--- 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: 30 number: 7 published: 1927-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, “Editor’s Table,” *Improvement Era* 30, no. 7 (May 1927): 646–649." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3007unse 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: improvementera3007unse start_page: 646 end_page: 649 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1927-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3007unse publication_year: 1927 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 1927, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Editor’s Table Editors ^Table The Ninety-Seventh Annual Conference The Annual Conference of the Church lasted four days, beginning Sunday, April 3. They were four days of enlivening, faith-promoting testimony and instruction. Great numbers of people gathered in the Tabernacle and at the overflow meetings. The first day was rainy, but the days following were very pleasant. The leading theme of the conference was testimony. In his very effective opening address, President Heber J. Grant called attention to the growth of the Church in all parts of the earth. A favorable change has taken place in the British Isles. As a rule, now, there is little or no trouble to get friendly publicity in the various papers for Church activities. This is true also in the United States, as well as in other places. Elder James E. Talmage is getting advantageous notices in the European papers, and the press of Great Britain appears to be unprejudiced at the present time. President Grant called attention to tributes paid to the Latter-day Saints by a number of leading men of the nation, who have recognized in the Latter-day Saints a people of character, honesty and stability. Thousands of our people can testify that God has seen fit to answer earnest prayers and has given to them, as promised by Moroni, a testimony regarding the divine origin of the Book of Mormon. He testified to the world that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is indeed the Church of God; and also that there are thousands and tens of thousands who have been given this knowledge as certainly and as perfectly as he has received it. We have a great converted ministry in the Church, who can confidently and with knowledge in their hearts declare in very deed that this is the Church of God, and there are thousands and tens of thousands of members who possess this knowledge, and are convinced of the divinity of the work in which we as Latter-day Saints are engaged. Our religion has never been popular, and nothing short of an absolute conversion in the hearts of men and women will lead them to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ; but thousands everywhere have been convicted of sin and the judgment to come, and wherever that conviction has come into their minds, they have gone down into the waters of baptism and have received a remission of their sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The people lead clean lives. One of the laws of the gospel is that each and every Latter-day Saint shall observe what is known as the Word of Wisdom — shall abstain from tea, coffee, tobacco and liquor. Thousands comply with these instructions to the great benefit of their health and spiritual welfare. He gave a number of striking illustrations, and related faith- EDITORS' TABLE 647 promoting stories . illustrating the points. He also testified to the power of healing in the Church, to the gift of tongues and prophecy, and illustrated his statements by relating striking incidents that had come under his personal observation. He asked that God might help every soul within the sound of his voice, who has a testimony of the divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so to live that other men, seeing their devotion, integrity, and determination, may be inspired to investigate the message that we have to bear to them. President Anthony W. Ivins and President Charles W. Nibley followed with effective speeches on the duties of the Saints and the signs of the times, and full of the spirit of testimony concerning the faith and works of the Latter-day Saints and thankfulness for the goodness of God to his people. Up to the closing meeting, on Wednesday, April 6, forty-two other leading brethren had given instructions and borne their testi- monies to the large congregations that attended each day during the conference. The number who heard was greatly increased by gatherings in all parts of the state and surrounding country, served by the radio. In his closing address President Heber J. Grant announced that there are now ninety-six stakes in the Church, and it has* been decided to establish another stake by dividing Jordan, making ninety-seven; also to divide the Los Angeles stake, and to organize a new stake in the California Mission to embrace Oakland, San Francisco and vicinity, making ninety-nine stakes of Zion, a little more than five times as many as in 1882, when President Grant was chosen one of the apostles. Zion is growing in power, strength and testimony. In speaking of the division of the Los Angeles stake, President Grant said that he had a telegram from Leo J. Muir, chairman of the Tabernacle Finance Committee, and it has been decided to erect a tabernacle to be utilized by both stakes, after the new stake is organized. One hundred twenty-five thousand dollars have already been pledged for the Los Angeles stake tabernacle. The Church will match this $125,000, pledged locally, so that in Southern California there will be quite a fine building as a further evidence of the growth of the Church. I President Grant stated that ours is an American Church, born in the land of freedom, in fulfilment of prophecy. We believe and teach, and have done so from the early times, that God has protected and fought on the side of America in all of the struggles we have had for liberty. The Lord was with Washington and his armies. We sustain and uphold the president of the United States and the officers of this great country. We rejoice in the wonderful response that has been made upon all occasions by the Latter-day Saints to calls for money, and men to fight the battles of our country, and in all things to sustain and uphold it. He called attention to the fact that as a people we have one supreme thing to do. and that is to call upon the world to repent of sin and to come to God. and it is our duty, above 648 IMPROVEMENT ERA all others, to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the restoration again to the earth of the plan of life and salvation, the pearl of great price, worth more than all the wealth of the world. He called attention to the fact that appeals are coming from all parts of the earth for more missionaries, and the best way to show our love for our neighbor is to go and proclaim to all the world the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the divinity of which the Lord has kindly given us an accurate and abiding knowledge. He asked the Lord to bless and multiply the substance of the Latter-day Saints, and urged the Saints to be willing to cooperate for the advancement of the Church and our glorious country. — A. Safe Direction Referring to "responsibility for conduct," the Era recently spoke of "a complex, whatever that may be." A complex, it is explained by a friend, is caused by a repression of desire. Years ago it was understood that when a person did any- thing that he knew to be wrong, he became subject to serious trouble, which would end in disaster. People, therefore, held to tested standards, to self-denial, and to the experience and counsel of parents. They exercised self-control to conform to those standards. Recent philosophy of Freud and others is interpreted by many to teach that if one has a great desire to do an act, and represses that desire, even if he knows it to be wrong, he develops a complex, which may lead him to express himself in shameful self-indulgence, gratify his desires, let himself go, live his own life more or less regardless of the lives of all others, without regard for old forms or standards, with no resolute self-control, and giving expression and action to every impulse, though it point to trouble for everybody concerned. In this way one gets thrill out of life, which means stimulation. Hence the youth, justifying an evasion of complexes, seek for stimulation and adventure, and are so frank about their demands for thrills and so determined that they will not tolerate a complex, that they become shocking, unconventional, so much so that at times they almost frighten their parents. However, thrill may be felt in doing both things that are good and things that are bad, it is a matter of choosing between good and evil, and of who is to say what is good and what is evil; whether one shall choose evil and try it, rather than take the advice and tested experience of people who have passed before, is the question. We shall always have good and evil in our midst, "for it needs must be that there is- an opposition in all things," as the Book of Mormon tells us, "else righteousness could not be brought to pass: neither wickedness; neither holiness nor misery; neither good nor bad." It is incumbent upon one who is endowed with reason, and who EDITORS' TABLE 649 can, therefore, exercise judgment and free agency, to choose between good and evil, and get his thrills by self-expression on higher levels, rather than in wayward and lawless channels. It must be remembered, too, that punishment is annexed to and inflicted with every choice and self-expression of evil. Happiness is affixed to every selection and self-expression of that which is good. Indulging in evil is dangerous, while self-denial is sure to help men to attain some semblance of the Divine. There is an abundance of opportunity for self-expression and thrills in the paths of righteousness and good. The Lord has given us freedom to choose and to act for ourselves. Good and evil are in the world and people are bound to direct their energies into one or the other of these. The best plan for avoiding complexes is the divine plan — the directing of energy into right channels. This requires self-denial and self-judgment, but the energy threatening a complex will in that way be turned to good activity. The complex will be avoided and there will come a thrill in doing good. The direction of parents*, of gospel standards, and of the divine nature should be recognized and followed, that a wise choice may be made, even though it requires a little self-denial of the individual. By this policy the person may find full expression for all his powers in ways that are good, and, under divine guidance, avoid dejection and unhappy complexes. He may be directed to good works in which he may find abundant and free outlet for all his desires, without being vexed with repression. — A. Statistics — President Hebet J. Grant announced, at the opening of the Ninety-seventh Annual Conference of the Church, the following statistics, which are worthy of careful study: Church Growth — Children blessed and entered on the records of the Church in the stakes and missions, 19,701. Children baptized in the stakes and missions, 15,024. Converts baptized and entered on the records of the stakes and missions, 6,663. There are now 9 6 stakes of Zion, 915 wards, 7 7 independent branches connected with the stakes, and 2 7 missions and 73 4 branches in the missions. Social Statistics — Birth rate, 3 1 per thousand. Marriage rate, 13.9 per thousand. Death rate, 7.7 per thousand. Families owning their own homes, 72 per cent. Persons recommended to the temple, 5 8,958, or 6 per cent more than in 1925. Missionaries from Zion December 31, 1926 2,188 Local missionaries 7 2 2,260 Engaged in missionary work in stakes 1,140 Total 3 ,400