332 The Plan of the Ages.
practice. But men in their present condition will not ob- serve this rule without compulsion. Though there be some among the artisans of the world who would be thus mod- erate and just in their ideas, the majority are not so, but will be extreme, unjust and arrogant in their ideas and de- mands, beyond all reason. Each concession on the part of capitalists will but add to such demands and ideas ; and all having experience know that the arrogance and rule of the ignorant poor are doubly severe. And so among those of wealth some are fully in sympathy with the laboring classes, and would be glad to acT: out their sympathy by making such arrangements as would gradually effect the needed reforms; but they are greatly in the minority and wholly powerless in the operating of corporations and to a great extent in their private business. If they be mer- chants or manufacturers, they cannot shorten the hours of labor or increase the wages of their employes; for compet- itors would then undersell them, and financial disaster to themselves, their creditors and their employes would follow. Thus we see the natural cause of the great trouble of this "Day of Jehovah/' Selfishness, and blindness to all ex- cept their own interests, will control the majority on both sides of the question. Wage-workers will organize and unify their interests, but selfishness will destroy the union ; and each, being actuated mainly by that principle, will scheme and conspire in that direction. The majority, igno- rant and arrogant, will gain control, and the better class will be powerless to hold in check that which their intelli- gence organized. Capitalists will become convinced that the more they yield the more will be demanded, and will soon determine to resist all demands. Insurrection will result \ and in the general alarm and distrust capital will be withdrawn from public and private enterprises, and business depression and financial panic will follow. Thousands of
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