--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 23 number: 12 published: 1920-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Vital Problems of Life," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 12 (October 1920): 1080–1092.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2312unse 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: improvementera2312unse start_page: 1080 end_page: 1092 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1920-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2312unse publication_year: 1920 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 1920, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Vital Problems of Life Vital Problems of Life A Study for the Advanced $enior Classes of the M. T. A. 1920*21. Lesson IV. —-The Push of Poverty (Continued) Why People are Poor, or the Causes of Poverty Bad Luck, Calamity. As some people are made rich through an accident, so are some made poor through calamity. Calamity-poverty is usually temporary. The person of thrifty habits soon gets on to upgrade and climbs out of penury. Bad luck may knock a man down, but pluck rarely fails to put him on his feet and send him on his way rejoicing. One need not go into history for illustrations of this fact, they are all around us. Bad Management. Poor management is much more prevalent than poor luck. Too many people practice suiting the thought to the action, rather than thinking first and then suiting the action to the thought. Their movements are like that of the hunter who aims after the gun goes off. They are active but not industrious, because much of their activity is noncreative; they work at cross purpose. There is much busy-ness but little business in their lives. An old pioneer used to say of two sons, one of my boys is always up at peep of day, but "putters" around all day, the other one lies abed until sunrise, and then starts and goes through his work as if he had planned it in his sleep. The bad manager starts many things and finishes few; he makes progress like an automobile without chains, on a slippery turnpike. Super-contentment. The apex of some people's ambition is same sights that their fathers have seen, and run to see the the same race that their fathers have run. Their night dreams are of the old oaken bucket. They never have a day vision of an automatic faucet. The three R's bound their educational horizon. A certain mother who was making strenuous efforts to send her sons and daughters away to school was remonstrated with by a very "goodie," man, who visited the woman and told her that she lacked contentment and that she was doing wrong in working so hard, in suffering privation of comforts, to give her children an education, which would not only perpetuate f VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 1081 their mother's discontent, but emphasize it in their lives. In his argument he referred to the contentment of the ox chewing its cud. The woman retorted by saying, "If you want ox contentment you are welcome to it; but we are not of that stock." Today that good woman's son is a leading physician in the state; her daughters are mothers and prominent women in the affairs of Church and state. They are glad that their mother was not of the super-contented poor. Excessive Discontent. The old "saw," that three moves are as bad as a fire, is still cutting wood. There are people who are so full of the sentiment that pursuit is better than possession, that they are always pursuing, never possessing. To them one bird in the bush is worth two in the hand. They live in the luxury of newness of places, newness of jobs, newness of friends; they are of that class of poor whose poverty is painted with nomadic pleasure. Their discontent is not that of the plodder; they never stick to anything long enough to have it stick to them. Vocational Misfit. Unfitness through a lack of preparation may be remedied, but the misfit through lack of aptitude is quite irremediable. One of the greatest problems in life is to discover what nature has best fitted the individual for, and just to the extent that we fail in that discovery there will be vocational misfits, and consequent failure in life, and lack of happiness in making the living. The consciousness of uncertainty as to vocational aptitude manifests itself in foolishly seeking the fortune teller, quite vainly consulting the phrenologists, or more consistently submitting to scientific tests and vocational counsel and wisely with implicit faith making our patriarchal blessings, which are paragraphs from the book of our foreordination, a source of reference. One of the best sources of information on this topic is The Man of Tomorrow, by Claude Richards. The study of this work will save many a man from becoming a misfit, as it p 1 vides for a process of self analysis, one of the indispensables to the wise choice of a vocation. The discomfort of being an educational misfit is not limited to the individual; it extends to all his dependents. On one Occasion a thrifty housekeeper, wife of a successful mechanic, had listened to a description of farm life, in which the grandeur of the outdoor activites were painted in glowing colors. She remarked, "Yes; it is all beautiful, but my experience has been that a poor farmer is the poorest kind of a poor man; husband and I worked on the farm for years and succeeded in failing. Now, he alone, earns enough for us all, as a master I 1082 IMPROVEMENT ERA mechanic. Our failure on the farm was not due to the farm, nor to the lack of hard work on our part; simply this, my husband wab not cut out for a farmer." Waste. The penalty of waste is want. When Jesus had fed the multitude he said, gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost. (John 6:12.) The prodigal son wasted his substance. (Luke 15:13.) A woe is pronounced against wasting. (Doc. and Cov., 49: 21.) Poverty, through wastefulness, as asserted in the previous lesson, is sinful. Wastefulness is not only unwise, it reaches over into the borderland of wickedness. We have less use in these days than formerly for the saying that a woman can throw out of the back door with a spoon faster than a man can bring in at the front door with a shovel. Women are less wasteful than men. As proof of this statement, compare a woman's care of her household utensils with a man's care of his implements. Extravagance. Extravagance is not uncessarily waste. Extravagance is relative. What is extravagant on the part of one person is far from extravagant on the part of another. When persons indulge in luxury of any kind on other people's money, their extravagance is unethical; and when they indulge in these things with their own money, at the expense of drawing upon savings, or cutting off the possibility of adding thereto, their extravagance is unwise, and like all unwisdom has its penalty. The habit of extravagance is one of the most dangerous of indulgences. A splendid memory gem is the saying, "Not what we make, but what we save makes us rich." The spendthrift or extravagant person is just as well off on a low wage as a high one, in fact he is better off, because the increase of pay affords only increased opportunity for forming bad habits. Extravagance spells poverty to the man of ordinary income. Inebriety. Intemperance is not only the prime minister of death; she is the breeder of more poverty than any other one thing in the world, war excepted. Happily one of her highways of conquest has been closed in our country by prohibition but she is helping open an avenue of invasion which contributes not only to financial poverty, but poverty of intellect; it costs more to keep the pipes, cigars, and cigarettes burning in the United States than it does to keep the automobiles, trucks and tractors running. Many a wife is practicing the utmost frugality to make ends meet, each month, while the husband's tobacco bill would give to the mother and the children of the household, the privilege r VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 1083 of knowing what it is to have some of the comforts of life. Some wives and children are in the ranks of the needy for no other reason than that the tobacco fire must be kept burning. Indolence. The "I-won't-work" man is an incubus on society; his very example points to poverty, be he ever so rich. Production is the parent of prosperity, and labor is the life blood of civilization. A man was asked by his daughter, "Father, which would be the least objectionable to you as a prospective son-in-law, a man who is somewhat lazy or the one who indulges in drink?" "The one who indulges in drink," came the prompt reply, "for the drinking man dies early while a lazy husband often outlives his wife." There are several classes of retired gentry, a polite name for loafers, those who roost on the street corners, those who congregate in club rooms, and those who while away the time with cards and pool. Some of them have a bank account behind them, not all, too many of them have a wife working to support the family, while waiting for their husbands to get over being constitutionally tired. Indolence is an iniquity, and if the idler eats the bread of the laborer he does it in opposition to the law of God. Unteachableness. A great many people seem to have adopted this as their slogan of life: I would rather go with poverty on my own way than travel with prosperity on the way of anybody else. There are men, however, who recognize that counsel and advice from successful business men is a source of wealth, and they seek such counsel and advice and follow it. As evidence that teachableness is a guarantee against poverty we use the following facts: first, the early settlers of Utah made up a community gathered from nearly all over the civilized world; second, they were heterogeneous in many things, but homogeneous — in one thing teachableness. Third their attitude of teachableness with its resulting activities drove poverty from their midst. The following is a quotation from a report by Howard Stansbury, a government engineer, U. S. Army, printed by order of the House of Representatives of the United States, 1853, five years after the entrance of the pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, (page 133). Concerning the "Mormons," he writes: The revenue of the pew state seems to partake of the same double character; the treasures of the Church being freely devoted, when necessary, to the promotion of the temporal prosperity of the body politic. These are derived from a system of tithing, similar to that of the ancient Israelites. Each person, upon profession of his faith, and consequent reception into the bosom of the Church, is required to pay into "the treasury of the Lord" one-tenth of all that he possesses; after which he pays a tenth of the yearly increase of hi9 goods; and in addition contributes one-tenth of his time, 1084 IMPROVEMENT ERA which is devoted to labor on the public works, such as roads, bridges, irrigating canals, or such other objects as the authorities may direct. The whole amount thus collected goes into the coffers of the Church, and is exacted only from its members. A tax is also laid upon property as with us, which is levied upon all, both "Saint" and Gentile, and which constitutes the revenue of the civil government. All goods bought in the city pay, as the price of a license, a duty of one per cent, except spirituous liquors, for which one-half of the price at which they are sold is demanded: the object of this last impost being avowedly to discourage the introduction of that article among them. It has, indeed, operated to a great extent as a prohibition, the importer, to save himself from loss, having to double the price at which he could otherwise have afforded to sell. The result of this policy was, when we were there, to bring up the price of brandy to twelve dollars per gallon, of which the authorities took six; and of whisky to eight dollars, of which they collected four dollars. The circulating medium is principally gold of their own coinage, and such foreign gold as is brought in by converts from Europe. Notwithstanding this heavy, and, as it would be to us, insupportable burden upon industry and enterprise, nothing can exceed the appearance of prosperity, peaceful harmony, and cheerful contentment that pervaded the whole community. Ever since the first year of privation, provisions have been abundant, and want of the necessaries and even comforts of life is a thing unknown. A design was at one time entertained (more, I believe, as a prospective measure than any thing else) to set apart a fund for the purpose of erecting a poorhouse; but after strict inquiry, it was found that there were in the whole population but two persons who could be considered as objects of public charity, and the plan was consequently abandoned. This happy external life, of universally diffused prosperity, is commented on by themselves, as an evidence of the smiles of heaven and of the special favor of the Deity: but I think it would be most clearly accounted for in the admirable discipline and ready obedience of a large body of industrious and intelligent men, and in the wise counsels of prudent and sagacious leaders, producing a oneness and concentration of action the result of which astonished even those by whom it has been effected. The happy consequences of this system of united and well-directed action, under one leading and controlling mind, is most prominently apparent in the erection of public buildings, opening of roads, the construction of bridges, and the preparation of the country for the speedy occupation of a large and rapidly growing population, even now on their way, from almost every country in Europe. Upon the personal character of the leader of this singular people, it would be proper for me to comment in a comumnication not, perhaps, like the present.would nevertheless be pardoned for saying that, to me. I Brigham Young appeared to be a man of clear, sound sense, fully alive to the responsibilities of the station he occupied, sincerely devoted to the good name and interests of the people over whom he presides, sensitively jealous of the least attempt to undervalue or misrepresent them, and indefatigable in devising ways and means for their mental, and physical elevation. He appeared to possess the unlimited, personal, official confidence of his people; while both he and his two counselors, forming the — presidency of the Church, seemed to have but one object in view the prosperity and peace of the society over which they presided. Of course, we could not expect Captain Stansbury to understand that behind the wisdom of our leaders is the inspiration of the Lord, and the individual testimony of the Saints. VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 1085 If the eminent engineer could have known the successors of President Brigham Young, at close range, he would have referred to each under the same vein as he did the great pioneer leader. The late President Joseph F. Smith, at a Utah stake conference, said, in substance, I am at the head of a number of business enterprises, and the chief object of my being there is to have the business carried on in accordance with Christian principles, that policies may be pursued that will bless the entire people and thereby meet the approval of the Lord. And the present president of the Church, Heber J. Grant, has repeatedly declared, that the chief aim of his life, and the great desire of his heart is the purity and prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the welfare of the whole world. No one can read the full report of Captain Stansbury without being impressed with the thought that the Latter-day Saints even at that early date were literally fulfilling the prophecy uttered seven hundred years before Christ and recorded in Isaiah 2:2, 3. The latter of these two prophetic passages make clear the coming of a time for the universal recognition of teachableness, spiritual teachableness. A high grade business man, and by high grade is meant one who is interested in his fellow man, is not inclined to impose his good services on other pepole, but will cautiously give other men the benefit of his judgment. These financial fathers have little less than contempt for the "tip seeker," but they have a high consideration for the person who seeks their advice, concerning the best methods of making business pay, whether it be the business of farming, ranching, merchandising, poultry raising, or any other legitimate pursuit. Remove the unteachableness of the poor, and the most of our real poverty will disappear. Bad luck will diminish, poor management will decrease, vocational misfits will be fewer, super-content will approach a vanishing point, excessive discontent will tend to pass away, waste will cease, extravagance will lose its inflation, and indolence will die. Our true leaders of finance, are not part tithepayers; they pay one-tenth of their increase, be it ever so large, and some of them pay it at times in advance. They have their slogans, and one of them is, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." Theses God's ways are the ways of wisdom, and wisdom's ways are away from poverty. Poverty is a good stepping stone, but a poor standing place. 1086 IMPROVEMENT ERA Questions and Problems 1. Wli^ is the prosperity of the unteachable like the neat building if the pigeon? 2. Distinguish between waste and extravagance. 3. Give a local historical example of the correction of a vocational misfit. 4. When does extravagance become a habit? 5. Why is circumstantial poverty usually temporary? 6. Give local illustrations of persons retrieving their finances. 7. Enumerate the characteristics of poor management. 8. What are the remedies for poor management? 9. Illustrate excessive vocational discontent as a cause of poverty. 10. At what point does contentment cease to be a virtue? 11. Why does the habit of extravagance spell poverty to most people? 12. Enumerate the several classes of time-killers and quote the penalty for the sin of indolence. (Doc. and Cov. 75:29.) 13. Take a straw vote on the problem: Most poor people are poor because of their unteachableness. Lesson V. —The Obligations of Wealth One of the most philanthropic millionaires of "Mormondom," testifies to having had it manifest unto him that he should come to possess great wealth, and as the realization of the fact took hold of him, to use his own words, he "was scared." Up to that time he had been one of the well-to-do members of the community, but the responsibility of wealth had not greatly impressed him; in the light of the testimony he had received, he felt bearing upon him a weight of obligation, which has grown in proportion to the increase of his wealth. His wealth was a thing of promise, and he himself pledged himself to acquire nothing, keep nothing, except with a view of using it for the benefit of his fellowmen. Often he has been heard to say, "I have no love for money, but I have great love for the right use of money." A spirit akin to that which revealed to the Prophet Joseph that the people would become great in the Rocky Mountains, said in an audible voice to our philanthropist, "that this country is for the 'Mormons,' so that from that day to this, the securing of titles, the developing of the natural resources in the abiding places of the Saints, have been his uppermost financial anxiety. Time and time again not only his accumulations, but his credit has been placed at the disposal of the community for the needs of his people. This man does not believe that good business provides that one man's gain should result in another man's loss, or that it is right for one man to become wealthy by the making of other people poor. He believes and has practically demonstrated that the wise use of wealth consists in so handling it that it shall VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 1087 bring material prosperity to the wealthy, the well-to-do, and the poor alike. He refuses absolutely to operate any enterprise that will work a hardship on the toiler, and has always taken a heroic stand against usury in any form. This man, whose gigantic strength and good will has made of him a rich man, universally loved, is but a representative of a steadily increasing class— a class which is demonstrating that not only honesty but generosity is the best policy. In the accumulation and use of wealth there is a three fold responsibility; a responsiblity to one's self, to one's fellows, and to God. In entering upon a business enterprise the first consideration should not be, what will it make for me? but what will it make of me? Unrighteous wealth-getting is inseparably linked up to soulshrinkage. It matters not whether that unrighteousness is faced directly by the accumulator, or whether there is a stock certificate between him and the unrighteousness. It is sometimes said that corporations have no soul, but at all events the conduct of corporations affects the souls of men. No one can escape the responsibility of the evil his money does, any more than he can be robbed of the benefits from the good that his money does. The widow's mite, invested in a dice box, makes and measures her soul in one direction just as it determines her deserts as a giver of alms. It is not enough that money does no harm; the holder of wealth is under obligations to see that it does good, and each one must know that to whom much is given from him much will be required. This is the law of equity operating throughout the universe. Corporate or group wealth is superseding the individual accumulation, and as the man in the crowd will assent to the doing of things by the crowd that he would not do individually, so the corporate owner will oftimes consent to business policies by the corporation that he would not follow in individual transactions. While there is a crowd-courage and virtue, there is also crowdcowardice and villainy and high standards of conduct demand of the individual that he demand of his group that it does not consent to group-conduct out of harmony with his individual ideals. His slogan should be, what I will not do I will not consent to my money doing. A fortune, however great, obtained for the one or the few, at the hindrance or hurt of the many, is a stolen one, and though the stream of finance may be so swollen in extent that the pleasure boats of a dynasty may ride thereon, the producers or per- petrators of such a condition will sooner or later meet a Cha- rybdis and will go down, unwept, unhonored, and unsung. 1088 IMPROVEMENT ERA This obligation of group wealth emphasizes the truth of the seriptural saying, "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." (Proverbs 11:21.) Wealth conies under the ethical obligation so tersely expressed in the school slogan of the illustrious educator, Franci? W. Parker, "Everything to help and nothing to hinder." Society is fast moving in the direction of putting wealth under the legal obligation of pursuing the live and the let live policy. Happily we have passed that perilous period when the "trust or bust" policy prevailed. Of course, it is often a difficult matter to determine what is helpful and what is hurtful, but fortunately we are not drift- ing but rowing in the direction of arbitration and commission decision. With the motives of helpfulness and square deal methods, the greater the accumulation the greater the possibility of doing good, consequently it follows that, other things being equal, the richer the man the better the man. We know of a man who in his business career has emphasized the obligation accompanying the accumulation of wealth; production, not speculation has been his practice in life. He has fulfilled the scriptural saying, "The liberal man deviseth liberal means." He has a record as one who meets his obligations of honor. He has given evidence, as have many others, that great wealth and generosity may keep pace in their growth. Such men are living proof that the decay of men is not necessarily a concomitant of the accumulation of wealth. Solomon, the sage, stood in dread of poverty and the fear of wealth when he uttered the proverb, 30:8, 9. As a man is responsible for the good or evil done by his teachings and his writings, so is he responsible for what his wealth does after he is dead; it is, therefore, of vital importance whom he makes the custodian of his accumulations. As a rule men accumulate wealth much more for the love of the financial conquest than for the love of the money. One eminent financier, who rose from the ranks of poverty to that of great financial power, said of his accumulated millions, provided by his foresight, energy, and untiring industry, "If my children have as much pleasure in spending the money as I have had in making it, I shall be satisfied." In some instances provisions are made for the perpetuity of large fortunes by providing against the possibility of the heirs spending anything more than the interest or income from the fortunes. Behind this procedure there lurks that which has been called the root of all evil, as well as the confession of a fear that the posterity of the transmitter of wealth will not hold VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 1089 their own in the financial world, even with a superior start. In the making of endowments to institutions, the possibility of waste should be carefully guarded against, and provisions for increase should be made, not simply that the name of the benefactor may be perpetuated, but also the beneficial results may be made continuous. Endowments with strings on them sometimes handicap institutions that receive them. A man who endows a school becomes indirectly an educator of the ages; one who founds a hospital shares in the restoration to health of multitudes; one who lends to lift a meritorious enterprise, over a crisis, is a joy giver to all who profit through his "nick-of-time" aid. Such men deserve the good will and gratitude of those they help and the admiration of all other men, while those who hold back needed help, in hours of calamitous distress shut the gates of mercy on mankind, and merit only contempt. Reading Reference: Vitality of Mormonism, Talmage. Article 102: "What Does It Profit a Man?" Problems and Questions 1. State the threefold responsibility of wealth. 2.Discuss the wisdom or unwisdom of the determination of one of our great financiers who said that he would leave his children no money, but a lot of unfinished enterprises of- production which if they carry out, will increase their inheritance, while if they are not carried out the obligations on them will swallow them up. 3. A young man said to his wealthy father, who insisted on his learning a business, "Do you think I shall need to work?" "Well, my son," replied the father, "you must learn to do something besides waste what I have accumulated, or I shall leave you for your inheritance what is represented by a figure 9 with the tail cut off." Is it ethical to leave money to a lazy man? 4. What form of taxation attempts to make wealth perform its obligations? 5. Discuss the statement: When a man's income gets so large that he can't keep his obligations with the Lord, what has become of his God? 6. Why is it the duty of every man to become as rich as he righteously can? 7. At what point does a man's money begin to own him? 8. What are the dangers of bequeathing unspendable wealth? (a) To the heir? (b) To society? 9. Give illustrations of an endowment being made in such a way as to handicap an institution. 10. Prove that man is responsible to God for the use of wealth. Luke 16:19-27. 11. How may an endowment put hampering strings on an institution? 12. Why is it more important to consider what a business will make of the man than what a business will make for the man? 13. Discuss the ideal active retirement of aged temple workers. 1090 IMPROVEMENT ERA 14. Show how temple building blesses the living, the dead, ami the unborn, v 1!). Discuss the wisdom of the 50-50 appropriation plan. Lesson VI. — The Responsibility of Wealth (Continued) Land Wealth. Land in one respect is the most permanent form of wealth, and in another respect it is the most precarious. The owner of land may not be dispossessed of it by its removal, and yet conditions may prevail wheiiein money and chattels may be a more preferable form of wealth; because they may be carried by the owner from place to place. A man may flee with his treasure, when he must fly from his home. The Jew, though banished from his inheritance, became one of the treasurers of the earth. There is a universal tendency on the part of individuals and nations to keep what they own and then desire to own all that adjoins them. This instinct of acquisition, when followed to excess, becomes insatiable land lust. People who want the earth generally want with it the other fellow for a servant. A world ownership without a man Friday would have no charms for them. They would have little comfort in contemplating a world-wide territorial ownership that would bring forth the Alexander Selkirk exclamation I am monarch of all I survey, I am lord of the fowl and the brute; From the center clear round to the sea, There's none who my claim can dispute. Society,friendship, and love, yearn for thy charms, but in vain; I O had I the wings of a dove How soon I would taste thee again. Self-respect as well as brotherly love should protest against coveting the inheritance of another, but if the inheritor persists in having no appreciation of his inheritance, then he may be given his "mess of pottage," and the blessing taken. Large land purchases, with altruistic motives, are most commendable; but extensive land holding is not in keeping with laws of social harmony, or Christian practice. Some of our best finaciers, have become veritable philanthropists, by purchasing large tracts of land, and selling it in subdivisions, to homemakers, on terms reasonably profitable to the purchaser, and fairly compensative to the distributor. They never buy to keep the other fellow off, but to help him to get on. This class of men follow the example set by the Church, VITAL PROBLEMS OF LIFE 1091 which has made it possible for thousands to become free holders, who without aid, would never have been able to share in landholding prosperity. Land wealth has been a problem through the ages. It would seem that the solving of this problem demands- first, the recognition of the law that all excesses in accumulation must be paid for by radicalism in distribution. The unfortunate conditions existing in Russia and Mexico give evidence of the unescapableness of this law and its penalty. Social science has thus far failed to find a practical solution of the land wealth problem. It has always and is still vexing the nations; and yet centuries ago the people of God had revealed to them a system of procedure that effectively operated against real estate monopoly. (Read Leviticus 25:9, 10, 13, 24-29.) Land monopoly was effectively provided against in the early settlement of these valleys, by the practice of dividing the arable domain into small acreages and distributing them by lot. The responsibility of wealth is set forth in Sec. 104, Doc. and Cov. In that revelation we get the divine point of view, the revealed truth concerning the matter of the accumulation, holding and distribution of wealth provided for, with altruism brought to the front, and selfishness put in the background. The United Order is thought by some persons to be unlivable; and yet many of the Latter-day Saints are living it psychically, that is they are living it in their thoughts and feelings. When the time comes for group activity, under this higher law, they will be found to have habits that will make obedience to the law almost automatic. President George Q. Cannon said that he wanted to pay his tithing gladly, as a preparation to giving all he had gladly, at any time that the Lord called for it. At a time when there was a general movement in these valleys to put in operation the United Order, a young man, just starting out in life, went to his bishop and had. a heart-to-heart talk over his financial affairs. He presented a list of his property, which consisted of a one-roomed house, some household furniture, a city lot, a yoke of oxen, a wagon and four acres of land, valued by himself and the bishop at $1,000. The bishop said, "I will appoint you a steward over this property for you to keep and to use, and to report upon whenever called for." No report has ever been required, but the steward has made his report annually, for nearly half a century, in the form of set- tling his tithing. During this period there never has been a possessions, time when he has not been ready to give all of his 1092 IMPROVEMENT ERA which have constantly increased in his hands, for the welfare of Zion. This man is only one of thousands, among the Latter-day ' Saints, psychically living the United Order. The respor bility of their wealth is with Him who possesses the earth and the fulness thereof. Reading Reference, Vitality of Mormonism, Article 57, Talmage. Problems and Questions 1. Discuss the soul shrinkage of the notorious land monopolist of Old Mexico, through whose almost boundless ranches, the roads are narrow lanes, frnced with barbed wire. Connect the wealth responsibility of this man up with the war in that unfortunate country. 2. One of the first laws passed by the Soviet government of Russia Was an act abolishing all private ownership of land. From a concensus of reports, it appears that the masses are supporting this radical measure. What previous condition of land wealth contributed to the present lamentable state of affairs in that country? 3. How is the income tax affecting the transfer of land wealth? 5.In the light of the responsibility of wealth, read Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," noting particularly what he says about land wealth. 6. What laws in ancient Israel prevented excessive land wealth? 7. In what respect is the United Order a part of the life of the tithe-payer? 8. In the light of history discuss the proposition: Excesses in accumulation must be paid for by radicalism in distribution. 9. Discuss Brigham Young's policy, which prevented land grabbing in the early settlement of these valleys. The New Testament is Chief Need of Latin- American Youths "There is a prophet among the Porto Ricans," says the . American Bible Society, in a communication to the Era. He is no less than Sr. Emilio del Toro, Judge of the Supreme Court of Porto Rico, who recently gave a message to the Puerto Rico Evangclico, of which the following is an English translation: "If had the privilege of communicating with all of the mothers I of LatinAmerica for only one moment during my lifetime, I would employ it entirely in recommending that they place in the hands of their children the New Testament, being sure of obtaining for them the most noble and enduring influence of all the influences which could exercise themselves in the human conscience of this world."