January 1, 1907 to himself and posterity but also to the angels. The lessons taught show us divine justice in connection with the condemnation and destruction that have come upon our race-— the redemptive work accomplished through Jesus shows us as nothing else could have shown the love and compassion and mercy of God toward those to whom he was under no obligation. The entire plan, when it is consummated, will show the wisdom of God in having permitted the evil, because he saw how he could overrule its dire results and make them profitable both to angels and to men. The power of God will be manifested through the fall and especially in the resurrection of Vou. XXVIII ZION’S WATCH TOWER ALLEGHENY, PA., JANUARY 15, 1907 (15-20) the dead—the most wonderful exhibit of divine power anywhere referred to, Furthermore we must not lose sight of the fact that the Lord has so utilized the fall of man as to provide, in connection with the redemption from it, that the little flock might become new creatures in Christ Jesus, partakers of the divine nature, joint-heirs with him as his bride in the glorious kingdom to come and the everlasting glory and service of the Father. As for other features of this lesson, including the blessing of the seventh day, we refer our readers to Dawn STUDIES, Vol, vi., page 46. VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER “WHAT WILL THE POOR DO WITH THE RICH?’’ Under this caption quite a striking article has appeared recently in the London Daily Mail. The form of the question is very suggestive. It is not a great while since the question continually asked was, ‘‘What shall we do with the poor?’’ How shall we build almshouses for them, restrain them, and arrange soup-kitchens and shelter for those out of work? It is quite a new question, therefore, to reverse the matter and say, ‘‘What shall the poor do with the rich?’’ This great change has been effected by two things: (1) The public demand for universal suffrage which has only prevailed, except in our own Jand, for a comparatively short time; and (2) the other factor in the situation is the increase of knowledge. Many are running to and fro, and knowledge is being increased—and knowledge, as some one has said, is power. The poor have learned that they are in the majority, that each vote has its count, and that the majority of votes means the control of the government. It is surprising that it has required so long a time for the masses to awake to the power that is in their hands through the ballot. When they do become thoroughly awake it is very easy to be seen that with the power in their hands the poor will see to it that the rich do not have as great advantage ‘in the future as in the past. Only in this last election, as we have stated, have the British voters gotten awake to the situation, and now they are planning for the future, arranging to take over as much of the government as possible into their own hands and to etfect legislation favorable to their own interests. In the United States a similar movement is on foot amongst the labor unions. It may be a few years before it reaches the point of danger to the present social structure, but its coming is inevitable. We may be sure that it will be heard in full force and weight by the end of ‘‘Gentile times.’’? In Germany matters have already progressed further. The Socialists there would have matters in their own hands were the voting privileges theirs on the same basis that they are in the United States and Great Britain. The Germans, however, foresaw something of coming conditions and shielded the government and the wealthier and middle classes from the poor by providing certain conditions under which the favored classes have a larger number of votes at the polls. Nor do we think this an unreasonable position—that education and property should be represented. The point we make, however, 1s that all these matters are culminating on time. Hearken to the words of Scripture, applicable now: ‘‘Go to now, ye rich men; weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.’’— Jas. 5:1. We quote below the article referred to:— ‘‘WHAT WILL THE POOR DO WITH THE RICH?’’ ‘‘Of peculiar importance and significance at the present time, when England is wondering whether or not the Socialist Party is in the immediate future to control the fate and fortunes of the United Kingdom, is Sir Henry Wrixon’s political study, published under the obscure title of ‘The Pattern State.’ Sir H. Wrixon stands far aloof from purely British controversies; he is an Australian publicist and statesman; yet his contribution to political science is the more valuable since he has seen in Australia the working of the very tendencies which he describes. ‘‘The great problem of today, to his mind is, ‘What will the poor do with the rich?’ The general election in England has marked a change more profound than the French Revolution. Power has passed finally and forever from the English middle-class to the wage-earner. Nor is it probable that the conditions which now exist in this country will speedily change. The middle class, Sir Henry thinks, were accessible to argument and reason; the wage-earning class are not. The middle class sought, on the whole, the interests of the nation, and were divided because some took one view and some another of what those interests might be. The wageearning class seck first and foremost their own personal interest, to ameliorate their own economic condition, to obtain higher wages and greater comfort from the State, at the expense of others, and, in a word, to eliminate the struggle for existence. Hence they are and will remain solid and united. The political pendulum will swing no longer. THE DREAM OF MR. GLADSTONE ‘“‘The political forecasts of the immediate past have been belied. Political reformers, down to the late Mr. Gladstone, thought that the wage-earners would, if given votes, be content to follow the judgment ‘of those who have superior opportunities, and have also, or are supposed to have superior fitness of all kinds.’ The very contrary has happened. The wage-earners, instead of voting for the orthodox Liberal or the orthodox Unionist, have voted for Labor members, trade unionist representatives, and others of their own class and station, without the education and training which gave Mr. Gladstone’s ‘superior fitness’ to govern. The poor are not following the lead of the well-to-do, but are kings in their own right. ‘“‘This kingship of the people (by ‘the people’ being understood the poor, who are in every nation the majority) will produce immediate and inevitable results. In the first place, we shall see the rule of ignorance. “¢ “Theories and proposals that under a middle-class rule would be regarded as too wild to require an answer will be favorably regarded even by learned professors. . . . They will be discussed with all the care and respect that is due to a monarch’s words.’ ‘“Municipal government in England and the United States has already shown that political intelligence does not widen as we descend in rank and station, and that universal education has not the enlightening results which were promised in its name. Hence the prospect of the future is the rule of the wire-pullers, bribing the electorate with the plunder of the rich, to be bestowed in the form of ‘political outdoor relief.’ ‘‘The elector will no longer be asked, What have you done for your country? but, What has the Government done for you? We have reached a condition of affairs where tlie political conditions are in absolute opposition to the industrial. At the polling station the worker is the equal of the master, nay, even his superior, since he has on his side a vast numerical advantage, which virtually reduces the employer to a state of political impotence. But within the factory affairs are reversed. There the employer is king, and his equal at the voting station is his inferior. A BLACK OUTLOOK FOR INDUSTRY **Such conditions could only persist while the attention of the voter was confined to ‘what are properly called politics, or the public affairs of the nation.’ If the scope of politics is extended—-as it has been—so ‘as to include the management of the industrial side of life, with the purpose of there enforcing that equality which is so dearly prized on fhe political side of life, then we come directly upon that problem which western civilization must eithcr solve or perish in the attempt to solve.’ In a word, political equality is irreconcilable with industrial inequality. One or other must go. ‘‘This is clearly seen and understood by the Labor party; it is the doctrine also of a considerable body of Liberals, numbering not much less than 100, outside the Labor ranks, though Sir Henry does not note this. If that section gives effect to its doctrines, backed by the majority of voters, the whole order of civilization as we now know it must change. ‘*Already in the municipalities the change has begun. The exploitation of the few rich by the many poor, their oppressive taxation, and the provision of comfortable condi [3923]
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