--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Smith, Joseph F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 2 published: 1911-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Smith, Joseph F., "Editor’s Table: Every Day Affairs," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 2 (December 1911): 172–174.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1502unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1502unse start_page: 172 end_page: 174 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1911-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1502unse publication_year: 1911 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1911, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Editor’s Table: Every Day Affairs Editor's Table, Every Day Affairs President Joseph F. Smith, at the closing meeting of the late conference, gave some timely advice on common things. His remarks are here printed in full: If there are any two individuals in this congregation, or who may have attended this conference, who have any ill feeling in their hearts toward each other, or toward any one else, I hope they will go home, and that any or all others, to whom the thought applies, will go home from here and be reconciled to each other, and become good neighbors and abide in good fellowship in the Church. If there is any one here who is in debt, I would advise that when he goes home, and when I go home, too, that we will begin with a determination that we will pay our debts and meet all of our obligations, just as quickly as the Lord will enable us to do it. If there is any one here intending to go into debt for speculation, and especially if he is intending to borrow money to buy mining stock and other scaly or uncertain things, I would advise him to hesitate, pray over it, and carefully consider it before he obligates himself by borrowing money and going into debt. In other words, keep out of debt, if you can. Pay your debts as soon as you can. That means me as well as any one else. If there is any one in the congregation who has been negligent in observing the law of tithing, I hope he will go home from this conference with a new awakening in his soul to keep this obliga- tion that rests upon us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that there may be plenty in the storehouse of the Lord to meet all the necessities of the Church in a financial way. We feed- the poor, and we maintain our temples, we assist our missionaries to return from their missions, we sustain our Church schools, which are numerous, and expensive, and we are doing every other thing that we feel is wise and proper for us to do with the means we have for the building up of Zion. We have succeeded in purchasing, as far as we could, the property that was offered for sale surrounding this temple block EDITOR'S TABLE 173 with the express intent to keep it from going into the hands of persons who would make an improper use of it. It has cost us a great deal, for generally, when people realize that the Church wants or needs to get anything they have for sale, they want to get all out of it they possibly can. I am sorry to say that, but I suppose it is human nature for some people to do so. We have been under the necessity of improving some of this vacant land which we have purchased, and that has cost money, but now instead of it being unoccupied, unimproved, a source of expense to the Church, we have built upon it and now it pays for itself, or meets its own obligations and helps the Church just a little. We have helped to build one of the most magnificent hotels that exists on the conti- nent of America, or in the old continent either. I am told that it is equal to any in the world, in its facilities for convenience and comfort for its guests, for sanitation, for its situation, and archi- tectural beauty, and in many other ways. Well, some of our people have thought that we were extrava- gant. I would like you to turn to the book of Doctrine and Cove- nants and read the commandment of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the city of Nauvoo:* "Let my servant George, and my servant Lyman, and my servant John Snyder, and others, build a house unto my name, such an one as my servant Joseph shall show unto them; upon the place which I shall show unto them also. And it shall be for a house for boarding, a house that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein ; therefore let it be a good house, worthy of all acceptation, that the weary traveler may find health and safety while he shall contemplate the word of the Lord," etc. "This house shall be a healthy habitation" etc., etc., and again: — "And let the name of that house be called Nauvoo house, and let it be a delightful habitation for man, and a resting place for the weary traveler," etc. (v. 60). And like the corner stone of Zion, "which shall be polished with that refinement which is after the similitude of a palace." (verse 2). And the people were requested to contribute of their means to take stock in this building, and they and their children after them, from generation to generation, should have an inheritance in that building, for it was intended for the beauty of the city, for the glory of that stake of Zion, and to accommodate the stranger from afar who came to contemplate the doctrines of the Church and the work of the Lord. We are not responsible for the character of men who come ♦See Doctrine and Covenants Sec. 124: 22-24. 174 IMPROVEMENT ERA here and are entertained in the hotel. We did not make or form their character, neither are we responsible for their conduct. Men who come here to this city from the world are generally men of the world, men accustomed to the habits of the world. Now, I hoped and I prayed and I voted, and did all I could, in the hope that the good people of this city would vote it "dry," so that we would not be compelled to allow a saloon or bar to be operated in Hotel Utah. If you had voted it "dry," we would not have had any bar there. It would not have been necessary, because the people that come here would have to put up with the law, and with the conditions in the city, but it "went wet," and therefore the people that visit us want something to "wet up" with, once in a while, and unless it is provided for them, they will go somewhere else; and instead of beholding and viewing the beauties of Zion, they will go where they will see everything that is not beautiful, and be associated with that which is not good, instead of being where they can see the best side of everything. The building itself has been built by a company called the Utah Hotel Company. Not one of them is a hotel keeper. They know nothing about the science of hostelries, or of keeping a hostelry, or managing a hotel, so they rented it. They have rented it to another company called the "Hotel Opera- ting Company," an operating company which has been formed with a capital of some $300,000, I believe, and they have rented the building and are responsible for the running of the hotel. They are paying those who built it, that is the Utah Hotel Com- pany, the interest on their money, as it falls due, and also interest on the bonds that have been issued for the purpose of obtaining the money necessary to put it in commission. Now, we do not want the Latter-day Saints to go off and condemn Joseph F. Smith or Anthon H. Lund or John Henry Smith, or anybody else, because there is a bar in the Hotel Utah. We are not responsible for it. We do not go and drink there. We invite you to keep out of the bar and not go there to drink; you don't have to; therefore we advise you on general principles to observe and keep the Word of Wisdom, both in the Hotel Utah and in your own homes, and wherever you travel. Keep the Word of Wisdom, which is the Word of the Lord to his people. I could say more, perhaps, but I think I have said all I need to on that score. (The concluding part of Prasident Smith's remarks on other topics will appear in the January number of the Era.)