If I were to consult my natural feelings today, it would afford me
much greater pleasure to sit still and listen and look at the faces of
this congregation than attempt to speak. But this, doubtless, would be
a disappointment to very many, and might not be understood. Therefore,
I arise this afternoon to make a few remarks—such as may suggest
themselves to me—to my brethren and sisters who are present. I shall
not attempt to describe to you the emotions, the feelings which I have
in being once more reunited with you, for you have heard them
expressed by others so frequently, and also by myself, and many of you
have experienced them yourselves, that I am relieved from the
necessity of restating them in your hearing. I may say, however, that
I am exceedingly thankful for the opportunity of returning once more
to our home and finding circumstances and surroundings so favorable to
the people of these valleys as they are at the present time, and also
that I can, to a certain extent, return as the bearer of good tidings;
that I can speak favorably concerning our present and our future
prospects; that is, so far as my information extends.
When I left here last November, it seemed to me that the elements were
charged with threatenings to us as a people and to our liberties. I
have had some experience, of several years' duration, in public
affairs; that is, political affairs, and have had occasion to notice
the signs of the times; but I can say now that at no time did affairs
appear more threatening to us than they did when I went to Washington
the latter end of last November, or beginning of December. You
probably can recollect the circumstances which existed at that time.
The greatest enemies we have had to contend with for many years have
been those who should, from their intimacy with us, from their
knowledge of our labors, from their familiarity with our proceedings,
have been our friends—those who reside in our midst. It has been the
case for several years that all the excitement, all the ill-feeling,
all the manifestations of hatred which have come to the surface or
been exhibited outside of the Territory of Utah concerning the people
called Latter-day Saints, or "Mormons," have had their origin in this
Territory, and have been stirred up by those who reside here. There
has not been in Congress, there has not been throughout the
country on the part of the public press, or on the part of public men
generally, much of a disposition to take or to adopt harsh measures
against the people of these mountains. But there have been those
residing in this Territory who have seemed to be uneasy lest we should
be treated too kindly, or be viewed too favorably by those who are
outside of the Territory, and there has been apparently a great dread
on the part of a few individuals, lest there should be a disposition
manifested by Congress and by those in authority to recognize us as
fellow citizens, and to extend to us those rights and privileges to
which we are entitled—I mean our rights to become a State, to be
admitted into the Union, to receive recognition, the recognition of
our numbers, of the good government of this Territory that has been
maintained for thirty-three years; of the peace which has prevailed
and the developments which have been made, all of which have entitled
us to recognition and to admission into the Union as one of the
States, and because this fear has seemed to exist in the minds of some
individuals, they have done all in their power to misrepresent the
people of this Territory, that is, the majority of the people,
circulating all manner of falsehoods, representing the people as
disloyal, as not being fit to be entrusted with the full powers of
citizenship; they have endeavored to create the impression throughout
the Union that if the Territory of Utah should be admitted as a State,
it would be impossible for any person but a "Mormon" to live within
its confines; that property would be unsafe, that life would be in
jeopardy; that there would be an unbearable condition of affairs here;
the "Mor mon" Priesthood, as they say, would have such extraordinary
power, and wield it so despotically and so much in the interest of
their own people and to build up their hierarchy, that it would be
impossible for any person of independent views, who did not act with
them, to reside in this Territory in peace. These views have been so
industriously circulated that a great many people have almost thought
that this would be the case. However, I may say in relation to this
that these statements do not receive the credence they once did. It is
not a new thing for these misrepresentations to be circulated; they
have been harped upon for many years. There is one thing, however,
that has helped to show their falsity, and that is this great railroad
that has been constructed across the continent, which has facilitated
intercourse with the world, which has enabled hundreds and thousands
of the people of the East and West to visit our Territory and see for
themselves. This has been one of the best means of educating the
public mind correctly in relation to Utah and its people that I know
of; it has done more to dissipate this cloud of misrepresentation that
has overshadowed us for so long a period than anything else I know of.
It is more difficult at the present time, in consequence of this, that
is, this speedy means of intercourse, to circulate those falsehoods
and have them receive credence than in past years. I am thankful that
this is the case, I have done all in my power to urge public men to
visit Utah. I have said to them, Come; Come to Utah, come to Salt
Lake. If you are going to California, don't miss visiting Salt Lake
City. I have known that the effects of such visits have been
beneficial to the parties who make them, as they tend to enlighten their views concerning us, beneficial to us, as they are the
means of informing intelligent men and removing a vast amount of
prejudice which exists regarding this people. And I have this to say,
that I do not know today a public man in either branch of Congress,
who has visited Utah Territory, who is not—that is, so far as the
rights of the people are concerned—the friend of Utah. This is saying
a great deal, it is a broad statement, but I make it without scarcely
hinting at a qualification, for it is true. During this past
session—and it has been the case for several sessions—measures have
been introduced by men who apparently have a monomania concerning
"Mormons" and "Mormonism." Measures have been introduced
by persons of
this kind, who have been anxious, apparently, to make that a hobby,
hoping, I have thought, that they would gain favor with their
constituents by doing this. When such measures have been introduced,
and I have needed assistance respecting them, the men to whom I have
gone in the Senate and in the House, have been men who have been in
Utah Territory, have come down by the railroad to Salt Lake City, and
have seen the city and the people. They have not been converted to
"Mormonism." They have not gone away believing that it is right for a
man to have more wives than one. That does not follow as a consequence
of their visit. But they have seen a people who—notwithstanding that
they may consider them mistaken in some of their religious views and
practices—are honest, industrious, persevering and orderly, and who
behave themselves as good citizens should, and their sympathies have
been aroused in behalf of the people, the more so because of the
previous misrepresentations which have been made respecting them. They
have been so thoroughly undeceived by their visit, that it has had a
reactionary effect in many instances upon them, because of the
statements that had been made to them previous to coming here.
Therefore, you can see that I am warranted in saying as I do so
frequently to my friends in Washington, Come; come West; and if you do
come West, be sure and stop at Salt Lake City. It is not such a
country as California. We have not so many attractions in Utah as you
will find in California, but your trip will be incomplete without you
visit Utah, and see Salt Lake City and its surroundings.
Of course, there are those who are ready to attribute all sorts of bad
motives to those who come here and who are disposed to be favorable
after their visit. I have stated this to officers. There have been a
number of gentlemen appointed to offices here, with whom I was on very
familiar terms in Washington. We could visit, we could meet together,
we could associate together, and nobody would wonder at it or
attribute any bad motives to either party. But I have said to these
gentlemen when they have been appointed to office in Utah
Territory—Now, I shall continue to be familiar with you as I am here
if you wish it, but let me say to you that as soon as you get inside
of the limits of our Territory, if you and I are very familiar,
somebody will raise the story that the "Mormons" have bought you, that
they have got you in their hands, and it would hurt your influence. Is
not this a strange condition of affairs, that in a Territory of the
United States citizens cannot associate together without a lot of mis erable creatures here raising the story that there must be
some corrupt motive in this association? And they have endeavored in
this way to deter public men from doing their duty when they have come
here. I remember one friend who came here, and in riding around he was
seen in the presence of President Young. He came here as one of a
committee going further West, and he was opposed in the public press
here, till he became so indignant that he got copies of all the papers
and mailed them to President Grant, to show him the assaults made upon
public men, when they come to Utah, by a certain class who are here.
We have these things to contend with; we shall probably have them to
contend with. We have lived through them so far, and we shall continue
to prosper and live through them in the future. I have no doubt about
that. I merely refer to these things to show the character of the
opposition that is manifested towards us, and towards those who are
friendly to us. But, as I have said, there is a better understanding
gaining ground everywhere respecting this people called Latter-day
Saints, and I expect it will continue to be the case, until we are
known and understood in our true light; and it is a remarkable fact
that those who have fought against us, and sought in the manner to
which I have made allusion to heap all kinds of obloquy upon us, have
not succeeded at that business, they have not succeeded, it has not
paid them. They may have thought while doing this that it would injure
us; but it has not injured us, it has advertised us, it has made us
more widely known. There are public men whom I have met in my life who
would rather have evil spoken about them than not be no ticed at all.
They would rather have newspapers attack them and tell that which is
not true concerning them than to maintain silence about them and their
movements. In this way we have certainly had the benefit of
advertising now for a great many years, and people have known us
either for good or for evil in a great many quarters of the earth
where, if it had not been for this publicity, we might not have been
known. It has been of great advantage to our missionaries in foreign
lands. For instance, I have been very much pleased to hear by letter
and otherwise through our missionaries in Europe, concerning the
effect of Secretary Evarts' circular which he sent abroad respecting
emigration to Utah Territory. I do not suppose that he would have
given that circular the publicity he did, or even written it at all,
if he had been conscious at the time that it would have been so good
an advertising power for the "Mormon" missionaries as it has proved. I
am told that a great many journalists and public men of various kinds
have had their attention drawn to us and to our doctrines, and to this
organization in these mountains, in consequence of that circular, who
probably would not otherwise have known anything about us. So that, as
we have been taught, all things work together for good to all the
people who serve the Lord. Everything is overruled for good. We have
been told this afternoon, by Elder Cummings, respecting the wonderful
organization that sprang up immediately upon the death of the Prophet,
in New England. It had only been a very short time before this that
the doctrine we believe in—the vicarious submission of the people to
the ordinances of life and salvation had been taught.
Well, in all these things we behold the hand of God, and in
witnessing His hand acknowledge it. It is the great strength—as I
have, I think, told you very frequently—of the Latter-day Saints. We
believe in God. We believe in Him as He is. We believe that He is a
Being who hears and answers prayer, and who protects and blesses those
who put their trust in Him. If I did not have that faith, you would
not find me go to Washington as your representative. I would not go
there for all that could be piled up as an inducement. But I go there,
not strong in my own strength, but strong in the strength of that God
whom we worship, and whom we know controls all the affairs and all the
destinies of the children of men to suit His own purpose and to bring
to pass His own designs. I know further, that the prayers of this
people here, and of the thousands of others who live throughout all
these mountains, which ascend every night and morning unto the God of
Sabbaoth, from the humble habitations and from the humble hearts of
the people, are heard of God, and are answered, according to the
faith and good desires of the people who offer them. What else is
there that could have sustained or preserved us, or could have
delivered us as we have been so wonderfully delivered up to the
present period? Is there any other power that could have done it? I am
satisfied that there is no power beneath the heavens—no power of man,
no combination of men, no wisdom or shrewdness or cunning of men,
could have effected such great deliverances as have been wrought out
for this people called Latter-day Saints; nothing of this kind could
have been brought to pass but by the power of God. He who created the
heavens and the earth, and who placed man upon the earth, and who sent
His son Jesus in the meridian of time to die for man, the Redeemer and
the Savior of man—no power but His could have brought about that which
we witness and preserved to us that liberty which we now enjoy and for
which as a people we should feel so thankful. Take the entire history
of this people from the inception of the Church, its first
organization, until today; you trace it from its beginning at
Fayette, Seneca County, in the State of New York, and through its
travels, through the journeyings, the mobbings, drivings, and
persecutions to which the people have been subjected: you trace it
through until this day of grace, June 27th, 1880, the anniversary of
the death of the Prophet Joseph, and his brother Hyrum, and if a man
can do so and not acknowledge that there is a God in heaven that
overrules the affairs of the children of men, then he is in a worse
condition than I can conceive it possible for a thinking man, who has
ever had any of the light of truth in his heart to be in.
Let others then do as they please concerning these matters. Let others
say that there is no God, that the universe is governed by unalterable
laws, that there are no special interpositions of Providence among the
children of men, that God governs the universe, governs the earth and
the inhabitants of the earth by great unalterable laws, that there is
no variation in these laws, that God does not operate to deliver men
except they do it by their own wisdom and by their own management,
that every man reaps the fruit of that which he does, and that his
fate is unalterably fixed, and a great many have that idea—let
others, I say, think as they please concerning these matters; but let
us, as a peo ple, cling to the old faith, to the old doctrine
that has come down to us through the Bible, that God is, that He is
today as much as He ever was, and put our trust in Him. Let us train
up our children to the faith that He is a God who hears and answers
prayer, so that they will have faith in Him, that in times of trial,
in times of difficulty, when they are encircled by danger and it would
seem as though there were no possible way of escape from the danger
with which they are threatened, they can humble themselves and call
upon God with a faith that cannot be overcome, to deliver them and to
give unto them those blessings which they need. It is the greatest
comfort that a human being can have to be in close communion with his
Father in heaven or her Father in heaven. If children grow up with
that sort of faith, you will find many of the things Elder Cummings
has alluded to, such as the healing of the sick, and the works that
were done in ancient days by that same sort of faith, will be done, as
they are done, in our households and in our communities.
I have given expression to a few of my feelings. I am thankful to find
you in such favorable circumstances. I say to you, live the doctrines
that you profess. Be Latter-day Saints, not in name, but in word and
in deed. Be an example in your lives. Live the religion you profess.
Be meek, be gentle, be kind. If others revile you, revile not again.
How easy it is to revile back when a man calls you something that is
vile and low; how natural it is to say something equally sarcastic,
equally severe, in return. Let us study to control our tongues in our
households. Let no father give utterance to any word that he would
blush to have any person of the world hear. Let no mother do such a
thing. Let every child be taught to respect and reverence not only
their parents, but old age. Let us endeavor to raise up a generation
who will respect age. One of the great and growing evils that exists
today in our land is the disrespect that is manifested by the young
to age. Let us train our children to be respectful and to honor the
gray hairs of the aged, to honor their parents that the great promise
that was made in olden times may be bestowed upon them, namely: that
their days may be long in the land.
I pray God, my brethren and sisters, to bless you and let the peace of
heaven descend upon and abide with you in your homes and in your
habitations, which I ask in the name of Jesus, Amen.
- George Q. Cannon