I want to express my feelings to the Latter-day Saints upon certain
points of business which pertain to our welfare, and I wish to do it
without being obliged to raise my voice so high and so loud as to
infringe upon the organs of speech to that degree that I shall have to
stop. If the people will be still, they can hear me in my common voice
perfectly easy. I will not go into all the details with regard to the
duties of the Latter-day Saints, and their desires, as they have
manifested them by gathering out from the world, and assembling
themselves together. They generally understand them, and they can read
for themselves the doctrines of the Church, and the reasons why we are
gathered together. But I wish now to impress on the minds of the
people the necessity of our taking a course to be able to exist and to
sustain ourselves—to have something to eat and wear—hats to put on our
heads, and coats, mantles, blankets, vests, shirts, garments and other
things suitable to wear and to make our bodies comfortable, provided
that the Lord should knock the underpinning from under Babylon. The
time will come when Babylon will fall. If it should fall now, it would
leave us pretty destitute. We would soon wear out our head dresses and
fine clothing, and what should we do? Why, we should be as badly off
as the Saints were when they came into this valley, twenty-five years
ago. They picked up a few buckskins, antelope skins, sheepskins,
buffalo skins, and made leggings and moccasins of them, and wrapped
the buffalo robes around them. Some had blankets and some had not;
some had shirts, and I guess some had not. One man told me that he had
not a shirt for himself or family. If Babylon should happen to tip
over, so that we could not reach out and gather the necessaries of
life, we should be in a bad condition. I want to put you in mind of
these things, and it is my duty to say to the Latter-day Saints that
they should take measures to sustain themselves—they should lay a
foundation for feeding and clothing themselves.
You are well aware that there has been a great deal of money spent in
this Territory to get machinery for the purpose of working up the wool
and cotton, and I think you are pretty well aware that there have been
a great many thousand words spoken to the Latter-day Saints in these
valleys, upon the necessity of raising sheep, though we have had a
tide of opposition against this. Still, wool raising is now
proven to be a success in these mountains, any and all of the Bishops
to the contrary notwithstanding. This is a fine wool growing country,
no better in the world. We have proved this; and we have got a great
deal of machinery here to work up the wool, most of which is now
standing still for the want of wool. Many of those who have been
prevailed upon to raise sheep, have got so covetous and love money so
well that they must sell their wool for money, and send it out of the
country, in consequence of which the factories are now standing still.
I think there are a few who will recollect that, in the excitement of
purchasing wool here last May, June and July, in many instances I
refused to buy their wool. If I would have paid a little more than
agents from the east, I could have got it; in some instances I got it
for a little less. I bought some and let a good deal go, and told the
people with whom I conversed upon the subject, that I would let the
buying of wool alone until Fall, then I thought I could send east, buy
my wool and ship it back here, and I believe I could get it cheaper
than I could get it then. And it is now verily so, for I can send to
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, or anywhere in the eastern country,
and buy wool and ship it back here from 10 to 30 percent cheaper
than I could buy it here last spring. I can send west and buy wool and
ship it here and save a still higher percentage. This is the
difference in the price of wool last spring and the fore part of the
summer, and now what our friends and brethren who own factories will
do with regard to purchasing wool, I am not able to say. Some of them,
probably, are able to buy wool, and quite a number are not, and they
who are not will, in all probability, let their factories stand still.
I want the brethren and sisters to take an interest in sustaining
ourselves here in these mountains. It is the duty of the Bishops to
see that the members of their Wards take a course that will build up
the kingdom of God, not only in providing food and raiment, but see
that the people do their duty with regard to the law of God in
preserving themselves in purity. My mind is now upon those things
which some people call temporal, and I wish to urge them upon the
Latter-day Saints. I want them to save their wool and to keep it in
this Territory. If we have not factories sufficient to work up all the
wool that grows in this Territory, and in these mountains, we will
send and get more machinery, and build more factories, and work up the
wool for the people. It is the duty of those who grow wool to keep it
here. It is the duty of the wife of the man who owns sheep to look to
it, and see that that wool is not sold and carried out of the country.
It is the duty of the Bishops to see these men, and urge upon them the
necessity of keeping the wool in the mountains where it can be worked
up; and the Bishops should set the example themselves. We expect they
do; if they do not, they are not fit for Bishops. It is the duty of
the Bishops to see the wives of these men and their children, that
they may prevail on their greedy, covetous fathers or husbands, who
would sacrifice the prosperity of the kingdom of God for a little
worldly wealth, and see that they do not run distracted or go crazy
over a little money. I say the Bishops should see to it, that these
men who have sheep act like rational, reasonable men. What are you
here for? What did you come for? Virtually you all say you left
Babylon and came here to build up the kingdom of God; but our acts
speak as loud, and a little louder than our words can. We
witness to one another and to the Heavens, and to all people, that we
believe in building up the kingdom of God on the earth. There is an
item that ought to be before the Latter-day Saints with regard to the
kingdom as it will be built up. They ought to teach themselves—read
the Scriptures, the Old and New Testament, the prophecies, what the
Savior and his Apostles have said, and what has been delivered to us
in the latter days, and compare them, and then draw their own
conclusions, and see if they are under the necessity of working
temporally, literally, manually, physically for the building up of the
kingdom of heaven. I say that we are or it never will be built up.
With regard to the fundamental facts of our doctrines, we cannot show
to any person that we have faith therein, except by our works. If I
were now in the world, and an Elder was to come along and preach, and
I were to go and hear him, the act of walking to the meetinghouse or
to the private dwelling house, would be manual labor. I might believe
every word such an Elder said in preaching the Gospel, but if I never
took any steps towards fulfilling his requirements who would know
anything about it? Nobody on the face of the earth. Would there be any
manifestation that I had faith? Not the least in the world, and if it
started to grow in my heart while listening to the Elder, without
works on my part it would soon die out and cease to exist. If I do
believe, it is a manual labor to get up and say to the people, "I
believe that what this man has said is true." That is an exercise of
the body, and a temporal labor. Well, this Elder says, we should
repent of our sins. I do repent. He says we should obey the Gospel,
and the first thing after having faith or believing it, is to go down
into the waters of baptism, and to do that is a temporal act, physical
labor; and the act of baptism by him is also a temporal act or labor.
And so in everything else with regard to the Gospel and the building
up of the kingdom of God on the earth—we must have works or we cannot
have faith. I cannot divide between the two. The Elder is preaching,
I believe, I confess and obey, and I cannot, for my soul, divide the
temporal, the manual, the physical labor from the internal faith and
hope and joy which the spirit gives, and which cause obedience in my
acts.
I wish to make this application right here to the Latter-day Saints.
If we believe that God is about to establish his kingdom upon the
earth, we believe firmly that we have got to perform a manual,
temporal labor to bring this about. If the kingdoms of this world ever
become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, it will be by his
people conforming to the plans instituted for the establishment of a
kingdom here on the earth. You may call it temporal, no matter what it
is called, it is territory, it is dominion. In the first place we must
have territory, then we must have people; and in order to organize
this kingdom, we must have officers and laws to govern or control the
subjects. To make the organization of a kingdom perfect, we must have
every appendage necessary and proper, so that the Savior can come and
reign king of nations as he does king of Saints. We shall be under the
necessity of raising breadstuff, and then we shall want to eat it. We
shall have to raise our fruit as well as eat it; we shall have to
raise our vegetables as well as eat them. We shall be under the
necessity then of making hats, or of going without them; we
shall be under the necessity of making clothing—coats, vests, pants,
shirts and so on, or else go without them. We shall be under the
necessity of having courts organized, unless all are in the Lord and
all walk in his way; if that were the case, I do not know that we
should want any sheriff, marshals, constables, magistrates, jurors,
judges or governors, because the word of the Lord would govern and
control every person; but until that time arrives we shall want
officers, so that we will be prepared to reckon with the transgressor,
and we shall have transgressors in building this kingdom, for it will
be some time yet before all are in the Lord. The law is for the
transgressor, consequently we must have officers, and we already have
in this kingdom as now organized all the officers necessary, every
quorum, every organization, every court and authority necessary to
rule all the nations that ever were or ever will be upon the earth, if
they serve God, or try to do so. But if we must have an organization
after the order and wishes of those who are ignorant of the things of
God, we must have political and municipal organizations. Kingdoms are
organized to suit the conditions of the people, whether the government
is that of the people, in the hands of a few individuals, or centered
in one. But the kingdom of heaven, when organized upon the earth, will
have every officer, law and ordinance necessary for the managing of
those who are unruly, or who transgress its laws, and to govern those
who desire to do right, but cannot quite walk to the line; and all
these powers and authorities are in existence in the midst of this
people.
Now, we have this kingdom organized here upon the earth, and we shall
be under the necessity, by and by, of understanding this, or we will
be left in a very destitute condition. It is my duty to say to the
people that it is their duty to make their clothing; and permit me to
say, still further, upon the subject of the fashion of cutting cloth
and putting it together again, that it is most useless, unbecoming and
ridiculous. The present custom of many is such that I would as soon
see a squaw go through the streets with a very little on, as to see
clothing piled up until it reaches, perhaps, the top of the hedge or
fence its wearer is passing. If I do not say much about such customs
and fashions, I shall probably skip over some naughty words. In my
feelings they are positively ridiculous, they are so useless and
unbecoming. Do you recollect a fashion there was a few years ago, that
has now nearly ceased, when a woman could not walk through the streets
without holding her clothes two feet in front of her if her arm was
long enough? I shall not say what I thought of those who followed this
fashion. Now it is on the other side, and I do not know but they will
get two humps on their backs, they have one now, and if they get to be
dromedaries it will be no wonder, not the least in the world. I
recollect a fashion of cutting up cloth some forty years ago, that was
very peculiar. A lady would go into a store and say to a merchant, "I
would like to get a dress pattern this morning." "Very well, what will
you have?" "Oh, bring down your goods and show them. This suits pretty
well! I think I will take this." "Madame," says the merchant, "If you
will buy the sleeves, I will give you the dress." This, of course, is
jocosely said. I refer now to what was called the "mutton-legged"
sleeve—by comparison it took seven yards for the sleeves, and three for the dress. That was the way they dressed then. How
unbecoming! How unbecoming it is to see ladies dress as they do in
some places at the present day. Then another fashion is to wear their
dresses short in front, walking through the streets, and a long train
dragging in the dirt behind. How unbecoming! This is not modesty,
gentility, or good taste; it does not belong to a lady at all, but to
an ignorant, extravagant, or vain-minded person, who knows not true
principle. I take the liberty of saying that these fashions are
displeasing in the sight of truth, mercy and justice. It is
displeasing to the Spirit of the Lord for persons to array themselves
in any way whatever that is disgusting to the eye of the pure and the
prudent. There is not a Latter-day Saint nor a Former-day Saint that
ever did, or ever will expect to see any such customs or fashions when
they get into heaven. If they were to see an angel, they would see a
being beautifully but modestly dressed, white, comely and nice to look
upon.
I would like to advise the Latter-day Saints to avoid these foolish
customs and habits. Let them pass by and not follow them; they do not
belong to us. I would like to repeat to the ladies what we have said
hundreds and thousands of times—they should make their own
headdresses and fashions, independent of all the rest of the
inhabitants of the earth. Pay no attention to what others do, it is no
matter what they do, or how they dress. Latter-day Saints should dress
in that plain, neat, comely manner that will be pleasing and prudent,
in every sense of the word, before the Lord, and try and please him
that we serve, the Being that we acknowledge as our God. Not
flaunting, flirting and gossiping, as a great many are, and thinking
continually of their dresses, and of this, that and the other that
will minister to and gratify their vanity. Such women seldom think of
their prayers.
I am extending my remarks much longer than I intended. But how is it
about the Word of Wisdom? Do we observe it? We should do, and preserve
ourselves in all things holy before the Lord. How is it about keeping
the Sabbath day? We have some articles that we would like to read
here, but the people have them to read at their leisure. We should
observe the Ten Commandments, for instance, that were given to Moses.
If we do that, we shall be a pretty good people. But there is nothing
in those commandments about building factories and raising wool, for
the children of Israel, at the time they were given, were in a
condition that they did not need factories, they did not need to raise
wool. If they had goats and sheep with them, they made mutton, and
tanned the skins probably, but I do not know what they did with them.
It appears that their clothing did not wax old, and they probably had
no need to spin or weave. But we have need to, we have got to make our
own clothing, or to get it some other way—buy it or else go without
it; and we ought to keep the Word of Wisdom, and keep the Sabbath day
holy, and preserve ourselves in the integrity of our hearts before
God.
I want to ask if the people pay their tithing? Bishops, do the people
of your wards pay their tithing? I will answer the question for you
and say, No, they do not. Some people in modern times shudder at the
word tithing—it is a term they are not used to. They are used to
sustaining Priests, to donating for building meetinghouses, and
administering to those who wait at the table of the Lord, or
that do their preaching and praying for them. And this is done by
subscription, donation, and passing the plate, hat or basket, but the
word "tithing" is frightful to them. I like the term, because it is
scriptural, and I would rather use it than any other. The Lord
instituted tithing, it was practiced in the days of Abraham, and Enoch
and Adam and his children did not forget their tithes and offerings.
You can read for yourselves with regard to what the Lord requires. Now
do the Latter-day Saints pay their tithing? They do not. I want to say
this much to those who profess to be Latter-day Saints—If we neglect
our tithes and offerings we will receive the chastening hand of the
Lord. We may just as well count on this first as last. If we neglect to
pay our tithes and offerings we will neglect other things, and this
will grow upon us until the Spirit of the Gospel is entirely gone from
us, and we are in the dark, and know not whither we are going.
It is the duty of the Bishops to see that their wards pay tithing. But
we have Bishops who are not reliable—men, for instance, who will take
tithing grain when it brings a good price in cash, and when good beef
is bringing cash they are so kind to their wards, and especially to
their sons, that if a son has got a parcel of wild horses on the
prairies that are not worth a yearling calf a head, they will say to
him, "Drive up your wild horses, my boy, I will trade with you, and
let you have neat stock, yearlings, or two years or three years old,
or wheat that is in the tithing bin, I will take your horses. I will
send down word to the General Tithing office, that there are so many
horses here belonging to the tithing office." Such horses are a curse
to us, or I can say they have been to me as an individual. I have
raised stock enough to supply this whole Territory, if they had been
taken care of. But they were like the Indian's boy. The missionary had
been telling him that if he brought up a child in the way he should
go, when he was old he would not depart from it. But the old chief has
got it, just about as it is, and said he, "Yes, bring up a child, and
away he goes;" and this is the way the horses go. And as for the neat
stock, if any of it ever gets out of my sight that I do not know where
it is, and cannot send and get it, I always calculate that a thief
will have it. I never trouble myself to look after it, there are too
many men riding on the prairies with their blankets behind them, and
their dinner in their blanket, and their lassoes with them to hunt up
all the stock there is. This wild stock that is turned in on tithing
is a curse to us. And where does the wheat go to? I am not disposed
to, but I could tell names of Bishops who have taken our tithing wheat
out of the bins and it has been sold by them or their families. And
they have taken our stock that we wanted here for beef to feed the
public lands, and traded it off for wild horses. This is a pretty hard
saying, but it is true, and I could tell their names if I were obliged
to.
If the people will pay their tithing, we will go and do the work that
is required of us. It is very true that the poor pay their tithing
better than the rich do. If the rich would pay their tithing we should
have plenty. The poor are faithful and prompt in paying their tithing,
but the rich can hardly afford to pay theirs—they have too much. If a
man is worth enough that he would have a thousand dollars to pay, it
pinches him. If he has only ten dollars he can pay one; if he has only
one dollar he can pay ten cents; it does not hurt him at all.
If he has a hundred dollars he can possibly pay ten. If he has a
thousand dollars he looks over it a little and says, "I guess I will
pay it; it ought to be paid anyhow;" and he manages to pay his ten
dollars or his hundred dollars. But suppose a man is wealthy enough to
pay ten thousand, he looks that over a good many times, and says, "I
guess I will wait until I get a little more, and then I will pay a
good deal." And they wait and wait, like an old gentleman in the east;
he waited and waited and waited to pay his tithing until he went down,
I guess, to hell, I do not know exactly; but he went to Hades, which
we call hell. He went out of the world, and this is the way with a
great many. They wait and continue waiting, until, finally, the
character comes along who is called Death, and he slips up to them and
takes away their breath, then they are gone and cannot pay their
tithing, they are too late, and so it goes.
Now this is finding fault with the rich, and I am going to find fault
with the poor by and by. But if we will pay our tithing we will be
blessed; if we refuse to do so the chastening hand of the Lord will be
upon this people, just as sure as we are here. You may say I am
threatening you. Take it just as you please. I do not care. You may
grease it and swallow it, or swallow it without greasing, just as you
have a mind to. It is true, and we will find it so.
Will the Latter-day Saints pay their tithing? Will they keep the
Sabbath day holy? Will they deal justly with their neighbors? In my
own feelings I excuse a great many naughty things that are done in our
midst. I know that men and women brought up in different countries
come here with their prejudices, and with the instincts which they
have had bred in and born with them, and which have grown up with
them; and many of these traits of character are obnoxious to others
brought up under other circumstances. These traditions cling to the
people, and cause them to do many things which they would not do if
they had been differently taught. Their morals have not been looked
after in their youth and as prudently preserved as they should have
been. Children should be taught honesty, and they should grow up with
the feeling within them that they should never take a pin that is not
their own; never displace anything, but always put everything in its
place. If they find anything seek for the owner. If there is anything
of their neighbor's going to waste, put it where it will not waste,
and be perfectly honest one with another. Take the world of mankind
and they are not overstocked with honesty. I have proved that. In my
youth I have seen men, who were considered good, clever, honest men,
who would take the advantage of their neighbors or workmen if they
could. I have seen deacons, Baptists, Presbyterians, members of the
Methodist church, with long, solid, sturdy faces and a poor brother
would come along and say to one of them, "Brother, such-a-one, I have
come to see if I could get a bushel of wheat, rye or corn of you. I
have no money, but I will come and work for you in harvest," and their
faces would be drawn down so mournful, and they would say, "I have
none to spare." "Well, deacon, if you can let me have one bushel, I
understand you have considerable, I will come and work for you just as
long as you say, until you are satisfied, in your harvest field, or
haying or anything you want done."
After much talk this longfaced character would get it out, "If you
will come and work for me two days in harvest, I do not know but I
will spare you a bushel of rye."
When the harvest time comes the man could have got two bushels of rye
for one day's work; but the deacon sticks him to his bargain, and
makes him work two days for a bushel of wheat or rye. I used to think
a good deal, but seldom spoke about any such thing, for I was brought
up to treat everybody with that respect and courtesy that I could
hardly allow myself to think aloud, and consequently very seldom did
so. I thought enough of such religion, at any rate, that such
Christians called me an infidel, because I could not swallow such
things, but I could not if they had been greased over with fresh
butter. I did not read the Bible as they read it; and as for there
being Bible Christians, I knew there were none; and if their religion
was the religion they liked, said I, "Just go your own way, I want
none of it." I wanted no religion that produced such morals.
If we pay our tithing, and begin to live a little stricter than we
have heretofore, in our faith, cease to break the Sabbath, cease to
spend our time in idleness, cease to be dishonest and to meddle with
that which is not our own, cease to deceive and to speak evil of one
another, and learn the commandments of the Lord, and do them, we shall
be blessed.
Suppose we should say to a few of the Latter-day Saints, if we could
find those who would answer the purpose, "How would you like to build
up a stake of Zion, a little city of Enoch? How would you like this?
Would you like to enter into a covenant, and into bonds, according to
the law of our land, and let us bind ourselves together to go into a
systematic cooperative system, not only in merchandising, but in
farming and in all mechanical work, and in every trade and business
there is; and we will classify the business throughout, and we will
gather together a few hundred families, and commence and keep the law
of God, and preserve ourselves in purity. How would the Latter-day
Saints like it? Do you think there could any be found who would be
willing to do this?" Let me say to you, my brethren, I have a very
fine place to start such a society as this that would probably sustain
from five to ten thousand persons. I would like to make a deed of this
property to such a society, and enter into a covenant with men of God
and women of God that we would go to and show the world and show the
Latter-day Saints how to build up a city of Zion, and how to increase
intelligence among the people, how to walk circumspectly before our
God and before one another, and classify every branch of labor, taking
advantage of every improvement, and of all the learning in the world,
and direct the labor of men and women, and see what it would produce;
follow it out for ten years, and then look at the result. Our friends
who visit us here say that we have done a good work, and we bear
testimony that we have been greatly prospered. It is true that most of
the people in this house came here like myself comparatively naked and
barefoot. I left all I had in the States. I say all—no. I had some
wives and children whom I brought along with me. Some of them had
shoes to their feet, some had not; some had bonnets, some had none.
Some of my children had clothing, and some had very little; and we
took up our line of march and left all. I believe for some four pretty nice brick houses, and a nice large farm, timber land and
so on, I got one span of little horses and a carriage worth about a
hundred dollars, the horses were worth about sixty dollars apiece, the
harness about twenty. I think that was everything I got for my
property. We came here and we have been prospered and blessed. If I
had the privilege of living with a community that would do as I say
for ten years, I would show them that our blessings now, in a temporal
point of view, have been but as a drop to the bucketful. But would we
bear this? Would our feelings submit to this? Would we not want to go
and serve the devil if the Lord were to heap riches upon us? We see
that what he does now makes men covetous, they cannot even pay their
tithing. Well, do we get all that we want? No, each man wants it all,
and as long as this is the case with us, I think the saying common
among the boys in my youth will be good—"Every man for himself, the
devil for us all." Just as long as every man works for himself we are
not the Lord's; we are not Christ's, we are not his disciples in this
point of view, at any rate. If we had faith to be baptized, we do not
carry out the principles of the salvation that he has wrought out for
us. He is going to set up his kingdom—a literal, temporal kingdom. It
will be a kingdom of priests by and by. If we had been willing to fully
carry out the rules of the kingdom, followed counsel, and worked
together for twenty-five years past, the blessings we have received
are not a drop in the bucket to what we would have received.
Some twelve or fifteen years I labored faithfully with our merchants
here, before I could get them to break through that everlasting
covet ous crust that was over them, and consent to operate together in
merchandising so as to give the people a chance with us. And it was
the design and the feeling of men here, belonging to the Church, to
aggrandize themselves and to monopolize to themselves the wealth of
the community. And if another one sprang up and had good luck they
would take him into the corps, into their fellowship, and he would
belong to the order, and that was to make a few rich, and grind down
and make every other man poor. That was the design, no question of it.
But I determined with God and the good to help me that I would break
that everlasting covetous crust and I succeeded at last. Are we making
enough in our mercantile business here now? Yes, we are making all we
should make. I suppose a great many would like to know how we are
doing. It would be no harm for me to tell you perhaps that, the last
six months, the Board of Directors of Zion's Cooperative Mercantile
Institution are able to declare a dividend of ten percent, with five
percent in reserve, which is added to the capital stock, and is as
good as money. That is good enough for me, it yields some thirty per
cent per annum.
If we would work together in our farming, in our mechanism, be
obedient and work as a family for the good of all, it would be almost
impossible for anybody to guess the success we would have. But we have
got to do it in the Lord. We must not do it with a covetous heart.
Always be ready and willing that the Lord should have it all, and do
what he pleases with it. I have asked a favor of the Lord in this
thing, and that is not to place me in such circumstances that what he
has given me shall go into the hands of our enemies. God
forbid that! But let it go for the preaching of the Gospel, to sustain
and to gather the poor, to build factories, make farms, and set the
poor to work, as I have hundreds and thousands that had not anything
to do. I have fed and clothed them and taken care of them until they
have become comparatively independent. I have made no man poor, but
thousands and thousands rich, that is, the Lord has, through your
humble servant.