990 THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY
we desire to have Him love us with all His heart, with all
His soul, with all His mind, and with all His strength, we
must love Him in the same manner. If we desire to have our
neighbor love us as he loves himself, we must love him as
we love ourself. Here, then, is the universal and Divine law of
human service and fellowship. It is not a precept of human
wisdom; it has its origin in the Divine nature, and its embodi-
ment in human nature. Now, let us apply it to the conflict
between labor and capitaL
You are a capitalist. Your money is invested in manufactures,
in land, in mines, in merchandise, railways, and ships, or you
loan it to others on interest. You employ, directly or indirectly,
men to use your capitaL You cannot come to a just conclusion
concerning your rights and duties and privileges by looking
wholly at your own gains. The glitter of the silver and gold will
exercise so potent a spell over your mind that it will blind you
to everything else. You can see no interest but your own. The
laborer is not known or regarded as a man who has any interests
you are bound to regard. You see him only as your slave, your
tool, your means of adding to your wealth. In this light he is a
friend so far as he serves you, an enemy so far as he does not.
But change your point of view. Put yourself in his place;
put him in your place. How would you like to have him treat
you if you were in his place? Perhaps you have been there. In all
probability you have, for the capitalist today was the laborer
yesterday, and the laborer today will be the employer tomorrow.
You know from lively and painful experience how you would
like to be treated. Would you like to be regarded as a mere
tool? As a means of enriching another? Would you like to have
your wages kept down to the bare necessities of life? Would
you like to be regarded with indifference and treated with
brutality? Would you like to have your blood, your strength,
your soul coined into dollars for the benefit of another?