As has been remarked, by others, I have been very much interested in
the remarks which have been made. They are things in which we are all
concerned. They are part of our religion, part of our faith, part of
the principles of the Gospel which we have embraced; and as I stated
at the priesthood meeting yesterday, so I repeat now, for my part I do
not know how to get around them if I would. I cannot find any
loophole whereby I can be excused. It is true, as remarked by brother
Snow, we are not now called upon to enter into these things in their
fullness and perfection, but we are called upon to make steps towards
it. We have been partly in the United Order, many of us, but we have
not known it. For instance, I remember the time, and many of you do,
so far back as Far West, in Missouri, when we were surrounded with
difficulties and had to leave the State in consequence of persecutions
and the intolerant feeling and persecution that existed there. We
agreed among ourselves to help one another, to use all the means, all
the teams and all the pro perty we had to help each other out of the
State, until there should not be a person left there, that wished to
come away. We fulfilled it; and yet, properly and technically
speaking, we were not in the United Order, but we were stimulated by
the principles of union, liberality and communion, if you please. We
did the same thing, when in Nauvoo, after the Prophet Joseph was
killed, and mob violence again prevailed, and prosecution, tyranny and
persecution were rife. We had to leave that country. Was it because we
had injured anyone? No. Because we had violated any law? No. Because
we had interfered with anybody's right's? No. Because we were
troublesome in the community? No; but because we were Latter-day
Saints and because we chose to believe in a religion revealed to us by
God, and which the people would not let us do and live in peace among
them. What next? We met in the Temple of the Lord, and there, with
uplifted hands before God, we entered into a covenant that we would
help one another out with our means, as we had done in the
State of Missouri; and as we were coming to this country we would not
rest until there should not be a Latter-day Saint there who desired to
come to this land. Did we fulfill that? We did; we carried it out to
the very letter; we fulfilled our covenants and sent our teams back
year after year, until there was not one left in that country that
desired to come to Zion. Was not this a United Order? Yes it was, in
part, and we have done a great deal of the same kind of thing since we
came here. So soon as we fulfilled that covenant, we organized a
Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, under the direction of President
Young, having for its object the gathering of the poor from distant
lands; and thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars were
subscribed and used for that purpose. It was organized on a wise
principle, not exactly what you would call the United Order; yet it
was an order calculated to benefit our poor brethren to bring them
from their distant homes to unite with us in Zion. Many of you present
remember when we sent our boys with our teams, loaded with provisions
to bring them from the frontiers. I am very sorry to say that a great
many of them have not lived up to the principles of that order in
making good their indebtedness, as it was calculated they would do in
order to make the fund perpetual in its operations, using the same
means to bring others here who were situated in a condition similar to
that of themselves. I say again, I am very sorry to have to say that a
great many have failed thus far to repay the amount used to emigrate
them, although in very many cases they are abundantly able to do so.
Brother Carrington, who is President of the Fund, informs me that
there is now due the Perpetual Emi gration Fund the sum of about one
million dollars, without interest; and if the interest were added it
would be about double that amount. That is one thing wherein we have
failed in part to make good our agreement; but a great many have met
their obligations promptly and honorably. I wish we could say the same
of all those who have been assisted by this Fund. I hope that those
who are still owing for their emigration will be led to reflect upon
these things, and consider the situation of the brethren who are now
in the same position as they themselves were some years ago.
This is a principle of union which has been abused; but it is right,
and shall we cease our endeavors in this direction because it has been
abused by thoughtless or dishonest men? No, we will try and do what we
can, with the aid of the Lord, to deliver scattered Israel from the
oppression and poverty under which many are suffering. I would remark
that of this sum now due to the Fund, there is quite a large amount
that has been advanced by the Church to help out the poor. And if you
were to hear the letters that I receive, if you were addressed and
supplicated and importuned as I am from time to time in relation to
these things, describing the terrible condition and poverty under
which the people are laboring, you would feel that if common honesty
could not induce you to meet your obligations, that at least the
sympathies of human nature would prompt you to extend to others that
same kindness that has been extended to you. We should reflect upon
these things, and at least try to make them right.
But to return to the United Order; when the Bishops in those days came
around to you and informed you that so many men and teams, with the necessary provisions, were needed to go east to bring in the
poor Saints, they were furnished. The Presidency and Twelve made the
calculations and apportionment of those teams. They were then handed
to the Bishops, and they called upon you, and you furnished from one
to two hundred, and as many as five hundred started out in one season.
I think this looked very much like the United Order. Many of you,
perhaps, have gone yourselves, or else you have sent your boys to
perform this labor; and you did not let praying for them suffice, but
you sent them food, and you felt as we ought always to feel for one
another. We have done a great many such things. Now we are called upon
to build temples. Are we doing it? Yes. I suppose there are today
upwards of 500 men engaged in building temples throughout the
Territory. So taking the temple at Manti, in Sanpete Valley, the
temple in Salt Lake City and the temple in Logan, Cache Valley, all
these things are going on just about as well as we could reasonably
expect, and the people are contributing of their means and their
substance quite as liberally as we could expect. Is this the United
Order? Why, yes. What are we doing it for? For ourselves? Yes. For
anybody else? Yes; for our fathers and mothers, uncles and aunts, and
for those we do not know anything about. We are building them because
God has commanded it, and because the ordinances of God will be
performed in these houses; and so far as this is concerned, we are in
the United Order. Now, then, we have tried to introduce home
manufactures, a combination of effort, not, as has been remarked,
strictly according to the plan laid down in the Doctrine and
Covenants; we have not got to that yet, we are not prepared for it, we
are not edu cated to that standard yet; but we are aiming at it, and in
some places the people are entering into it, not exactly according to
any particular law laid down in the Doctrine and Covenants, but
approaching it as near as circumstances will admit of it, in the
present state of society and with our present surroundings. The great
majority of the people today who have gone into Arizona are
approaching as near as they can to what we term the United Order.
Brother Snow has been operating for quite a while in that way, and the
result is that today in that little out-of-the-way settlement,
Brigham City, notwithstanding the many difficulties it has had to cope
with, having had its woolen factory burned down as well as quite a
number of other damaging misfortunes, there is not a man, woman or
child that wants labor there but what can get it. I wish we could say
the same of all the settlements of this Territory, I think we should
be in a better position than we are today. In Brigham City the people
make their own cloth, their own boots and shoes, and almost everything
they need to sustain themselves, having upwards of forty industrial
departments all in running order. Well, but you say, "the prices they
have to pay for their goods are altogether too high, and what a pity
that is." Shall I tell you why they fix their prices at a high rate?
It is because the people are desirous to have big wages. If they all
agree among themselves to fix the prices of their goods at certain
rates, who is injured by it? I can tell you how it is with them. The
carpenter says to the shoemaker, See here, you have charged me very
high for those shoes, and the shoemaker says, Yes, but then you
charged me very high for my doors and sash; while the farmer charges
very high for his wheat and flour. It makes no material
difference whether they charge fifty cents or ten dollars, so long as
they agree among themselves. A man working there is asked how much he
gets a day; Oh, three and a half and four dollars a day. That is
pretty good wages for a common hand, especially for these times, you
know. And he feels pretty well in telling you this part of it; but he
does not tell you how much the other folks get. Can a man get a house
built? Yes. Why? Because they have the masons and carpenters, etc.,
and the expense attending it is charged to his account. Then, if he
wants to get butter, he does not put his hands in his pockets to feel
for the money, for perhaps there would not be any there if he did; but
he puts his hand in his pocket for an order, which procures him his
butter. Then, if he wants a hat, he can get it; and the same may be
said of furniture, and so on all through the chapter. I think this is
a pretty good united order, and I think if we could have these things
all over the Territory, we should be doing much better than we are.
And I certainly cannot but praise the course that Brother Snow has
pursued in relation to these matters. In a place called Orderville,
too, they are doing very well; they have things pretty much in common,
and there is a good, kind and a generous spirit prevailing among them.
I remember talking to a sister, who was quite an accomplished lady,
and on seeing an old man there, who was quite infirm tottering along,
I said to her, What kind of employment do you put such people to. She
answered, that she did not think it necessary to put such a man to any
employment; he has seen a great many years of hard toil, and if we can
feed him and clothe him and take care of him in his de clining years,
perhaps somebody with the same spirit will take care of us when we get
old and infirm. Is not that a good spirit? I think it is; I think it a
right kind of feeling, a feeling we should all have one towards
another, all being bound together by the bonds of the everlasting
gospel, which makes us love one another as God loves us; and feel for
one another's welfare, and pursue that course which will tend to bring
about these results. In Cache County, in Davis County, in Tooele
County, and other places, they are trying to establish the same order
of things as fast as they can. Here is Brother Farr, he went to work,
with others, and built a factory; he ought to be sustained by the
Latter-day Saints. They should take their wool to him; and if he
charges you a big price for his cloth, do with him as they do in
Brigham City; you charge him a big price for your wool. But let us
sustain one another, and place things on a proper basis, and not be
governed by the rules of the Gentiles. Gentileism and Mormonism do not
fit very well; the things of God and the things of the devil never did
and never will fit well. Tanneries are being introduced in many places
among us; and a very good article of leather is being manufactured,
from which boots and shoes and harness are made. The first thing
started in relation to these things was cooperation. President Young
told us it was the will of God that we should enter into it; and we
did, but we made awful bungling at it, the same as we have with a
great many other things. But is it right to cooperate? Yes. But we
find people beginning to pull off in their own interests. If we go on
a little further in the way we are going, we shall take a retrograde
path, instead of going forward. But the ship of Zion is
onward; the "little stone" is hewn out of the mountain without hands,
and will roll until it fills the whole earth; and under the direction
of God we have a duty devolving upon us as his Priesthood, to carry
out his will upon the earth. And shall we, because of individual
interests and personalities draw off from things that God has
ordained? I say no, never! No, never! But let us unite closer
together, and harmonize our temporal interests, until we shall
manufacture everything we need to make us independent of the world.
We took a vote at the Priesthood meeting, yesterday, and so far as I
could discern, the brethren all voted to sustain cooperation, and
that those in the merchandise business will purchase of the coop.
But some may say, have not the cooperative organizations made many
blunders? Yes, they have, and in many instances acted very foolishly.
But shall we give up the principle of cooperation because of the
unwise acts of a few individuals? We do not act thus in regard to
other matters. We baptize men into the Church, and lay our hands upon
them that they may receive the Holy Ghost, and after they have thus
been blessed with the light, spirit and power of God, many of them act
very foolishly, violate their covenants, and transgress the laws of
God. Shall we, therefore, repudiate baptism and the laying on of hands
because of their folly and wickedness? Certainly not. The Lord has
provided a way to purge the Church, and those men are dealt with
according to the laws of the Church, and are rooted out. This is the
way that we ought to manage in our temporal affairs. If the people do
wrong, deal with them according to the laws of the Church, and if the
cooperatives do wrong, professing to be governed by correct
principle, deal with them in the same way, and let those wrongs be
righted and evil eradicated.
But we do not want to find fault nor cast reflections on our brethren
in the Coop., nor on those out of it; but merely to touch upon some
important principles necessary for building up of the kingdom of God
upon the earth. As I have said, we took a vote yesterday, and the
brethren agreed to sustain cooperation, and I would like to know from
this congregation, whether you will sustain cooperation as directed
by the Priesthood or not. All that are in favor of doing so, hold up
the right hand. [The congregation voted unanimously.] Let us stick to
our covenants, and get as near to correct principles as we can, and
God will help us. We want to be united in other things as well—in our
elections, for instance, we should act as a unit. Other men are not
ashamed to use their influence and operate in behalf of their party;
why should we? As American citizens, have we not the same right? Yes,
we have. Then let us be one and operate as one, for God and his
kingdom. And let us, as we are told in the Doctrine and Covenants,
select the wisest, the most prudent, intelligent men, and put them in
office, and maintain them in it. That is the way for us to do; not be
pulling apart, each one pursuing the devices and desires of his own
heart. The members of the Church of England pray to the Lord every
Sunday to forgive them for following the devices and desires of their
own hearts. Are we in the Church and Kingdom of God? Are we instructed
of God? If we are let us honor our calling, and show to God, to
angels, and men, that we are true to our trust that he has conferred
upon us; and go on in the good work and aim at more union. And
while we have done a great deal of good, let us try to do more. And in
regard to schools and the education of the young, I would endorse most
emphatically what brother Cannon has said in relation to this matter.
We have committed to our care pearls of great price; we have become
the fathers and mothers of lives, and the Gods and the Holy Priesthood
in the eternal worlds have been watching us and our movements in
relation to these things. We do not want a posterity to grow up that
will be ignorant, depraved, corrupt, and fallen, that will depart from
every principle of right; but one that will be intelligent and wise,
possessing literary and scientific attainments, and a knowledge of
everything that is good, praiseworthy, intellectual and beneficial in
the world, and become acquainted with the earth on which we stand, and
the elements of which it is composed, and by which we are surrounded,
and know how to control them and manage them, and how to put to the
best use everything that comes within our reach. And above all other
things, teach our children the fear of God. Let our teachers be men of
God, imbued with the Spirit of God, that they may lead them forth in
the paths of life, and warn them against the various evils and
iniquities that prevail in the world, that they may bear off this
kingdom when we get through, and be valiant in the truths of God.
Teach them how to approach God, that they may call upon him and he
will hear them, and by their means we will build up and establish
Zion, and roll forth that kingdom which God has designed shall rule
and reign over the nations of the earth. We want to prepare them for
these things; and to study from the best books as well as by faith,
and become acquainted with the laws of nations, and of kingdoms and
governments, and with everything calculated to exalt, ennoble, and
dignify the human family. We should build good commodious
schoolhouses, and furnish them well; and then secure the services of
the best teachers you can, and thus "Train up your children in the way
they should go." Solomon said, if you do, "when they are old, they will
not depart from it."
I am very pleased to find out that there is a great deal of interest
manifested in regard to our youth. I see three of our brethren
here—brothers Goddard, Evans and Willes; they have been out visiting
some of the settlements in the interests of the Sunday Schools; I wish
to encourage such men in their labors, for they fully realize that a
great mission has been committed to them, to teach the youth of this
people. And then, there is our Young Men's Mutual Improvement
Associations; they are very good institutions, and we have some very
excellent young men, that are rising up and going among the youth,
calling upon them to study and understand the laws of God. And all the
Elders of Israel ought to sustain such men in their operations. And
then the ladies associated with the Relief Societies have rendered
themselves very efficient. Let them operate for the good of all, and
as mothers in Israel, let them be united and lay aside every petty
jealousy and little feelings that are wrong, and be one; and let the
Bishops assist them, as well as the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement
Associations, in their labors in the interest of the female portion of
society, and all objects of mercy and charity, or anything that comes
within their reach. And I say, God bless you, sisters, and lead you in
the paths of life that you may prove yourselves worthy of the
highest trust committed to your care. And throughout all of our
institutions, let us sustain the right and put down the wrong and be
valiant for the truth, asking no odds of this world, for God is on the
side of Israel, and he will defend us if we obey his laws and keep his
commandments. Are we going to be broken up? Will this plan of our
enemies, spoken of by brother Cannon, be accomplished? No. Will this
people fail of their mission? No, but many of them will, and many of
them will be rooted out. But the work of God will go on, and Zion will
progress; and if we can put ourselves in the harness to fulfill the
various obligations devolving upon us, God will be with us and will
lead us in the right path. We want everybody to perform their duties,
in all the various branches of the Priesthood, every man to operate
for God, and not in his individual interests. This is what we ought to
strive for, and to be on the side of Zion and operate for the welfare
of Israel and for the establishment of righteousness. We want our
Seventies and High Priests to wake up, and our young Elders and
middle-aged Elders to feel the responsibilities of the mission that
rests upon them. The world has to be evangelized, the Gospel has to be
proclaimed to all nations. God has laid it especially upon the
Seventies, with the others to assist them. And we call upon the
Seventies and High Priests to wake up, to assume the responsibilities
that devolve upon them, and prepare themselves to do the work of God.
For instead of being through and having finished our work we are only
just beginning to prepare ourselves for the conflict. Wars and rumors
of wars are beginning to sound in our ears; the terrible day is fast
approaching, and God requires it at our hands that we pre pare to go
forth to the nations of the earth to proclaim to them the words of
life. Never mind what people can do among us, we ask no odds of them.
God is with Israel if Israel will only be with God. And if the world
will only treat us fifty percent as well as we have treated them, it
is all we ask of them; and if they won't, we will still continue to do
them good. And when the day comes that all men will be brought to
justice, we want to feel conscientiously free from the blood of this
generation. Do we want the aged and infirm to go and preach the
Gospel. No. Had there been time yesterday, I would have very much
liked to have heard the brethren of the priesthood express their
feelings; but I would say to you, High Priests, get together and
humble yourselves before God, seek unto Him for wisdom to guide you in
all your operations, and prepare your-selves to magnify your offices
in the various duties of your calling, which is really that of
presiding, that when changes may take place in the present Stakes, or
other Stakes may be organized, you may be prepared as President and
council, as Bishops and council, as High Councils, or whatever office
you may be called to fill. And I would say the same to the Seventies
and also to the Elders, prepare to magnify your callings. Let us
humble ourselves before God, and purify ourselves and walk in
uprightness before him and live our religion and magnify our calling,
and be quick and active and diligent; and energetic in the performance
of our duties, and the power of God will rest upon the Priesthood, and
they will be prepared to go to the nations to proclaim the Gospel
message to all peoples.
I do not know how many we will want to call at our approaching
conference; I have had applications for twenty to fill missions
in the Southern States, besides a great many other places, but whether
few or many be needed, we must be in readiness at all times and under
all circumstances to magnify our Priesthood and to do everything
required of us. We will build our Temples and be Saviors on Mount
Zion, and the kingdom will be our Lord's.
God bless you and lead you in the paths of life. Amen.