Establishment and Maintenance of Settlements and Discrimination Against Saints

My dear brethren and sisters, I have been very much delighted with what we have heard during this conference, and while I stand before you to bear my testimony to the divinity of this work and to say a few words I desire your faith and sympathy and the divine aid of my Father in heaven. I rejoiced very much in the words of President Joseph F. Smith this morning, and I would like to call your attention to the fact that the Prophet Joseph Smith, many years before the bulk of the people ever thought of coming to these Rocky mountains, predicted that the Saints would suffer much persecution, but that many of them would live to come to these valleys of the Rocky mountains and assist in establishing cities there. ¶

I have in the past spoken considerably regarding our new settlements, and I want to say a few words this morning in regard to our old settlements. I know that the brawn and sinew of the older settlements have been drawn upon largely in order to establish new settlements in various parts of the country, and as a result there is a spirit of lethargy and not of progress resting upon the people of some of these old settlements. The young and energetic have gone to Canada or other northern locations, and have left only the aged and infirm and the non-progressive, and where this is the case the settlements are in a state of decline. If I were the president of a stake in which these conditions exist, and colonization agents came into the stake and attempted to draw away Bishops and progressive men, I would demand that they show their credentials from the Presidency of the Church, or I would not let them take my useful men. ¶

I feel that in the establishment of these settlements we have been doing the will of God and I want to call your attention to the fact that some of the best blood of this Church has been called, not to occupy the most desirable sections of country, but to go and assist in the establishment of lands to the south which might be regarded as altogether undesirable. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent and lives have been worn out in establishing these settlements, and I hope that they will never be abandoned because there is better country somewhere else. I want to tell you, in the name of the Lord, that the time will come when the wisdom of God in establishing these settlements under the direction of the leaders of the Church, both past and present, will be manifest, and that He has had a purpose in doing it. We did not come to these Rocky mountains because it was a good, desirable country. We are here today because President Brigham Young, when the pioneers landed in this valley, said this was the place where God designed His people should halt. Those who were looking for good countries wanted him to go on to California, or to Oregon; but he said; No, here is the place— very undesirable in the eyes of men, therefore it will not excite the cupidity or the selfishness of our enemies, and here we can rest. As a result of the inspiration which rested upon the Prophet Joseph Smith in his successors, the Saints have been established in these nooks of the mountains. Had they gone to more favored places, it would not have been long before they would have been only a drop in the bucket; but by being placed in these crevices of the rocks they have been able to maintain their ground, and God has blessed the land for the sake of His people. As I have often said, the Lord has caused some of His choicest sons and daughters to go into the stakes of Arizona and Mexico, where they do not raise 10,000 bushels of grain, but where they have gone because He has called them through His servants to locate there, and where they have determined to stay though it should cost them their lives. That is the kind of people that dwell in those places that are considered undesirable. They may not be desirable places, but they have to be built up and maintained; and we do not want to draw from them their best blood and leave them in a languishing condition. We want them to continue to progress, to husband the water, take care of the lands which God has given them, and build new houses. We go into some settlements and find that there has not been a new house built in the last five or ten years, and all the young and progressive element have left to the detriment of those who remained. ¶

I am in favor of maintaining these settlements. I am also in favor of maintaining our foothold right here at headquarters, where we are now almost uprooted, because the country has apparently become too good for us. It is worth too much money, and consequently we have sold out to those not of our faith. Therefore, we have but little voice in the government of our city and in other affairs here. While the Latter-day Saints have built the railroads, and while they furnish, I am told, about 80 per cent of the local traffic of these roads, there is scarcely one Latter-day Saint in a hundred in the employ of these large railroad companies. These matters are controlled almost exclusively by the labor unions. ¶

The contracts for our buildings, when they are let, are controlled by companies who employ union men; and as a result our people, who are counseled all the time to keep out of these things, have to take what few crumbs drop from those who are eating the slice. I do not think this is a good thing. "We do not show that interest in each other in these temporal affairs that we ought to do. We have not as much interest in obtaining employment for one another in this city, take us as a whole people, as the labor unions have for their members. And I am in favor of either joining the unions or else being a union among ourselves as we ought to be. I feel that the Latter-day Saints are in a position to demand some consideration in regard to these things, and that we ought not to be forced to sell our homes right here at headquarters because the land has become too valuable for us. I love the little piece of land I occupy, which was a part of my father's homestead, and I have covenanted with the Lord and with myself that I will never part with that, unless I have to do it to maintain my honor, or the honor of my people, or to buy bread for my family. ¶

God bless you, my brethren and sisters. I rejoice in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that this is God's work, and I know that we, have a living Church, not a dead form, for which I thank God. May the blessings of the Lord be upon our brethren and sisters who have worn out their lives in fulfilling the missions whereunto they have been called to build up the great southern country and to live in the less desirable places. They are among the best people we have in the Church, and God has blessed them and will bless them. I love them, as I love the people of every other part of Zion. As President Smith has said, there are sections of our country which will recommend themselves and speak for themselves; but I do not think that people ought to be drawn away from our old settlements, to the detriment of those places, in order to build up some other country. I am interested in Canada, in Oregon, in Big Horn, and in every one of these settlements that have been founded, as my labors in the Apostleship have been exclusively in the stakes of Zion, I think over these things, and I am concerned regarding the welfare of our settlements and their maintenance. President Smith and I went to St. Johns, with authority to release the people there, if they wanted to go, and we could not do it. The young and the old stood up and expressed their feelings; they cried, and we cried, and we were determined that we would not raise our hands to abandon a settlement which had been established under the direction of one of the prophets of God. Now, my brethren and sisters, let us think of these things. Let us be contented. Let us be progressive in our own settlements, and let us strive to love all mankind. I thank God for the honorable men of the earth, and for the Latter-day Saints who are accomplishing good in this world. I recognize in every man one of God's sons, and in every woman one of His daughters; and they are all my friends, so far as they befriend Zion or speak a good word for her. May God bless us and fill us continually with the testimony of Jesus, who died for the redemption of all mankind. I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶