Economy and thrift, and a conservation of material

The burden of the message to the Latter-day Saints during this conference has been a heart-felt admonition to keep the commandments of God, to live .in harmony with his priesthood. I wish in my soul that every man, woman and child in the Church might have heard those appeals from the servants of God to Israel to keep his commandments. There is one commandment which I feel impressed to read this afternoon : ¶

"And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes, which are organized, and they teach them not to understand the doctrines of repentance, faith in Christ, the Son of the living God, and in baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents, for this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized." ¶

We have heard, during the last year, a great deal about the necessity of conservation. We have been admonished from pulpits and by the press to conserve our resources, and in a measure the people have responded nobly to that appeal. On every hand you can see evidences of the desire on the part of the people to conserve the products of the earth, and to utilize them for the blessing of the people who are in distress. There is more care taken on the farm to reap the harvest with which God has blessed the people ; there is more thought given in the kitchen, and the food stuff is being conserved and more economically used, perhaps, than ever before ; and yet economy and thrift are fundamentals in the social organization and in the teachings of this Church. But the war has brought the necessity of it home to us, as nothing else perhaps in the world has done. ¶

At noon today some of us saw a ¶

wonderful display of the result of one phase of this conservation and service. I refer to the exhibit which the General Board of Primary Associations has on display in the Bishop's building. Hundreds of useful products — the result of diligence on the part of your little boys and girls — made out of old clothes, discarded suits, and other material, are now placed in the hands of the General Board to be sent to the Red Cross Association, for the benefit and relief of the soldiers at the front. I approve of it as a most commendable example of what may be accomplished by organized, and well-directed effort. ¶

This conservation and care is in keeping with the example which Jesus gave his disciples. You remember on one occasion he fed the multitude and commanded them to sit on the grass, and with five barley loaves and two fishes fed the five thousand, after which he said, now "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing may be lost." ¶

All this conservation of material things, I say, is most commendable and pleasing to God, but the greatest conservation that mankind can engage in is the conservation of youth, the conservation of manhood and the protection of womanhood. I appeal to the Latter-day Saints today to give more thought to the protection, to the consideration, of the dearest possession you have — your sons and daughters. The day after Christ gave the lesson of economy in taking care of things of the earth, he said to some of the same multitude who gathered around him in Capernaum : "Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye ate of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth. ¶

but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you." And they said, "What is that?'" in substance, "Master, where shall we get this?" And he said, "This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Faith in Christ is one of the principles which we should teach our boys and girls. The Prophet Joseph Smith,through revelation, received the admonition, and he has given it to the world, and it is now a standing law in the stakes, that it is the duty of fathers and mothers to teach the principles of life and salvation, based upon the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to their children, and those who do not have the responsibility placed upon their shoulders. ¶

Oh, I praise God for the instructions he has given his people regarding the sacredness, the sanctity, and permanence of the family relationship. Let us impress these instructions upon our children. First let us teach them that the proper place to begin the family relationship is in the House of God, kneeling at his sacred altar worthily. This means that the young man is just as pure and sweet in his life, and that he has been during his teens and early manhood, as she whose hand he holds in his, and who gives to him a life of purity and virtue, worthy of motherhood, worthy of one who in the holy office of motherhood joins with the Creator in bringing to the earth eternal souls. We are not conserving that which will perish in time when we protect and guide eternal spirits from God. "The stars may fade away," the poet says, "the sun himself grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, but man shall flourish in immortal youth, unhurt amidst the war of elements, the wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds." ¶

The little babe comes to the home as an eternal part of it, when the father and the mother plight each other's troth, for time and all eternity. Let us teach the youth, then, that the marriage relation is one of the most sacred obligations known to man, or that man can make. Teach them that the family is the first institution ordained of God, and instituted among men. If every couple sensed the sacredness of this obligation, there would be fewer homes broken up by disagreements that lead to divorces. The safety, the perpetuity of our government, or of any republican form of government, depends upon the safety and permanency of the home. Herein we get a glimpse of one thing in which this people may be the saviors, in a way, of this great nation. The home is the place where the perpetuation of the principles of liberty as well as the instructions in the Gospel of Jesus Christ should be given to the children. When the home breaks up. then begin the children to wander off into sin. Then the law must reach out to bring them back and try to teach them some principles of service, and principles of true government; but oh, how helpless, how helpless the state, when the home has failed ! ¶

I have here,, through the kind- ' ness of a state parole officers, a report of some of these unfortunate boys and girls whose lives have not been conserved properly, and it is instructive to note the causes of the delinquency found among them. They are not naturally bad. I believe that boys and girls are not naturally wicked. We are prone to ¶

do evil, it is true, but we are also prone to do right, and the children of Latter-day Saints are entitled to that proneness to do right even more than any other children in the world, particularly if the parents have radiated in the home, from babyhood and through childhood and manhood, the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as the revelation here requires. ¶

In our Industrial School, in the month of November, 1910, there were enrolled 110 boys. Sixty per cent of those boys came from broken homes, 7 per cent of that 60 per cent came from homes where parents were divorced ; 18 per cent, where the fathers were dead ; 10 per cent, where the mothers were dead ; 7 per cent, where both parents were dead ; 8 per cent, of the children deserted by one or both of the parents. Of the remaining 40 per cent of boys, home conditions were blasted by the use of liquor as follows : fathers addicted to the use of liquor, 22 per cent ; mothers addicted, 4 per cent. ¶

The inspiration of God is seen in requiring the Latter-day Saints to keep their homes intact, and to teach their children the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I do not mean by that that we should make such teaching formal or in any way distasteful. I mean that the gospel of Jesus Christ should radiate in every home ; that the prayer night and morning should be offered up in sincerity ; that the children daily would realize that we desire in our home the presence of God. If we can invite the Savior there, we may know that the angels will be not only willing but eager to protect our boys and girls. I believe that in most homes boys and girls are taught to pray ¶

before retiring for the night. I believe, however, that, too generally, the morning prayers are neglected. When we come to think of it, though, it is during the waking hours that our boys and girls need the protection of God, and the guidance of his Holy Spirit, more even than when they are asleep. The dangers surrounding our boys and girls today are the dangers that come to them out in society, out in the. darkness of the night, when they are away from the parental influence. I plead with the parents of the Church to know where your boys and girls are at night, between the hour of sunset and the hour of retiring. I plead with you to know where they are during the day. Keep your minds upon them. Let your thoughts go with them. Labor not so much for that which will perish, but for that which endures eternally, for the lives which God has given you to protect in this world; that the sin of their failing, the sin of their degradation, it maybe, may not rest upon your shoulders. ¶

Homes are made permanent through love. Oh, then, let love abound. If you feel that you have not the love of those little boys and girls, study to get it. Though you neglect some of the cattle, though you fail to produce good crops, even, study to hold your children's love. Loyalty is another element of the permanent home. The loyalty you afterwards want them to show to the Priesthood of God should be manifest in the home — love, loyalty, virtue. Cherish these principles, as you cherish and treasure your life. Set children the proper example. It is folly to tell a boy not to smoke, when you take your pipe out of your own mouth to tell ¶

him. Latter-day Saints, let us keep the commandments of God. Let us try to teach the children those commandments. The auxiliary associations are doing much to help us. The Church in all its organizations is putting forth an effort to make ideal men in ideal communities ; but after all, the responsibility of making those ideal men, those ideal boys and girls, rests with the parents, and next with the older brothers and sisters. The responsibility is with the family, God's unit in the social fabric of humanity. We shall never get away from it. ¶

In speaking of the necessity of guiding youth and conserving their strength, I wish to commend most highly the closing admonition of President Grant, when he referred to the appeal that is being made to the people here in the west, to send tobacco to our soldier boys. The nation today needs manhood, and any appeal or action which will tend to deteriorate manhood must be looked upon as unpatriotic. The nation today has appointed medical men everywhere to test the physical strength and mental strength of your sons and brothers, before they are entitled to enter the army. Tobacco, the cigarette particularly, is a menace to manhood. It undermines manhood. It weakens the body. It unnerves men, where they need to have steady nerves. God forbid that our boys who have enlisted in one of the noblest causes that ever a nation sought to serve, may ever have it reported truthfully of them that any of them were unfit to serve their country because of their indulgence in these pernicious habits, or indulgence in passion. God forbid that it can ever be said truthfully of our boys who are going to the front, as it has been reported of men in the battle line now that one-third of them have been made unfit for service because they have been untrue to the ideals of life ! Such an accusation surely can never be made truthfully of a Latter-day Saint soldier. I have faith in our boys, because most of them are going out from homes radiating the principles of life and salvation. Boys who hitherto have been somewhat indifferent before they enlisted have said, "Father, I am going to get a blessing from the Patriarch," thus filling the father's heart with joy, for he knew that in that blessing the admonition would be renewed for him to conserve his manhood by keeping the words of wisdom, and by keeping his body unstained by grosser evils. Why, isn't it folly, when you think of it, for men to be starting a campaign to send out tobacco to our soldiers, when in 1900, the nation of Japan passed a law prohibiting the use of tobacco among the young people, principally because America had proved its injurious effects upon youth? Why did the parliament at Tokio pass such a law and send it as a decree from the emperor ? Because about twelve years preceding that, Professor Seaner of Yale University had made some interesting examinations among his students. He had measured their height when they came; he had measured their chest girth, and taken their weight. He asked their age, and found out, best of all, how many of them used tobacco, and how many did not. Then he watched their development, and after nine years he published the results. In the first place he learned that the smokers were about fifteen months older than the non-smokers. Second, notwithstanding that older age, ¶

the average height of the non-smokers was about one-third of an inch more than the smokers. Then at the end of nine years he tabulated the following, based upon his observations among three classes : ( 1 ) The smokers who had smoked one year or more, (2) those who had smoked irregularly, and (3) those who had not used tobacco. In weight, those who had not used tobacco were 10.4 per cent more than those who had used it a year or more ; 6.6 per cent more than those who had used it irregularly ; in height, the non-smokers had gained 24 per cent over those who smoked one year or more; 11 per cent over those who smoked irregularly. In girth, 26.7 per cent more than those who smoked a year or more ; 22 per cent more than those who smoked irregularly. The lung capacity, 77 per cent increase over those who smoked a year or more ; 49 per cent over those who smoked irregularly. Such were the physical gains. In intellectual gain he discovered that out of every one hundred of the students who had stood at the head of their classes, only five were smokers, ninety-five, non-smokers, although 60 out of every hundred used tobacco. That is in keeping with the tests made in Harvard, where the examination of the records for fifty years proved that during those fifty years, not one smoker had stood at the head of his class, although 83 per cent of the boys who entered Harvard were indulging in the use of tobacco. Eighty-three per cent in the smoking group, and 17 per cent in the non-smoking group, and during that fifty years the heads of the classes were chosen from the 17 per cent group. ¶

Such facts were sufficient to influence the members of the Parliament of Japan to pass a law, in March, 1900, to be effective April 1, 1900, as follows: "The smoking of tobacco by minors under the age of twenty is prohibited." ¶

One of the gentlemen, speaking to this bill, said : "I wanted to keep silence, but as I heard the gentleman speaking against this bill, I felt I must say a few words in its favor. I heard from an American gentleman that in his country a large number of volunteers for the army service were rejected on account of the weakness of their hearts, and the chief reason assigned for this defect was their habitual use of tobacco. I do not need to say any more from the educational standpoint, but if our youths are to become unfit for military service by the use of tobacco, it is alarming. By all means, let us stop the use of tobacco by young persons." ¶

Now, some are asking us to send out to our soldiers, who need their strength, who need their nerve, who need their intelligence, as they have never needed it before, that which is going to sap their manhood and undermine their strength. I tell you it is not patriotic. Our nation needs men, true men, who will stand and fight for the glorious principles of liberty for which this nation stands. ¶

God help us to conserve the powers of our boys and girls. God help us to implant in their hearts the principles of life and salvation. May they have an undying testimony of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is true. I know that the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ are the principles of eternal life. I bear you my testimony that the men who have stood at the head of this Church have ¶

been prophets of God; that Joseph F. Smith is a prophet of God ; that his counselors are* inspired, ,and that the unity among the authorities of the Church today, so far as I know, through reading and hearing the testimony of older men, is superior to what it has ever been in the history of the Church. I believe that this oneness is characteristic of the Priesthood. I love these presidents of stakes here, who preside over the Saints. They are one for the truth, and they would give their lives for it. God help us to instil into the hearts of the young that same desire, and to keep our girls free and unspotted from the association of men who have worse than murder in their hearts, and who would deprive those girls and those boys of the ideals of purity of "Mormonism," in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

A sacred solo, "Ever safe with God," was sung by James Moncarr. ¶