Sunday Desecration Denounced

I am always pleased when I have the opportunity of meeting with the Latter-day Saints in any of their gatherings. I never attend any of our meetings, in the wards or stakes or at the general conferences, that I am not blessed, instructed and encouraged in the faith of the Gospel ; that I do not hear something that in very deed feeds me the bread of life. I have been pleased and grateful to be present at our conference meetings thus far. ¶

It is said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. My heart has been set for many years firmly and steadfastly upon the accomplishment of certain results in our fair state. One result which I would like to see accomplished is the doing away with amusements upon the Sabbath day. I feel that it is a reproach to the Latterday Saints that we should have amusements in our towns and cities on the day of the Lord. As the years come and go, and young men and young women go to their ruin because of losing their respect for the Sabbath, and the sacredness of ' the day, I 'feel that the men who have sat in the legislature, and who have failed to protect us against this evil, will have much to answer for. ¶

If the whole of Utah should go "dry!" it would be the one great thing above all others, to my mind, which would be beneficial to this fair state of ours, and would add more to the health and longevity of its people, and would cause a more wonderful increase for good in the excellent vital statistics which we heard read here today, than anything I can possibly think of. I believe absolutely in the prohibition of the manufacture and the sale of liquor, and I hope and pray, with all the energy with which God has endowed me, that this great blessing for the uplift and for the betterment of the people of our fair state may come to us at no far distant day. ¶

A few months ago it fell to my lot to have the privilege of attending some of the meetings of a very wonderful convention of a number of organizations which are engaged in the fight against liquor. These were ¶

the meetings Of the Anti-Saloon League, and other temperance organizations, at Columbus, Ohio. The meetings of the convention lasted for several days, sessions being held morning, noon and night. It was to me a very inspiring sight to witness the enthusiasm, the earnestness and the determination, as manifested by the assembled multitude, running into the thousands, who attended those gatherings. I listened with a great deal of pleasure to nearly all of the very many inspiring speeches which were made upon that occasion. ¶

Since coming into the meeting this afternoon, I have been glancing over one of those speeches to mark a few passages to read to you, and I find myself almost at a loss to pick out which passages I would like to read. To be perfectly frank with you, I would like to read the entire speech, as it is such a splendid one, but time will not permit. The speech was made by ExGovernor J. Frank Hanly, who for many years was the governor of Indiana. He says, in part, referring to the fight for a constitutional amendment : ¶

"It is not partisan, it is civic. It is not sectarian, it is catholic. It is not sectional, it is national.* * It has been said that the things we seek — an amendment to the national constitution prohibiting throughout the United States the manufacture, sale, importation, exportation and transportation of intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage — is contrary to the genius and the spirit of our government, as the constitution gives only limited powers to the national government. * * This I deny. I believe in the federal constitution, believe in it profoundly.* * * Five times I have solemnly sworn to preserve, protect and defend it, and I would not change in the slightest measure a single one of its great fundamental provisions.* * * First. Its representative or Republican character. Second. Its trinity of departments with their co-ordinate and independent powers. Third. Its dual form, or system of separate sovereign states within a sovereign whole. Fourth. The authority of the judiciary to interpret the constitution and decide the constitutionality of laws, state and national." ¶

"Henceforth we will know this cause only. For it, whenever necessary, men shall be set aside and parties abandoned. * * * Slavery had become a national evil, too vast and powerful for state control, affecting the nation as a whole and imperiling the life of the government itself, and the nation struck it down, writing its epitaph in the blood" of a hundred tragic battle fields. As it was with slavery before the adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution, so it is now with the liquor traffic. It has outgrown state boundaries and become a national evil amounting to a menace, too powerful for state regulation or control, affecting the nation as a whole and requiring national jurisdiction and treatment. It accomplishes by insidious means what slavery sought in the open, doing by corruption and shameless misuse of wealth all slavery sought by force of arms. It beggars the individual, burdens the state and impoverishes the nation. It capitalizes human weakness and commercializes human vice. It impairs the public health, breaks the public peace and debauches the public morals. _ It makes cowards of public men, intimidating political parties, bribes, badgers and dominates the makers, interpreters and administrators of the law, and suborns the public press. It claims for itself a special right and privilege asserted by no other interest in all the land — the right and privilege to violate municipal ordinances at will, to infract legislative resolves and enactments, and to set aside the most solemn and sacred provisions of constitutions framed and adopted bv free peoples." ¶

With the intelligence with which God has endowed me, I believe, beyond the peradventure of a doubt. ¶

that more evil, suffering and crime has come into the world by the use of intoxicating liquors, and more misery has been brought into homes of the people, many, many times over, than was ever caused by slavery. I believe that the greatest financial, the greatest moral problem that is before the people of the United States today is this liquor problem. I regret exceedingly that the first state-wide "white" spot upon the map of the United States was not made by the State of Utah. However, I rejoice in knowing that in every town, in every county, when the matter of local option came up at the election a couple of years ago, that where the Latterday Saints were in the majority, with the exception of one town, liquor had to go. I rejoice in this record made. I rejoice in knowing that today the majority of all the people in the United States are living in "dry" territory. There are ninety-one millions of people in the United States, and fortysix millions — one million more than half are living in "dry" territory. Of the area of the United States there are two million nine hundred and seventy-three thousand square miles, and two million one hundred and thirty-two thousand square miles are in "dry" territory and only a little over eight hundred thousand in "wet" territory. The battle is on and I feel assured that it will be won. Why? Because I am convinced beyond a doubt that our fight is right, and right is bound to prevail. I agree with Governor Hanly that we, who are converted to the benefits of prohibition, shall dedicate ourselves to this cause ; shall labor for it; shall pledge our honor, and also pledge our means to accomplish it. I endorse William Jennings Bryan's words: ¶

"A Christianity that does not make a man a better citizen would be difficult to defend. I shall not attempt to lay down rules to cover every phase of the liquor question that must be met by legislation, but I will venture to suggest a principle that is universale its application and that cannot be ignored at any time, at any^ place or under any circumstances, viz.: That the liquor question is a moral question which must be dealt with as a question of conscience and not as a question of profit." ¶

I have heard Latter-day Saints say that we need the saloon to help pay our taxes. God pity the men whose consciences have become so elastic. President Smith says, "They are 'Mormons,' not Latter-day Saints." ¶

Quoting again from Secretary Bryan : ¶

"Whatever decision one reaches as to the position he should take on any legislative phase of the liquor question he must be able to defend it before the bar of his conscience. No advantage that he could secure in business, no money that he can take out of his decision, directly or indirectly, and no advantage that he can secure for his party can be allowed to weigh in the balance. Any unit, however small or large, should be permitted to rid itself of the saloon or place restrictions upon the sale of liquor, according to the will of the majority." ¶

And I believe, beyond the peradventure of a doubt, that a majority of the citizens of the State of Utah is, has always been, and always will be, as long as the Latter-day Saints are in the majority, against liquor. Therefore, I claim, let us have a state wide vote and we will have prohibition; because then the men who are trafficking and dealing in ¶

this damnable stuff in our cities will no longer control our majority. We are citizens of the United States where the majority should rule, and all we ask is a fair battle and we are sure to win because we are right. ¶

I rejoice in knowing that the Church of Jesus Christ df Latterday Saints has taken a positive stand on the liquor question. I rejoice in knowing that the Lord, Himself, has given us a revelation, and that every Latter-day Saint in his daily life, in his walk, in his conversation, if he lives up to the commandments of God, is in very deed not only a prohibitionist so far as liquor is concerned, but every true Latter-day Saint who does not violate his conscience, who does not fail to live according to the commandments of God, not only leaves liquor alone, but he also leaves alone tobacco, tea and coffee. I rejoice in knowing that the Church, as a Church, has set up for us a shining standard, and that the very best of us, those who live for the highest ideals possible, can only hope to come somewhere near the standard set up by the Church. ¶

I thank the Lord that out of over six thousand men who are today representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — two thousand as missionaries in the world and over four thousand as general authorities of the Church, — as presidents of stakes and counselors, stake clerks, high counselors and alternates, bishops and bishops' counselors — over six thousand men — standing as promulgators of the Gospel at home and abroad, — no one of them is ever put in office or sent on a mission who is not pledged upon his honor to obey the "Word of Wisdom.' The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as I say, has a standard, and it behooves each and every one of us to live up to that standard. May God help us to do so is my prayer, and I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶