Editor’s Table

Editors ^Table President Heber J. Grant's Conference Message This is a very wonderful gathering of Latter-day Saints, the Tabernacle being crowded to overflowing. It is certainly an inspiring sight, and bears witness to the interest and devotion of the Latter-day Saints. I humbly pray that while I sitand before you this morning I may be able to say something that shall in some small degree fulfil my share of this conference, which you can take away with you and feel that you have received some benefit by leaving your homes, some of you from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south, and from New York to San Francisco. Cause for Rejoicing I rejoice in the growth of the work of God. I rejoice in the integrity and devotior*, and the willing self sacrifice of the people. I am very thankful for all of the many blessings that have come to us as a people, from the time when that great pioneer, Brigham Young and that wonderful band of men and women, one hundred and forty odd, first came to this valley. I am thankful for the blessings of the Lord that have attended the Saints, notwithstanding the drivings and the persecutions and the mobbings that they have had to endure during the 96 years since the organization of the Church. Obedience to Law There is at the present time an agitation going on in the United States against the enforcement of prohibition. Straw votes are being taken which show that the overwhelming sentiment of those who have seen fit to vote on this straw ballot are in favor of the repeal or modification of the present law. There is also a wave of crime sweeping over the country. Per- haps there is nothing of greater importance, next to our spiritual growth, than a determination on the part of the Latter-day Saints to observe the law9 of our country. I wish to quote from the immortal Lincoln: Lincoln on the Subject "Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of '76 did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life, his property and his sacred honor. Let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let

678 IMPROVEMENT ERA it be written in primers, spelling books and almanacs: let it be, preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, enforced in courts of justice. In short, let it become the political religion of the nation." One of the Articles of our Faith declares that we believe in sus- taining the law and supporting the rulers. So that not only should Latter day Saints follow the advice of the immortal Lincoln, but they should follow the doctrines of the Church to which they belong. Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt has the following statements to make that would apply more or less to sustaining the law: "In character we must have virtue, morality, decency and square dealing as the foundation." "Any man who claims' there can be liberty in spite of and against the law is claiming that anarchy is liberty." "We need strong bodies: more than that, we need strong minds, and finally we need what counts for more than body or mind — character." "The man who counts is the man who is decent and who makes himself felt as a force for decency." The Word of Wisdom a Revelation to the Saints The Latter-day Saints have a revelation from God regarding strong bodies. In that revelation it is recorded that tobacco is not good for the body. It is also recorded there that strong drinks are not to be taken internally, but are only for the washing of the body. We are told in this same revelation that hot drinks are not good for man. This revelation was given to the Latter-day Saints in 1833, only three years after the organization of the Church. Yet there are many of the people who have never lived up to that revelation. But I am thankful that the great majority of the Latter-day Saints are observers of the Word of Wisdom — that tea, coffee, liquor and tobacco are let alone by the Latter-day Saints. I have read to you that we have seventeen hundred wards and branches in the Church. In each of the wards of the Church there is a, bishop and two counselors and a ward clerk, and in each of the independent branches there is a president and two counselors'. There are sometimes three presiding officers in the branches throughout the missions, and sometimes only one. But we have an army of mer> presiding amounting to four or five thousand, and every one of those men must pledge his honor that he will observe the Word of Wisdom. We have now ninety-four stakes, with a presidency of three men, and a stake clerk, and we have twelve* high councilors in all of these stakes. In addition we have many alternate high councilors. It will average, I am sure, twenty men to the stake. So we have an army of two thousand there, and every one of these leading men must obey the Word of Wisdom. On Women Smoking I read recently in a .paper published in our city: "The woman smoker is the prominent professional and business woman in every community."

EDITORS' TABLE 679 I desire to broadcast all over the world that that statement is an ab- solute falsehood so far as the Latter-day Saints are concerned. Never in my life have I seen a Latter-day Saint woman or girl smoking a cigarette. This article states that last year there were 9,000,000,000 cigarettes smoked by the women of these United States, and that there were 7,000,000,000 cigarettes smoked by women the year before, an increase in round numbers of thirty per cent. The writer said that the woman smoker is "the prominent commercial and business woman in every community," I say: Leave out every Latter-day Saint community, because it is a falsehood. "She is the wife of your local physician." She is not the wife of any physician in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so far as I know. 'She is the wife of the town banker, the attorney. She is the president of your parent- teacher club, your literary club." These statements are reputed to have been made by Cynthia Grey. I would not be a bit surprised if Cynthia Grey is a newspaper name, and it is one of the tobacco trusts who furnished the article. "In other words, it is stuff and nonsense, nowadays, to say that the women who smoke are scarlet ladies." We do not say that. So she has put that in to weaken the fight against this awful curse, cigarette smoking. "Does nicotine harm the woman any more than the man, if it harms either?" Nicotine harms every man, woman and child that uses tobacco, and we as Latter-day Saints have the word of the Lord God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, to that effect this lady (or perhaps man) , to the contrary notwithstanding. "I am inclined to believe that even a woman smoker, quite firm in her conviction that she is doing the proper thing" — (I do not believe that any woman smoker believes she is doing the proper thing) — "would stop smoking if any real authority could prove she was harming any possible future child of hers." The trained athletes of the nation are pretty good authorities on the harm to the physical body, and they are practically a unit that tobacco and liquor do harm the body. Some of the great baseball clubs of America, who have won championships, won't allow liquor or tobacco to be used by their men. The head of the New York Athletic club, one of the greatest in this country, announces that there is no prospect of success in the athletic line to the man who uses tobacco and liquor. "But medical savants, when pushed to the wall, seem not much alarmed." When they are not pushed to the wall the great majority of them acknowledge the harmful influence of these things. "The president of the Association of Railway Chief Surgeons is quoted as saying Tags help men work out problems. Why not women?' ' A whip helps a horse to go a little bit further, but it does not add any strength to the horse, and no narcotic or stimulant that creates an appetite for itself is good for man or woman. And thank the Lord we have his word to that effect. . , I will not take any more of your time reading from this article tor it is "rot." Comments on Sustaining the Law I meant after reading Lincoln's wonderful appeal to sustain the Constitution, to read the following: Gladstone said, speaking of the Constitution of the United States: "It is the greatest document of its kind that ever sprang from the mind of man." The faith of the Latter-day Saints and the teaching that 1 have had since I was a child at my mother's knee, as well as from this stand is that the Constitution of our country was written by men inspired

680 IMPROVEMENT ERA of the Lord God Almighty. Therefore, we as Latter-day Saints, more than any other people, ought to be supporters of the Constitution, and all constitutional law. I read a clipping from a great financial paper, as follows: 'Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall,' is as tru? today as it /was 2,500 years ago. The indications of surface conditions are not satisfactory. A crime wave is sweeping the country; hope is necessary to give a thrill in the movies; temperance and self-control have become a joke; observance and respect for law are considered old-fashioned; honest labor is looked upon as something to be avoided: too many are trying to get something for nothing and are going into debt for needless luxuries and harmful pleasures." Warning Against Debt and Wealth Right here let me warn the Latter-day Saints to buy automobiles and to buy the ordinary necessities1 of life when they have the money to buy them, and not to mortgage their future. I have heard of people over in England who regularly mortgage their Sunday clothes Monday morning and take them out of "hock" the next Saturday night. I want to say to you that those who discount their future, who run in debt for the ordinary necessities of life and for the luxuries of life, are laying burdens upon themselves that will come back with compound interest to cause them great trouble and humiliation. To quote again: "Nasty magazines are building up great circulations while the colleges are closing up their chapels and opening up smoking rooms for the women students." Again let me say that that cannot be found in any of the Church schools or seminaries. Once more, please leave out the Latter-day Saints. "I sincerely hope that these things are merely a phase and that the American people are still a God-fearing race. If not, these things are a tremendous indictment of schools and colleges as well as parents. Yes. America has every material blessing at the present time and if we will keep our feet on the ground, the present era of prosperity should continue for years. On the other hand, all wealth is a mere tool which can be used either to upbuild or to destroy. Everything depends on the motives, ambition and tastes of the people who have this tool in their hands." Wealth is leading to folly and almost to that which would be counted as sin. Pope says: "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; But seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace." Avoid Serving the God of Fashion I am ashamed, as I walk the streets of our cities, at the lack of modesty in the dresses, not only of our young people, but our mothers and even grandmothers. I will rejoice when there shall come over this land again an increased respect for the sacredness of the body and a willingness on the part of our good, pure, upright ladies to dress themselves in a more becoming manner. I shall rejoice when the

EDITORS" TABLE 681 Latter-day Saints shall endeavor to find out that thing which will bring to them and to their posterity peace and comfort of body and of mind. The Lord said that he was a jealous God, and that we should serve no other God before him. So we should not serve the God of fashion. When our Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associationsi were organized they were organized under the title of the Young Ladies' Retrenchment Associations, and one of the purposes was retrenchment and more modesty in dressing; and I shall rejoice if the Lord will inspire the Latter-day Saints to set a better example in the future than they are setting at the present time. I want to announce that I shall be glad if we will quit giving notices to the papers of what is termed "teas" that are being held in our homes*. I reacj, of a "tea" being given in the home of President Heber J. Grant, and of the "tea" table being decorated. There is no tea table in the home of President Heber J. Grant. There has been no tea served either to our friends or visitors, in the home of Heber J. Grant. D would like us to change that name in our news- papers, at least so far as Latter-day Saints are concerned, and have it a "social gathering," or a lunch, or anything you havel a mind, to call it, and quit calling it a "tea," when every Latter-day Saint is asked by the Lord, to leave tea, coffee and tobacco alone. Promises of God to Observers of the Word of Wisdom And for fear I forget it, I want to read to you one of the most marvelous and wonderful promises that God has made to every Latter- day Saint who keeps this Word of Wisdom. The Word of Wisdom was given, as stated, only three years after the Church was organized: "All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth; "And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger." It is being acknowledged by the great doctors today that an ex- cessive use of meat is not good for humanity, and the Word of Wisdom teaches us that: "All grain is good for the food of man: as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground — "Nevertheless, 'wheat for man. and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also other grain." Now listen, all ye Latter-day Saints, to the word of the Lord and the promise of the Creator of heaven and earth: "And all Saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow in their bones; "And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; "And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. "And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen." What a marvelous promise! And as there is no promise made by

682 IMPROVEMENT ERA the Lord only upon the condition that we fulfil the law upon which that promise is predicated, the law of life and health to the Latter-day Saints is to obey the Word of Wisdom. The Support of Home Institutions Generally at these conferences I have made just a few remarks about supporting our home institutions. I thought I would simply read what I said once before: "The support of home institutions is the main foundation of any state's prosperity. The support of home industries keeps money at home, furnishes employ- ment, reduces cost and insures prosperity. If all the people of Utah and the other intermountain states would adopt the principle of buying the product of the factories of the intermountain territory, most of our industrial problems would vanish. "From the earliest days the people of Utah have been taught to support home industries and to keep money at home. Where, the advice has been followed) pros- perity has resulted. Now. more than ever, the people of the intermountain country should stand together and support the institutions which are assisting in the up- building of the territory." Appeal to Farmers on the Sugar Industry I want to say a word to the Latter-day Saints regarding the beet sugar industry. The credit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints was utilized to the extent of something over $3,000,000, a few years ago in borrowing and loaning money to the sugar industry, to keep it from going into the hands of a receiver. This industry was established by the Church running in debt to secure the money to build the very first factory that was ever built in the United States of America with American machinery, for the manufacture of beet sugar, and the Church has always fostered the industry. I appeal to you farmers, every one of you, in all the various parts of Utah and Idaho, and in Canada now — wherever a sugar factory has been established — to support those factories by planting a goodly portion of suitable land in beets which may be manufactured into sugar. A great many of the farmers sieem to feel that they are under no obligation whatever to support these factories, some of which have been built upon the earnest solicitation and upon the absolute pledge of the farmers that they would furnish sio many thousand acres of beets for each factory. Several of these factories have had to remain idle. Why? Because these pledges have not been fulfilled. Our Lord and Savior said: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. "This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." As one of your neighbors, who hasi labored diligently and in- vested all he had originally, and lost every dollar of it, in establishing this great industry, I appeal to you farmers to love me and others who established it. My personal stock amounts to very little, I could not sell it today for $500, but the Church has invested several million dollars in establishing and maintaining this industry for the benefit of

EDITORS' TABLE 683 the farmers. Therefore, I appeal to you to have no idle beet sugar factories in your communities; and by supporting these factories you will bring additional money into your communities, and will be ful- filing the second great commandment: to love your neighbors. What the Church Requests as to Card Playing By the way, I hear that card playing is becoming very, very popular, and that the Church must be in favor of card-playing because the Church authorities never say anything against it. From the time I was a child and read the Juvenile Instructor, published for the benefit of the people, I have read nothing except condemnation of card-playing and the wasting of your time in doing something that brings no good bodily, intellectually or in any way, and sometimes leads your children to become gamblers, because they become expert card-players. The Church as a Church requests its members not to play cards. I hope you understand me, and I want you to know that I am speaking for the Church when I ask the people to let cards alone. Sustain the "Deseret News" Again I am speaking for the Church when I ask Latter-day Saints to sustain the newspaper published by the Church. I have gone into the homes of bishops and other leading families) in this Church, and have failed to find The Deseret Evening News. We desire the support of The Deseret News because it is your paper. We are the Church and the Church owns The Deseret News, and if you make it a great financial success you will be sharing that success because it is your paper. And I want to say to the Latter-day Saints that there have been a score or more of| speeches published in The News in the past year, nearly every one of which to my mind was worth the price of The Deseret News. I called up an influential man the other day and asked if he had read one, two or three of those sermons. He said no. I want to tell you that a sermon by one of the greatest educational minds in Utah, (I doubt if there is a superior one) Dr. Joseph F. Merrill, over the radio, and subsequently enlarged upon from this stand, was published in The News. I would not take a fifty dollar bill for it if I could not get it again. (See also Era, April.) We are here — for what? For the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we get it in The Deseret, News. I will say] to you that one of the finest sermons on Priesthood that I have listened to — (by the way, I did not listen to it, but I read it in The News) — was by one of the great lawyers of America, one of the international lawyers, a man honored by our country to be called to Washington in the great conference on disarmament, J. Reuben Clark. You did not read it if you do not take The News. It was a splendid talk. I want to say to you that the talks bv Adam Bennion and by Milton Bennion are worth the price of The News for a year. I will have to stop talking about The News, or I won't get through with the other things I want to say.

684 improvement era Authorities Absent From Conference There are absent today of the General Authorities, Elders Reed Smoot, James E. Talmage, and Melvin J. Ballard of the Council of the Twelve. Elder Reed Smoot, as you all know, is a Senator from Utah, and thank the Lord, for such a senator, a man who has gained for himself a national and an international reputation for his honesty, for his integrity, and for his great and wonderful ability, and he stands today at the head of the greatest committee in the Senate of the United States. I remember when ex-President Taft was here he said, with that little chuckle of his that made us all laugh, "And to think that when he first came down to Washington nearly everybody tried to keep him out of the senate. Now I have come all the way to Utah to plead with the people to be sure and send him back again." Elder James E. Talmage is doing a wonderful and splendid work in the British Isles as president of the European mission. Elder Tal- mage, as you know, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the distinction of being a member of onej of the greatest scientific societies in the world has enabled him to get favorable articles into the newspapers, in such a way as we have never been able to do before in the British Isles. Elder Melvin J. Ballard is opening it mission, as you all know, in South America, and is meeting with some success. Elder Brigham H. Roberts of the First Council of Seventy, has! appointments in the east and on account of the death of his wife and having come here to her funeral, he has been excused from this conference. He is accom- plishing a remarkable and wonderful labor in the Eastern States. Elder Rey L. Pratt, of the First Council of Seventy, is with Brother Ballard in South America. Elder Rulon S. Wells of the same council went to South America as you all know, but on account of ill health had to return. Splendid missionary work is being done by all those who are engaged in the different missions in the United States and all over the world, for which we are grateful. Calls for Missionaries We have calls for missionaries from every quarter of the globe — more missionaries, more missionaries. The lady missionaries, we want it understood, are called only to labor in the United States. There are requests coming constantly that we send lady missionaries to other parts of the world, but we feel it is a mistake to send our sisters further away. A very remarkable and splendid work has been done by the short-term missionaries that were sent out. We regret that the call came so late, and many of them have only been able to stay in the field three months, some of them four and some of them five months. We hope we can have more short-term missionaries, and that they will be able to spend the full six months in the mission field. Some of the

EDITORS' TABLE 685 accomplishments of these men have been very remarkable. Men of experience, men of testimony, and of undying faith in the Gospel have brought many souls to a knowledge of the truth. Perhaps some of our school teachers during their vacations can volunteer and will be willing to do missionary work. An Easter Greeting This is Easter, and I wish to read to you a greeting that was published in The Deseret Evening News for* Christmas and I believe it is equally appropriate for Easter Sunday. [President Grant read the greeting. See Era, January, 1926.] God bless you. Amen. Changes in Officers — Church Statistics It is generally expected that at the April conference of the Church something shall be given in the nature of statistics regarding the condition of the Church. President Grant presented to the General Conference these items of interest: Stake Presidents Honorably Released: Mark Austin, Fremont stake; Peter M. Hansen, (deceased), Bear River stake; Nelson J. Hogan, Idaho stake; Heber C. Austin, Idaho Falls stake. New Stake Presidents: George S. Romney, Fremont stake: Milton H. Welling, Bear River stake; J. Fred Corbett, Idaho stake; Frederick A. Caine, Idaho Falls stake. Mission Presidents honorably released: Albert R. Peterson, Norwegian Mission; John S. Hansen. Danish Mission: Charles S. Hyde. Netherlands Mission; Herbert B. Foulger, Tahitian Mission (acting.) Mission Presidents appointed: Martin Christopherson, Norwegian Mission; Joseph L. Peterson, Danish Mission; John P. Lilly white, Netherlands Mission; Alma G. Burton, Tahitian Mission. STAKE AND WARD STATISTICS There are at present: Stakes of Zion, 94; wards, 909; independent branches, 76; missions, 26; branches in missions, 716. Making a total of 1701 wards and branches now in the Church. There were less than 20 stakes of Zion at the time I was chosen one of the twelve apostles of the Church, 43 pears ago. ■Since our conference in 1925, 69 stake and ward meeting houses have been erected and 24 buildings in our missions, which makes a total of 93 structures during the year. We have not yet completed the Arizona temple, but the ex- penditures up to the 31st of December, 1925, on that building were $540,000. GROWTH IN TEMPLE WORK We rejoice in the wonderful growth of work in our temples. In the Salt Lake temple. I learn from Brother George F. Richards, we have had as high as 1800 people go through in a single day. Many companies go through there each day, laboring for the salvation of their dead. CHURCH SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION In our Church educational system we have enrolled: In Church schools, 4,184; in Seminaries, 10,341: in Religion Classes. 57.000. Total number receiving week- day religious education. 71.525. This says nothing of religious education that is being given to 59,000 women in our Relief Societies, 100,000 in our Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations, and a quarter of a million in our Sunday Schools. And I am informed that the enrollment of our children in Primary Associations now reaches 100,000.

686 IMPROVEMENT ERA We have something over 2,500 missionaries in the field at the present time. Financial statement: Following are the expenditures from the tithes of the Church for the year 1925: Stake and ward purposes: There has been returned from the tithes to the stakes and wards for building construction, maintenance and operation, $1,486,351.81. Education: Expended for the construction, maintenance and operation of Church schools, $958,440.67. I Temples: Expended for the construction, maintenance and operation of temples $319,415. There were ordinances performed in the temples for the living and the dead last year, 986,321. Number of people recommended to the temples, 55,695. Charities: For the care of the worthy poor and other charitable purposes, including hospital treatment, $172,352.74. Missions: For the maintenance and operation of all the missions, and for the erection of places of worship and other buildings in the missions, $769,926.79. Making a total taken from the tithes and returned by the trustee-in-trust for the maintenance and operation of the stakes and wards, for the Church schools and temples, for charities and for mission activities of $3,706,397.01. Other charities: In addition to charities paid from the tithes, as before named, there has also been disbursed the fast offerings, other charities and assistance rendered by the Relief Society, in the sum of $442,868.07, which amount, added to the $172,262.74 paid from the tithes, makes the total charity assistance rendered by the Church. $615,130.81. There has been collected by the various wards of the Church and paid to missionaries to assist in their maintenance, $131,941.31. Statistics regarding the growth of the Church: Children blessed and entered on the records of the Church in the stakes and missions, 20,233. Children baptized in the stakes and missions, 14,390. Converts baptized and entered on the records of the stakes and missions, 6,3 73. Social statistics: Birth rate, 32 per thousand; marriage rate, 15 per thousand; death rate. 6.7 per thousand. Divorce — There was one divorce in every 20 mar- riages. Average in the United States is one divorce for every seven marriages. Families owning their own homes, 73 per cent. Recreation on the Ocean Claude C. Cornwall, field secretary of the Y. M. M. I. A., has accepted, for the six months' Summer vacation, a position with the United States Steamship Lines as a Recreation leader. He has been assigned to the S. S. Leviathan, and sailed from New York for France and England on April 10, 1926. This is a high compliment to Brother Cornwall, and a distinct recognition of his Mutual Improvement recreational service. When public announcement was made of Brother Cornwall's appoint- ment, he received a letter of congratulation from Dr. Chas. G. Plummet, Salt Lake City, from which we quote in part: "What a tribute to Utah, to your Church, to you individually! You shall go forth to far greater conquests than any you have thus far made in life. Always the leader, the Christian gentleman, a disciple of the Master — whom naught shall deter. "You have been selected for a difficult field of labor. A serious, yet joyous, expression of the very best that is within you — you shall give your very life to the work. I joy with you in your appointment; for it shall be a great, a tempering school for you which shall lift lyou up and up to yet greater things wherein you shall develop a fuller expression of him, our Master." The officers of the Y. M. M. I. A., and his many other friends through- out the stakes and wards of the Church, join in; congratulations to Brother Cornwall in this important appointment, and wish him success in his new field of labor, and God-speed on his journeys over the seas.