Report on the Box Elder Stake

Beloved Saints, I trust that the Lord will give me utterance the few moments I may stand before you in response to the request made by our beloved president. I appear before you as a representative of the Boxelder Stake of Zion, one of the oldest Stakes of Zion, located in the extreme north of our state, bordering on to southern Idaho and eastern Nevada, bounded on the east by Hyrum and Cache Stakes, and on the south by Weber Stake. We number about 7,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In our Stake we have a little over 1,500 who bear the holy Aaronic and Melchisedek Priesthoods — a strong army of workers; and if we were all alive, active and energetic in the performance of the sacred duties required of that priesthood and authority which God has restored to the earth, we would certainly be a strong and a powerful Stake of Zion. I am pleased to report to this conference our condition as a stake. I am pleased to say that the presidency of the stake are united and love each other. We unite on every proposition before we go before the people. We have a High Council who are united with the presidency of the stake. We hold High Council meetings once a month, and at each of these meetings all matters of general interest to our wards and organizations are discussed and a thorough understanding arrived at. We are active in visiting the wards, of which there are 13 in the stake, together with three branches. I am pleased to tell you that the same spirit which prevails with the presidency and High Council can be found in every ward. The Boxelder Stake of Zion in the Last seven years has doubled its tithing, accepting the counsel of our former and beloved President of the Church, Lorenzo Snow, who counseled this whole people to more fully observe that law and get closer to the Lord and receive His blessings. Our stake has been endeavoring to carry out that advice, and I testify that we have got nearer to the Lord. ¶

There is a greater spirit of union and love for the truth among our people today than ever in my experience of between thirty and forty years among that people. That principle taught by President Snow years ago, by which we got together in our temporal interests and established what we called the United Order; that principle of co-operation by which all were employed in some industry or another — the spirit of that principle has not left our stake entirely. In those days we had no idle boys and girls, no idle men and women, in our county. We had employments established there that took in everybody. We had a peculiar currency, by which we met our obligations. It was a scrip that was made suitable to our conditions, in which our brethren and sisters were paid from the shoeshop, the carpenters, the blacksmiths, the dressmakers, the dairy workers, and from the other departments, thirty in number, that were organized in that stake. For years, my brethren and sisters, there was love, union and industry in the midst of that people. But for some cause or other, misfortune came — shall I say through the providence of the Lord? We say that the Lord doeth all things well, and that nothing happens but what He knows about. At any rate, misfortune came to us. The revenue came upon us and assessed us between $10,000 and $11,000 for circulating our scrip, which was never intended for or passed as money, and we got but very little of it back from the government. Fire destroyed our woolen factory, which entailed a loss of between $30,000 and $40,000; but the unity of the people was sufficient for the occasion, and it was rebuilt. We are an industrious people now, but we have not got those institutions in our midst. You will remember that Boxelder Stake was noted throughout the Church for its cooperation, for its United Order. But while the institutions of that order have gone the principle by which they were created and governed so many years, under the administration of President Snow, has not left our people. We are a united people. In our stake we have not got a secret order or combination outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When a young man comes to our Priesthood meeting with a recommend from his Bishop to be ordained an Elder, the question is put to him, Are you a member of any secret order? So far, the answer has been "No" in every instance. We are trying to educate our brethren and sisters against the introduction of these evils. Many years ago we taught these principles to our people, and though many attempts have been made to introduce these orders into our stake they have been without effect. I am pleased to make that statement to you at this conference. ¶

I was very much pleased with the remarks of Elder Roberts touching these matters. A brother came to me the other day, and asked if a trades union was a secret order, and whether it was so considered by the authorities of the Church. I said I did not know how the authorities viewed trades unions, but I would consider them secret orders. It is a system by which one man is protected and another is turned adrift. His family may be suffering for the necessaries of life; he may be a skilful mechanic and an honest laborer; but if he is not a member of a certain union he cannot get employment. I told the brother that in my opinion trades unions are secret orders and come under the orders described in the Book of Mormon. I feel that their effects will be felt by and by in the world, and also among us if we unite ourselves with them. I asked the question through one of the Apostles, whether this order was considered among the secret orders, and I received the word that to all intents and purposes it was, and they should be discouraged. I am thankful that in our stake thus far they have been discouraged. I am thankful that we are as good a people as we are; but I do not want you to think that we are all perfect by any means. We have saloons in our midst; we have apostates; we have half-hearted "Mormons;" we have those who are opposed to God and His work; but the great majority of the people are on the Lord's side, and are desirous of serving Him and keeping His commandments. We have glorious prospects before us in the stake at present. We have a new sugar factory in course of erection; we have a new railroad being built through our valley; we have the prospect of an east side canal from the Bear river canyon, converting into farms, orchards, and beautiful homes some 23,000 acres on the east side of the river that are now barren and almost worthless. The canal is partly built, but whether it will be finished or not is an unsettled question at present. With these conditions before us we have splendid prospects in the Boxelder Stake of Zion. We will have plenty of work for idlers. If there are any families, good members of the Church, that will come along to the Boxelder stake and help raise beets, build the railroad and make a canal, and redeem the land that is yet open for purchase at a nominal figure, we will welcome them, and will not be under the necessity of going to Canada or to any far-off state to look for employment. ¶

A serious problem that confronts this people today is, What shall we do with our boys and girls? It is true, many of them are going to the colleges and being educated; but it is only the brain that is being educated, not the hand. They are not getting that intelligence which takes the crude material and makes it subservient to our use, to make our homes comfortable, and to furnish our own shoes, hats and bonnets and other things that we send our substance for to other places and thus build them up instead of ourselves. I feel that the day is not far distant when the principles presented by President Brigham Young to this Church will be more fully carried out; for we have a man at our head today who is looking after the interests of Zion, whose pen is busy daily on some of the most timely articles that we have read for years. Read the Juvenile Instructor, the Improvement Era, and the Deseret News, and there you get the word of the Lord from His servants, who cannot reach us all by their voices. I thank God for these men. I thank God for the past prophets — for President Young, the mighty Moses of latter times, who led this people out of bondage, and planted their feet in these beautiful valleys of the mountains, and located our cities and towns. I am proud of the name of the city in which I live, for it is after that illustrious man — the city of Brigham. I rejoiced in sitting under the sound of his voice. I rejoiced in sitting under the sound of the voice of President John Taylor, his successor, upon whom fell his mantle. I rejoiced in the teachings of that meek and lowly Wilford, who, to a certain extent, made peace between us and this nation by disbanding the People's Party and by introducing, through the will and revelation of God, the manifesto, which stopped in a measure proceedings against this people. When he stood in that sacred edifice, the Temple, he made the statement that now the set time to favor Zion had come. Has not that prediction been literally fulfilled? Just as literally as many other predictions that have been uttered. ¶

The remarks of Brother Roberts reminded me of that poetical man, Parley P. Pratt, who wrote The Key to Theology, and who prefaced one of his chapters with these lines: ¶

"Oh, Mystic Babel, long has been thy reign! What direful evils follow in thy train! The veil is rent— thy mystery revealed, Angels cry woe! and God thy doom has sealed. The nations, from thy long and dreary night, Are waking now to everlasting light." ¶

Those words rang in my ears as Elder Roberts called our attention to these modern improvements. Light has come into the world. The axe has been laid at the root of all false doctrine. That is why our friends the ministers are trembling. That is why the churches are fearful. Light and truth have come into the world, and they will prevail. God has established this work; it is not ours. He has given us pastors after His own heart, to feed us with knowledge and understanding. I am thankful to be associated with this people. This people are my people; their God is my God. I want to share with you, my brethren and sisters, in all the conditions that arise. I came here many years ago, and have grown up under the light and intelligence that has come from God through His servants. I have sat for over 35 years, with very few exceptions, under the droppings of this holy sanctuary while the Prophets of the Most High have fed us with knowledge and understanding, and I hope to enjoy that privilege many years yet. ¶

I pray God to bless the Latter-day Saints, to fill us with His Spirit and with a desire to heed the counsels that are given to us from those that preside. Then Zion will prosper; every weapon that is formed against her will be broken to pieces; for this is our Father's work, and we are told that He and one man are a great majority. The power and influence of this people are being felt in the earth today as never before, and we are only commencing. It is only the dawn of a brighter day; it is but the commencement of the work our Father has established in the earth, and which will be inspired and sustained by Him from this time henceforth until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ. May He give us His grace and Spirit sufficient to establish His righteousness in the earth, to sanctify our hearts in the truth, and to be guided unto His praise, that in the sequel of our days, like many who have addressed us here, we may be gathered home to our Father and rejoice in His salvation, is my prayer through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶