Before the adjournment of this meeting

Before the adjournment of this meeting I would like to present to the Conference one or two items which I desire to get an expression upon from them prior to the presentation of the officers of the Church, this afternoon. ¶

Joseph F. Smith, Jr., Sustained as Member Church Board of Education

I need not announce here that a vacancy was caused in the General ¶

Board of Education of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the death of President Francis M. Lyman. Joseph F. Smith, Jr., has been suggested to fill the vacancy in that Board, caused by the death of President Lyman. I would like an expression of the Saints present at this conference as to whether they approve of the choice or not. All who are in favor will please signify it by the uplifted hand. If there are any opposed they may signify it by the same sign. I see no opposition. ¶

Elder Richard R. Lyman Chosen to Fill the Vacancy in the Council of Twelve

It has been brought again to our remembrance that there is a vacancy in the Council of the Twelve Apostles, which should be filled at this conference. We have to offer to you the name of Richard R. Lyman, a son of President Francis M. Lyman, to fill the vacancy in the Council of the Twelve. All who are in favor of this choice as indicated by the Spirit of the Lord to his servants, will manifest it by raising their right hand. If there be any opposed they may manifest it by the same sign. [The vote was unanimous.] ¶

The Tithing Used for All Legitimate Causes Pertaining to the Building Up of Zion

We feel, as the Trustee-in-Trust and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as the Presiding Council over all the Church — the First Presidency, in connection with the Council of the Twelve Apostles and the Presiding Bishopric, at liberty to use the tithings of the Latter-day Saints in all legitimate causes pertaining to the building up of Zion. You are aware that our special duty and obligation is to build up Zion in the latter days. This includes the building and maintenance of temples, in which the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ are performed and administered for the living and for the dead. It is our duty to assist the poor and the needy. It is our duty to build places of worship for the Latter-day Saints, using such portion of the tithings of the people that come into our hands as we can use agreeable to the amount we have to use for the accomplishment of these purposes. We may use the tithing of the people for the building up of settlements — to assist our people when they attempt to make new settlements, to reclaim the desert and to procure water for irrigation purposes, and in this matter the Church has been somewhat liberal. ¶

It is our duty also to maintain schools and seminaries throughout the length and breadth of Zion, where our children who are in the district schools where no religion is permitted to be taught, may have the privilege of being instructed in connection with the secular learning that is given to them, those principles which are necessary for their faith and for their establishment in the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is our duty to use the means that are committed into our hands for the assistance of the missions that are appointed and established throughout the nations of the world, and in many other ways legitimately for the building up of Zion and for the spread of the truth, ¶

the proclamation of the gospel, the maintenance of the authorities of the priesthood, whose time and talent are devoted exclusively to the ministry, that they may be fed, not luxuriantly, not superabundantly but in sufficient measure that they may not suffer for the necessaries of life. Part of our means is distributed to assist the bishops in the arduous duties that they have to perform, for services that are necessary in keeping' the records of the Church, of the tithing and of other records necessary to be kept. All these things we esteem as legitimate and proper within the sphere of our authority and we do not, under such circumstances, publicly ask for approval of the Church at large for sanction in the discharge of our duties in this regard. ¶

Special Appropriation for the Purchase of Liberty Bonds

But when we go apparently outside of these well known and beaten paths to use the means of the people of the Church, we feel that it is our duty to present the cause to them and obtain their sanction and approval for the use of the means that we may think wise to put it to. ¶

You are well aware that at our late conference, by the voice of the conference and their approval we used $250,000 of the Church tithings for the purchase of Liberty bonds, thus placing that amount of means in the hands of our Government for the defense of liberty and of freedom that we enjoy to worship God according to the dictates of our own consciences. ¶

Now, I have a similar proposal to make to this conference this morning, that we offer again, or at least ¶

appropriate the same amount for the purchase of more of the bonds of the United States. I submit it to you and I ask that those who are in favor may signify it by the unlifted hand, and if there is anybody opposed to this, who has a right to have a voice in the use of the means that he contributes to the Church, let him manifest it by the same sign. [Out of the 10,000 persons present there was not a single negative vote.] I believe that the vote is unanimous. ¶

An Authoritative Declaration

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is no partisan Church. It is not a sect. It is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the only one today existing in the world that can and does legitimately bear the name of Jesus Christ and his divine authority. I make this declaration in all simplicity and honesty before you and before all the world, bitter as the truth may seem to those who are opposed and who have no reason for that opposition. It is nevertheless true and will remain true until He who has a right to rule among the nations of the earth and among the individual children of God throughout the world shall come and take the reins of government and receive the bride that shall be prepared for the coming of the Bridegroom. ¶

Many of our great writers have recently been querying and wondering where the divine authority exists today to command in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, so that it will be in effect and acceptable at the throne of the Eternal Father. I ¶

will announce here and now, presumptuous as it may seem to be to those who know not the truth, that the divine authority of Almighty God, to speak in the name of the Father and of the Son, is here in the midst of these everlasting hills, in the midst of this intermountain region, and it will abide and will continue, for God is its source and God is the power by which it has been maintained against all opposition in the world up to the present, and by which it will continue to progress and grow and increase on the earth until it shall cover the earth from sea to sea. This is my testimony to you, my brethren and sisters, and I have a fulness of joy and of satisfaction in being able to declare this without regard to or fear of all the adversaries of the truth. ¶

The choir and congregation sang : "O ye mountains high." ¶

Prayer was offered by Elder Heber Q. Hale, President of the Boise, Idaho, stake of Zion, and conference adjourned until 2 o'clock p. m. ¶

At 2 o'clock the conference was called to order by President Joseph F. Smith, who presided. ¶

The choir and congregation sang the hymn : "High on the mountain top." ¶

The prayer was offered by President Adolph Merz, of the North Sanpete stake of Zion. ¶

"Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah," was sung by the choir and congregation. ¶