The items of instruction which have been laid before us by Elders
George A. Smith and George Q. Cannon are very important to us, they are
subjects which we have dwelt upon for years. It is generally known
among us that we commenced some years ago to raise cotton in the
southern portion of our Territory, and it is also known that machinery
to manufacture it has been introduced into this country. All this has
been done to encourage the people to become self-sustaining. I am
ready to acknowledge that the Latter-day Saints are the best people,
and the most willing people to do right that I know anything about.
But when we take into particular and close consideration their acts,
and compare them with the teaching they are constantly receiving, we
think and say they are very far from taking all the counsel given them
of the Lord through His servants. But were they to be counseled, for
instance, to go to the gold mines, many of them would obey with
alacrity. If they were to be counseled to chew or smoke tobacco, many
would lift up both hands for this, and shout for joy? If the sisters
many of them, were counseled to continue the use of tea and coffee
they would sit up all night to bless you. When we are counseled to do
that which plea ses us then are we willing to obey counsel. Yet when I
consider the pit from whence we have been taken, and the rock from
whence we have been hewn, I can say, praise to the Latter-day Saints.
Again, when we consider the immensity of knowledge and wisdom and
understanding pertaining to the things of this life, pertaining to the
learning of this world, pertaining to that which is within our reach,
and ready for the use and profit of the people, and particularly with
regard to taking care of ourselves, and then consider our
shortcomings, and slothfulness, we may look upon ourselves with
shamefacedness because of the smallness of our attainments in the
midst of so many great advantages.
A thorough reformation is needed in regard to our eating and drinking,
and on this point I will freely express myself, and shall be glad if
the people will hear, believe and obey. If the people were willing to
receive the true knowledge from heaven in regard to their diet they
would cease eating swine's flesh. I know this as well as Moses knew
it, and without putting it in a code of commandments. When I tell you
that it is the will of the Lord to cease eating swine's flesh, very
likely someone will tell you that it is the will of the Lord to stop
eating beef and mutton, and another that it is the will of the
Lord to stop eating fowl and fish until the minds of the people become
bewildered, so that they know not how to decide between right and
wrong, truth and error. The beef fed upon our mountain grasses is as
healthy food as we need at present. Beef, so fattened, is as good as
wild meat, and is quite different in its nature from stall-fed meat.
But we can eat fish; and I ask the people of this community, Who
hinders you from raising fowls for their eggs? Who hinders you from
cultivating fruit of every variety that will flourish in the different
parts of this Territory? There has not been a day through the whole
winter that I have not had fresh peaches, and plenty of apples and
strawberries. Who hinders any person in this community from having
these different kinds of food in their families? Fish is as healthy a
food as we can eat, if we except vegetables and fruit, and with them
will become a very wholesome diet. What hinders us from surrounding
ourselves with an abundance of those various articles of food which
will promote health and produce longevity? If it is anything, it is
our own neglect; or, in other words, which will answer my purpose
better, the want of knowing how.
We cannot say there are loafers on our streets; still, there are
persons in our community who seem to have no other aim in existence,
than to pass away their time to no purpose or use to themselves or the
community. They have nothing to do, and think that they cannot apply
themselves to anything that will benefit themselves and their
families, when they might with great propriety be engaged in laying
out a garden, fencing and planting it, and laying a foundation to make
themselves and their families comfortable. It is true we have taken a
great share of this people from manufacturing districts, where the
great masses of the people know nothing about cultivating the earth;
but they can learn it soon, if they will, after they get here. Let
your minds be at home, and let your attention be directed to that
which the Lord has given you for honor and glory to yourself, instead
of being like the fool which Solomon wrote about, whose eyes are in
the ends of the earth. Consider that you are at home, and strive to
make your homes happy, comfortable and delightful; let the spirit
which you enjoy yourself abound therein.
What is the reason that our brethren do not progress faster in their
improvements? In a great measure it is for the want of leaders. But
this is not altogether so. Generally it is for lack of judgment and
wisdom, tact and talent, taste, industry and prudence in our Bishops.
As it has been said, as with the priest so with the people. This is
the case in a great measure; and we can say, as is the Bishop so are
the members of his ward. It is the duty of the Bishops to take a
course to make their lives, characters, doings and sayings fit
examples in all things to the people of their wards. Some of our
Bishops have made no improvements for eighteen years. I have asked the
Bishops to sow a little rye, to make straw for hats and bonnets. A few
have done so. I have asked them to do the same thing this spring, that
the sisters of their wards may have straw to manufacture. If the
Bishops have not time to do this, or have not the ground, get some of
the brethren to do it who have time and ground, and let there be an
acre of rye sown to each ward, and then ask the sisters to gather it
in the proper season. Some say that wheat straw is as good as rye, if
properly prepared. Gather the straw, and make your bonnets and
hats, and wear them when you come to this tabernacle; and make hats
for your husbands and sons to wear, and for your brothers and your
sisters, your daughters and your mothers, and let us see all the
sisters and all our brethren and all our children wearing hats and
bonnets of material produced and manufactured by ourselves. I have
been pleading for this for years and years.
This is leap year; let the ladies take the lead in this and every
other species of home industry at which they can be employed. We have
asked the sisters to organize themselves into Relief Societies; I
again ask the sisters in every ward of the Territory to do so, and get
women of good understanding to be your leaders, and then get counsel
from men of understanding; and let your fashions proceed from
yourselves, and become acquainted with those noble traits of
character which belong to your sex. Ever since I knew that my mother
was a woman I have loved the sex, and delight in their chastity. The
man who abuses, or tries to bring dishonor upon the female sex is a
fool, and does not know that his mother and his sisters were women.
Women are more ready to do and love the right than men are; and if
they could have a little guidance, and were encouraged to carry out
the instincts of their nature, they would effect a revolution for good
in any community a great deal quicker than men can accomplish it. Men
have been placed on the earth to bear rule and to lead in every good
work, and if they would do their duty today in our own government,
and then throughout the world, they would stop whining about the
"Mormons" marrying so many wives, and the ladies would have somebody
to protect them and they would not need to flee to the "Mormon" Elders
for protection. But outside of this community they are destroying the
sex, ruining all they can, and then they boast of their villainy.
Shall I say that the women are shortsighted? I will say they are
weak; I will say that it is in their nature to confide in and look to
the sterner sex for guidance, and thus they are the more liable to be
led astray and ruined. It is the decree of the Almighty upon them to
lean upon man as their superior, and he has abused his privilege as
their natural protector and covered them with abuse and dishonor.
I wish the whole people of the United States could hear me now, I
would say to them, let every man in the land over eighteen years of
age take a wife, and then go to work with your hands and cultivate the
earth, or labor at some mechanical business, or some honest trade to
provide an honest living for yourselves and those who depend upon you
for their subsistence; observing temperance, and loving truth and
virtue; then would the women be cared for, be nourished, honored and
blest, becoming honorable mothers of a race of men and women farther
advanced in physical and mental perfection than their fathers. This
would create a revolution in our country, and would produce results
that would be of incalculable good. If they would do this, the Elders
of this Church would not be under the necessity of taking so many
wives. Will they do this? No, they will not; and there are many who
will continue to ruin every virtuous woman they can, buying the virtue
of woman with money and deception, and thus, the lords of creation
proceed from one conquest to another, boasting of their victories,
leaving ruin, tears and death in their pathway; and what have they
conquered? A poor, weak, confiding, loving wo man. And what
have they broken and crushed and destroyed? One of the fairest gems of
all God's creation. O man! For shame. If the men of the city of New
York alone had done for the last twenty years as the men of this
community have done, from two to four hundred thousand females from
sixteen years of age and upwards, whose dishonor and ruin are
mercifully covered in the grave, would now be in life and health,
moving in the circles of happy homes, prayed for, respected, loved and
honored.
Now, ladies, go to and organize yourselves into industrial societies,
and get your husbands to produce you some straw, and commence bonnet
and hat making. If every ward would commence and continue this and
other industrial pursuits, it would not be long before the females of
the wards of our Territory would have stores in their wards, and means
sufficient to send and get the articles which they need, that cannot
yet be manufactured here and which they may want to distribute.
It is an old saying that a woman can throw out of the window with a
spoon as fast as a man can throw into the door with a shovel; but a
good housekeeper will be saving and economical, and teach her
children to be good housekeepers, and how to take care of everything
that is put in their charge. I do not wish to go into detail here; I
see too much; I know too much of the waste and neglect of our females
to feel satisfied with them. Is this any more so with the female
portion of our community than among the males? No, not at all; but the
neglect, the idleness, the waste, and the extravagance of men in our
community are ridiculous. They are constantly taught better; they know
better; yet, in many instances, the same reckless waste is indulged in
by the whole family. If we will learn to be wise and careful, we shall
devote all our time in that way that will be of the greatest advantage
to us and to our common cause, continually bettering our condition,
and become more and more competent to do good.
I have tried continually to get this people to pursue a course that
will make them self-sustaining, taking care of their poor—the lame,
the halt and the blind, lifting the ignorant from where they have no
opportunity of observing the ways of the world, and of understanding
the common knowledge possessed among the children of men, bringing
them together from the four quarters of the world, and making of them
an intelligent, thrifty and self-sustaining people. This is a work
that is worthy the attention of the Saints. We have gathered thousands
from many nations. By the aid of the Almighty we have raised them out
of penury and miserable dependence, and have taught them how to become
wealthy in possessions, useful to themselves and their neighbors, good
citizens, and, I trust, faithful Saints. We are still continuing our
labors in gathering the poor from foreign lands, and the people are
doing marvels in contributing their means for this purpose; and it is
still coming, and we hope to be able to still enlarge our operations
for the deliverance of the poor and downtrodden Saints of all nations.
We can continue to receive and send means until July.
Now, sisters, will you commence to pay attention to the raising of
silk? There are numbers of sisters in our community who could pay
attention to this industry, and teach the children to gather the
mulberry leaves and to feed the worms. I wish all those sisters whose
hands are not tied with large families to enter into this business
with heart and hand in their different wards. Plant the
mulberry tree, and raise silk every year, also silkworm eggs. By
pursuing this business faithfully, year by year, it will bring a
yearly revenue to each ward of thousands of dollars, making the people
more and more able to perform works of benevolence and mercy, and to
make themselves more and more comfortable in their living.
The Kingdom of God is upward and onward, and will so continue until
its power and influence extend to the relief of the honest of all
nations. It is for us to look to the welfare of the Kingdom of God;
for it alone will sustain us, build us up and save us now and
hereafter, and prepare us to enjoy a blessed eternity. May God bless
you. Amen.