Japanese Mission and Obedience

It is needless for me to say to the Latter-day Saints that I rejoice in having the privilege of again standing before you in this Tabernacle. It is indeed a pleasure, to every man and woman who possess a testimony of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged, to go forth and bear that testimony to his or her fellows. There is no joy that comes to the human heart, so far as my experience in life goes, that equals that which we feel when we are engaged in the work of the Lord, at home or abroad. I believe, as a rule, when we are away from home, and relieved of the cares generally associated with the ordinary affairs of life, which engross most of our attention, we then draw nearer to the Lord, and receive more abundantly of the manifestations of His Holy Spirit, than we do while at home. It is because of this fact that the young returned Elder, and the Elder who has been on a second or third mission, who has been faitheul, can arise before congregations of the Saints and testify that he greatly enjoyed his missionary labors, notwithstanding he has been separated from his friends and not pursuing the usual avocations of life. ¶

In case I may forget it, I want to say a word or two about the hymn we have just listened to -- "The Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee," etc. I will not take time to read it, but it is the first hymn in the book. It was written under the inspiration of the Lord, by one of the greatest of all ¶

the preachers and writers of the Gospel in his day-- Parley P. Pratt. God be praised that he has a couple of grandsons who can sing it so beautifully! Read the hymn, and treasure in your hearts the sentiments of it. It fills my heart with joy when I realize that men who gave their lives, and all their time and talents to God's work, who never sought the accumulation of wealth, have left soils and grandsons who are following in their footsteps. The "Voice of Warning" is as much alive today, as when Parley P. Pratt finished writing it. It is sent forth by the tens of thousands, and there is an inspiration and power attending that work wherever it is distributed. ¶

I know that the Latter-day Saints have been greatly interested in the mission I was called to preside over, and I regret I am not able to tell you that we have done something wonderful over in Japan. To be perfectly frank with you, I acknowledge I have accomplished very little indeed, as the president of that mission; and very little has been accomplished-- so far as conversions are concerned -- by the few Elders sent there to labor, or by the sisters who were with me. At the same time, I have the assurance in my heart there will yet be a great and important labor accomplished in that land. The inhabitants are a wonderful people. What they have accomplished during the past fifty years, since the country was opened to foreigners, is little less than marvelous. Verily, "a nation has been born in a day," in Japan! When I was coming home from that mission, as well as while I was on my way there, I was profoundly impressed with the great progress that has been made by that people. I traveled from Seattle to Japan, in returning to that country, upon one of the vessels of the Japan Steamship company. It is a vessel of between six and seven thousand tons capacity. It wag built by the Japanese themselves. It is owned by Japanese capital, and it is competing in the markets of the world, so to speak, against English and American ships, and is holding its own. That company also has a large line of steamers running to ¶

England, Australia, and New Zealand. It is one of the greatest companies having vessels on the Pacific ocean. When you think of several thousand tons of coal loaded into a vessel you can imagine that it is a pretty good sized boat. It is nearly twice as long as Zion's Co-operative Mercantile store on Main street, and has twice as many stories, counting decks under and above the water, though they are not quite so high; and it is about 50 feet wide. It is certainly an immense vessel. I returned home by another vessel owned by the same company, just completed in Japan, aua commanded by the man who was in charge of the one I went to Japan on. To give you an idea of how steadily those large vessels travel, I will state, we left Japan for home in the midst of what is known as an Asiatic typhoon, and notwithstanding the water occasionally dashed over the forward deck, which was, perhaps, 25 to 40 feet above the sea, (it is very hard to judge the height looking over the side of a vessel), and notwithstanding the waves were rolling high, I do not believe that a tumbler of water, set on the floor, would have tipped over during the storm. ¶

While listening to President Smith's remarks, I was forcibly impressed with some lessons I have learned by going to Japan. One of them is that there is an abundance of opportunity in Utah for every wideawake, active man, and really he does not need to rustle around to try and find a better country t0 go to. In Utah, we cultivate about 15 per cent of the soil. In Japan, it is claimed, they cultivate only 12 per cent. Japan is about 25 per cent larger than our state, therefore, the area of the land under cultivation is about the same as here; yet they support between forty and fifty millions of people on that amount of land? We think we are cultivating the land, why, we are simply scratching it over, my brethren and sisters. There has been a wonderful increase in the value of land in the vicinity of Lehi sugar factory, as well as land in the vicinity of Ogden, Logan, and Garland factories, because of ¶

superior cultivation and yielding larger crops. I know this is a problem that is before the Latter-day Saints. We should unitedly study to create improvements whereby the land will produce more, instead of trying to see where we can go to get a big piece of land. There are many men who, with a few acres properly looked after and cultv ivated, produce more than the men with large farms which they simply scratch over. We should have chickens to do the scratching, but we should thoroughly cultivate our land. I call to mind a man who lives at Lehi, a little more than a stone's throw from the railroad station. One year that man raised, on a little less than four acres of ground, 128 tons of beets. He was a very honest man, and he realized that many of those beets were no good for sugar. Tou know, in the early history of the Lehi sugar factory, we had to take everything in the shape of beets that the farmer raised. It was not like wheat; if the farmer raised some wheat and it got frost-bitten, and was no good, the miller did not have to buy it; but when we started the sugar industry we, figuratively, got down on our knees to the farmer, and if that would not do, we almost lay down and crawled to him, and begged him to raise beets. We had to take all the beets they brought us, and pay $5 a ton for them, and then had to feed some of them to the pigs, because they were no earthly good, not having any saccharine matter in them. The man of whom I speak, however, realizing that the large beets which had grown on the edge of his little garden farm, close to where the water ran, had but little sugar in them, and that they were not worth $5 a ton, picked out about eight tons of the large beets and kept them to feed his own stock, the rest he brought to us. and got $600 in cash for them -- from four acres. Soon after that I went to the Snake river valley. I found a man there with 360 acres (I was rather sorry he did not have 400 acres), and I asked him how much he had raised that year. He said, about $500. He had scratched, and ¶

worked, and plowed, and harrowed, his big farm, and had raised that little; whereas, my friend with the four acres -- by the way, he had a flower garden, and raised vegetables for his family, so he did not have the entire four acres in beets -- made $600 in cash. He also had the pleasure of living right there with his friends, having the benefit of schools and other advantages for his children, instead of living away off on a ranch, with no educational advantages, no society, no improvement associations, no Sunday schools, and where he would have to scratch, walk, harrow, plow and wear himself out. Then, we gave prizes in those days (I do not know whether they still give them) for the best 10 acres, the best five acres, and the best two and a half acres; and this man's four acres were better than anybody else's two and a half, so he got a $50 prize. Consequently his land yielded him eight tons of beets, vegetables for his family, furnished him a house to live in, and gave him $650 in cash. ¶

President Young tried to establish the silk industry, when I was a boy, and some of the people pooh-poohed and laughed at it They also poohpoohed and laughed at the sugar industry. I remember that every farmer I talked with said we could not afford to raise beets; that it would cost more to plant them, dig them up and take the tops off than they were actually worth. They have found out better now. A whole lot of them have discovered that it pays reasonably well to plant beets. Before I went to Japan, I priced many and many a farm in the vicinity of Lehi, and the owners had simply doubled the prices from what they were before the factory was built. I tell you that the actual increase in value of land in Utah county is more than the cost of building that factory. So, I am inclined to think it did benefit the farmer, that it was beneficial to the people as well as to the stockholder -- that is, those who became stockholders after it was started, and not some of us who got in at the commencement and "went broke" on it. ¶

I find there are many opportunities, if we will but take advantage of them, and constantly study to improve and increase the production of the soil, as well as make the best possible use of our means. I am told that much of the land in some sections of Cache valley, which was considered cf but very little value, is today very valuable, because of the creamery industry. I rejoice to hear of this increase in values because of the establishment of manufactures. I have always worn home-made clothes. (Of course, I am wearing Japanese clothes now, but they will soon be worn out, and if I stay here long enough I will be wearing Provo goods again.) I always believed in wearing them. "Why? Because a suit of clothes made at home keeps $20 to $30 at home; whereas, by sending the wool away to be made up the community would be enriched by the bringing back of 75 cents! By keeping the $30 here, if I do not get it somebody else does; and I was always of the opinion that, if it floated around, perhaps I would get even by seizing some of it. In buying home-made clothes there is part patriotism, and part a desire for my own pocket. ¶

The people of Japan are industrious. They learn to economize, because they simply have to live on very little. I believe that if the Latter-day Saints would more generally practise economy, frugality, and increase the production of the soil, there would be greater opportunities for not only the people who are here, but for many times the number. "We do not need to go to Mexico, Canada, "Wyoming or any other place, to improve our condition, as a rule. Mind you, there are exceptions, and I do not want anybody to think I am not willing to see Canada, Wyoming, Colorado and Mexico built up. I rejoice to realize that Zion is spreading. But, in spreading, let the people try to improve. Do not get so much land that you will work yourself to death, and leave your children to quarrel over it. Be satisfied with a moderate size farm-- one that you can cultivate, and make produce to ¶

the fullest extent. As I say, seeing that nation of forty or fifty millions of people being supported on practically the same amount of soil that we cultivate, it has given me the idea that there are wonderful opportunities for us in establishing other industries in addition to the sugar industry. ¶

Now, I say to the Latter-day Saints, seek for the Spirit of the Lord. Pray to God for the desire and strength to carry out, to the full extent of the ability God has given you, the counsel and instruction of the servant of God and his counselors, who stand at the head of this people. I say to you that if Wilford Woodruff had leaned upon the Latter-day Saints, and the inspiration of the Latter-day Saints as individuals, you never would have had a sugar industry in this country, at least for many years to come. The Presidency of this Church, in the days of the "boom," and just beforei the collapse, wrote circular letters and sent them all over Israel, stating that they desired this industry established. They appealed to the Latter-day Saints, from one end of Zion to the other, to invest their money in it; and men who would invest ten, twenty, thirty, fifty thousand dollars in sheep, and then go in debt in addition, would not put more than fifty or sixty dollars in this industry intended to create employment for the Latter-day Saints, and to benefit the farmers. Some rich sheep man, if you showed him a herd of sheep that was worth fifteen thousand dollars, and told him he could havje it for fourteen thousand, would go to the Deseret National bank, or the State bank, borrow the money, and take chances; but he would not borrow money to put into an industry that the man whom God had called to stand at the head of this people desired to have established. No; he would give the sixty dollars, and say he never expected to see it again, because the business would not succeed. All Israel, in the greatest industry that has yet been established here, invested the enormous amount of ten thousand dollars at the time the first payment had to be made ¶

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on that factory. Many wealthy men whom I went to, with a letter from the Presidency of the Church, asking them to help that industry-- and they were abundantly able to do it-- declined to do so, and said they did not believe the Church had any business to put money in a sugar factory, that it was not within the province of the Church to do such things. I tell you it is the duty of the Presidency of this Church to ask the people to do anything and everything that the inspiration of God tells them to do. But for the wisdom of Brigham Young, under the inspiration of Almighty God, the Latter-day Saints would not be in this country at all. We are here in fulfillment of the prediction of Josleph Smith, in which he stated that we would be driven from city to city, from county to county, and finally be driven to the Rocky Mountains and become a great and prosperous people. It has been by the inspiration of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young that the people have been planted here; and it has been through the blessings of God and His watchcare over this people, that they have been prospered. Read in the Improvement Era (I believe it is in the first volume) an article entitled "A Voice from the Soil," by Professor Widtsoe; it shows the inspiration of God to these two men. We are in one of the greatest and finest producing countries on earth; and this scientist, Professor "Widtsoe, says that this country is able to sustain the people from all nations of the 'earth, when they shall flee to Zion for safety. Let us be ready and willing to follow our file leaders, and to sustain them. I say to you that the establishment of the sugar industry here is the result of the inspiration of God to Wilford Woodruff, that meek and lowly man who was entitled to the inspiration of God, and who received it. Though business men, and others, criticised his action at the time, I have lived to see his wisdom prove superior to the critcism of the "wise" ones, and the people have been benefited and blessed. You will always be blessed and benefited in following the advice and counsel of those whom God has chosen to preside over the Church. By honoring the man God has chosen, God will honor and bless you; and as you individually do your duty, you will grow and increase in the light and inspiration of the Spirit of God. As we grow and increase individually, so will the Church grow and increase. I tell you, "obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." I am willing to be utterly ruined financially, if that resulted from fulfilling the council and wishes of those whom God has placed to preside over me. This is the work of God. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; we must remember that. We must "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," and then shall all other things be added. Life eternal is what we are working for. Do not allow the wisdom, the riches or the education of the world, or anything else, to blind our eyes to the fact that this is God's work, and that the mouthpiece of God is on the earth; when he speaks, let us be ready and willing, with our time, our talents and all that has been given us, to labor to fulfill what God desires. I tell you, God will vindicate His mouthpiece, as He vindicated Wilford Woodruff and his counselors in the establishment of the sugar industry. ¶

I forgot all about the Japanese mission, in preaching about the Lehi sugar factory. I rejoice to say we had a delightful trip to Japan; and a very pleasant trip home, except the first three days, when we were in the typhon. When we held a service, the captain paid us the compliment of coming to meeting. He had his seventieth birthday on the vessel as we were returning, and the passengers contributed a few dollars apiece, and gave it to a gentleman for the purpose of buying a very handsome silver loving cup to present to the captain, on his arrival in Seattle. I held services on the boat during the voyage, and spoke 40 or 50 minutes. The captain said he had been on the ocean from boyhood, but had seen so much hypocrisy in religion that he would never go to any ¶

of the meetings that were held on his vessel. But, it seems he learned to like us, as we went with him to Japan, and he came to meeting and listened to us; and, said he, "I declare it's pretty good sound sense that you folks talk. Tours is a pretty good practical sort of a religion, I rather like the Mormons, and will always be glad to have them travel on my boat." ¶

In Japan we have many warm friends; and we rejoice to know that our Elders are all doing very well indeed; and the two sisters there have an excellent spirit. There was a dozen of us there, and I do not believe I ever was associated with the same number of brethren and sisters, for the same length of time, whom I loved any dearer. They are very choice. Of course, they are young and inexperienced, but the Lord is blessing them, and the younger ones are learning the language very rapidly. I am well satisfied with the progress they are making. Brother Ensign, I feel, will be able to take charge of the affairs of that mission just as well as I could possibly do if I had remained. He has had missionary experience; he loves the work of the Lord, and he would be ready and willing, if need be, to give his life for the cause, and that is all any man can do. He has found it difficult to learn that language, and once or twice has been a little discouraged. I do not blame him for this. We all get discouraged at times; but if we repent of our discouragement, and labor with increased zeal, the Lord never holds anything of that kind against us, neither do our brethren. One reason perhaps why Brother Ensign got a bit discouraged at times was, I think, because he had had such an active, energetic life as a missionary in Colorado. There he was at it early and late, singing, praying and preaching, outdoors and indoors; then to go over to Japan, sit down and study what people call "that abominable language" day after day, with nothing else to do -- well, I tell you it takes a whole lot more courage and endurance than it does to get out and do active work. It tests a man more than it does to labor. It does not require much courage for a man to knock another down who hits him; but it takes a great deal of courage to take it without hitting back. It becomes monotonous to do nothing. Lots of men are first class in a fight, but of no account to guard. Brother Ensign is laboring faitheully and diligently, and the Lord is blessing him. All the Elders there love him, and he has sufficient wisdom, and enough of the Spirit of the Lord, to preside there successfully. ¶

When I received my release, I felt I could not come home; that I must stay at least six months more; and the first night, instead of being happy, as one usually is when released to return home, I felt sad, for the first and only time in Japan. I did not go to sleep until three or four o'clock in the morning, and I felt I must cable home and ask permission to remain. But the next day I got to enquiring of myself, What good is there for you to stay here? How much more can you do than Brother Ensign? And I began to realize it was a desire to be able to come home and tell you I had done something which prompted my wish to stay there longer. It was a spirit of pride; I disliked to have to tell you that I had been there 15 months and done nothing. I wanted to stay six month more, to get some results from the active labor we had done there, so that I could come home and say I had done as well as other Apostles who had gone out on missions. I concluded it was pride, and not the Spirit of the Lord, that prompted this feeling. Then, I thought I could come home and perhaps go somewhere else, if the Lord wanted me to do so; at least, I could do something more profitable than sitting down in Japan, and everything would go along all right there; perhaps I could move one stone, if not more, if I came home. The minute I got the right spirit I was wonderfully happy. Brother Kelsch was honorably released to return home, and I think it was about the same with him as with me; but, no doubt, after he thought about it one night, as I did, he was very glad to come home. You can ask him when you see him. Brother ¶

Kelsch and I, I am afraid, have got too far along in years to ever learn Japanese. I believe, as President Smith does, that the Lord will help us to do something if we try all We can to do it ourselves; but in this case the Lord would have to help Brother Grant and Brother Kelsch such a great deal, that I don't think either of us had the faith to believe He would do it. ¶

Of the four who originally went to Japan, there are left Brothers Ensign and Taylor. Brother Ensign is now the president, and he will do well. Brother Taylor has done remarkably well. The Lord has blessed him abundantly. He has studied diligently, and he is a wonderfully intelligent, bright young man. Contrary to the usual effect, when the Lord has endowed a young man with remarkable ability, instead of his head swelling, and his thinking he knows everything, he is just as humble and modest as he is bright. I have never been associated with a more diligent, energetic, faitheul young man in all my life. He is an honor to his parents, and to the work of God; and as sure as he lives, he will become an instrument in the hands of God of accomplishing a great and noble work. The five young men who went with me later have all been diligent. Some of them have found it easier to learn the language than others. They are all choice spirits and are progressing constantly. Those who have found it most difficult to learn the language have been the most abundantly blessed by our Heavenly Father. They have been diligent, and the Lord has seemed to make up to them what they lacked in learning readily. Those who have found it most difficult to talk Japanese, on several occasions, when they have been explaining the principles of the Gospel, the Lord has given them words to speak, and they have been enabled to talk beyond their knowledge of the language. We have rejoiced in this additional testimony of God's goodness unto us. The two sisters who are there have done remarkably well. My wife found it very difficult to learn the language, being more advanced in years ¶

than the other sisters. She learned it much better than I did, however; still it was a hard task for her. My daughter found it easier; and really I regretted exceedingly to come home on her account; for she was getting the missionary spirit; she was able to bear testimony, and did it humbly, and with the blessing of God. I felt that, if she could stay there a few more months, God would give her an increased testimony, and power and ability to do a remarkable labor in that land. I was sad to bring her home, because I felt she was gaining an experience, in her childhood, that would be of very great value to her. ¶

The people there were as kind and considerate of us as we could possibly ask them to be. We followed out the advice we received from the Presidency, to the best of our ability. We have published two tracts. One of them was a short tract I wrote, containing a little information about the Church, which has been re-published in the "Era." The other was a tract written entirely by Brother Taylor, on God. He did not attempt to write on the Godhead, for fear of confusing that people. It is a very able tract. He first wrote one that would have been very satisfactory in any land where the people understood English; but it struck me that it would be too deep, and far beyond what the Japanese could understand; so I handed it to him and said, Brother Taylor, I wish you would ask the Lord to help you write this in a kind of second reader style. He wrote it again, and simplified it; and, if you had not known the same man had written the two tracts, you could hardly have believed it. It delighted us all, and we praised the Lord for the ability He had given Brother Taylor to write this tract; we feel it will do great good. The people there are wonderfully interested In learning English. At one time there were ten young men who wanted to be baptized. We told them not to be in a hurry, but to come around and see us occasionally, and we would talk with them, and after awhile, when they un- ¶

derstood the Gospel better, we would baptize them. Just as soon, however, as Brother Taylor and .others of the brethren got far enough along that when they would come there and talk English, the brethren would talk back in Japanese they commenced dropping off one by one. Nearly all our converts are of that kind. They love us very dearly, they know we have the truth, and they want to be baptized right away; but when we quit talking English to them they lose their love of the Gospel. It was very amusing to me to have an intelligent, bright Japanese sit down and talk a whole evening with Brother Taylor, determined to talk English and never a word of Japanese, and Brother Taylor, just as determined, to never say a word of English, speaking to him in Japanese. ¶

We have baptized only three people so far, and two of them I am afraid, are no good. The other one, I believe, is a converted man and a Latter-day Saint. The two who were baptized first were quite promising, and, when I came home before, I reported how good we felt over these two men. One of them could speak English, and had read the Bible. Oh! he believed it all --ready to give his life for it. I found out afterwards that he wanted to borrow some money from me to start a patent medicine establishment. The other man, a Shinto priest, I tried to persuade to wait awhile before being baptised, but he said he believed every word. I took Brother Kelsch's "Ready References," and went over it with him, through an interpreter, reference by reference, and he swallowed every one of them. Inside of a week after I first left Japan, he wanted some money from the brethren, and as soon as I got back there he wanted fifteen hundred dollars from me to start a job printing office, and when he didn't get it, his faith oozed out. The last convert just "went for us" in the beginning. He had been taught English by a Christian minister, and he knew all the arguments of our Christian friends. He used to come regularly and have battles with Brother Taylor, and Brother Taylor beat him ¶

every time, until it began to dawn on his mind that we must have the truth, seeing that everything he advanced was overcome. He commenced studying our faith, and read the Book of Mormon. He was finally baptized, and has been true ever since, and we hope he will continue so. ¶

Now, I have not half told my story; but the time is past. God bless you. Amen. ¶