own self-respect. To others he may appear to be a respectable and respected citizen, but to himself he is debased, degraded and unworthy of respect or confidence.

It is not intended here, however, to deal with the psychological problems involved in this widespread and farreaching evil, nor to consider it in its various forms, but to notice, briefly, the one phase of the habit engendered and sustained by the race track and its accessories, as conducted in these modern times, and the relation of the newspapers to this type of the deadly evil and the measure of their responsibility for its continuance and spread. The one great difference between race-track gambling and other species of gambling, the game of poker, for example, is its publicity. The racing of horses cannot be regarded

as in itself an evil. But in the present day the horse, the noblest of animals, is made the means of establishing and perpetuating a species of gambling of the most attractive kind and resulting in the most lamentable results. The glamour and excitement of the contest for victory in the race; the persuasive influence of the agents and emissaries of the bookmakers, the tone of respectability given to it by the attendance and participation in the betting of those who otherwise stand for respectability in the community, especially the showy rich, all tend to draw the unwary into the betting and fasten upon him the desire to gamble that makes him henceforth the habitué of the race track, and, eventually, makes of him a thief or embezzler and renders the ordinary means of gaining a livelihood altogether too slow and common place for him. In every community where a race track has been established its evil influences are soon made apparent. The evidences of is effects are found in the inefficiency and dishonesty of employés, neglect of business by business men, and of official in public life, and is recorded, all too frequently, in the records of the criminal courts and evidenced by erstwhile honest public officials and trusted employés in the garb of the convicted felon. Spas modic outbreaks of indignation occur at intervals in the way of public meetings and appeals to the public authorities to suppress the evil. The newspapers join in the cry against race-track gambling, in local comment and sometimes de torially, and yet the newspapers are largely responsible for the success of the race track and its gambling adjuncts. They themselves have been directly responsible for the downfall of many through the temptation to bet on the races and have contributed largely to swell the roll of convicts in the penitentiaries of the country. What, the racetrack evil needs most to keep it alive and flourishing is publicity. It needs to be, it must be, advertised to be successful, and the same greed for gain that induces

the attendant at the race track to bet on the horses induces the newspaper to advertise for money the performances at the track, giving both the coming events and the results of those which have already taken place, giving tips as to the favorites in coming races by which the unwary are misled, deceived and robbed of their money. In the very number of the newspaper in which appears the editorial denunciation of the race track as an evil and menace to the community and a demand for its suppression by the authorities, may be found not only the paid advertisements of the race-track manager bat columns of gratuitous advertising inserted to make the paper popular with the sporting portion of the community and increase its list of subscribers This so-called sporting news is made as attractive as the printer's ingenuity an make it, with flaming catch headlines nd often published as a sporting edition," on colored paper used to attract the attention of those who may be tempted to patronize the races. Often the newspaper that resorts to this unworthy means of satisfying its greed for money, littls less reprehensible than the bookmaker who fleeces the unwary, or the professional race-track

66

ambler who profits by his own rascality and the ignorance of his victims, is recognized as a "moral" newspaper "devoted to the best interests" of the community in which it is published. It so announces itself and its pretensions are accepted. Many times the announcements of religious services and comments on religious, beneficient and worthy enterprises for the elevation and betterment of humanity, may be found in close proximity to the race-track news, but with much less ostentation or effort to attract attention.

Grasping avarice and consuming greed sap the honesty, morals and integrity of the newspaper and make it the sponsor and aider and abettor of the race-track evil just as these evil propensities take men and women to the race track and make gamblers and felons of them, and

they should be held strictly responsible for the large part they are taking in the spread of the evil. If the newspapers only had the moral courage to exclude from their columns any and all mention of race tracks or their performances, in the form of paid advertisement or other wise, the crushing out of the evil would not be difficult. That alone would probably retire many if not all of them. This is too much to hope for in this day of the mania for money-getting. But if newspapers have not the moral courage to take this step their morals should be stimulated by a law making it a penal offense to publish any such matter either in a newspaper or in any other form, and the rigid and uncompromising enforcement of the law. But have the makers of our laws the moral courage to enact such laws and the public officials to enforce them? The influences that have established the race track with its gambling accompaniment are most powerful and persistent. They meet, and often overcome, any effort made to induce state legislatores to enact laws against the evil. Therefore any attempt, at the present time, to accomplish such legislation as above suggested would doubtless meet not only this influence but the influence of many of the newspapers that are participating in no small degree in the profits resulting from the continuance of the evil. But the law abiding, selfrespecting citizens of this country should set their face against this great evil and act, and act decisively, in every legitimate

་

way that will tend to check its spread and eventually destroy it. Doubtless it is a matter of education in large part, but the first to be taught should be the newspapers, themselves claiming to be the great educators of the public. They have great influence in moulding public opinion and their efforts should be enlisted, if possible, against race-track gambling, but to be consistent they must exclude all advertisements or notices of the race track from their columns. It is one of the singular phases of our present every-day life that the managers and publishers of otherwise respectable newspapers should open their columns to such matter so fraught with positive injury to the community, and still more remarkable that respectable citizens and Christian people, including ministers of the gospel, should subscribe for and read their papers without a word of protest against this prostitution of the papers to the level of an open and avowed supporter of vice in one of its worst and most deadly forms.

Have we become so lacking in moral fiber, as a people, that such things give no offense? If so the better element in the nature of the American people should be aroused and made to exert itself against this great evil that is ruining so many of our young men and making criminals of them, and which, all too frequently, brings under the spell of its influence the women of the country as well. JOHN D. WORKS.

Los Angeles, California.