A month ago I was traveling in the

A month ago I was traveling in the green hills of New England. As I rode through that great country I was deeply interested and impressed with the historical scenes and with the points of much interest, to every American. ¶

A Visit to the East

I remembered, as I traveled around near Boston, something of the history of the settlement of that country. I recalled that about three hundred years ago the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, driven there by persecutions, and by intolerance, which they found to exist in the old world. I remembered with what hardship and self-sacrifice they had planted themselves in that part which is now the old part of the new world. There was recalled vividly to my mind and imagination, some of the circumstances attendant upon the colonization of this new world by those who came here to find liberty and freedom. I had the opportunity of passing over the ground that was traversed, not only by the early Pilgrim fathers, but by those who were instrumental in initiating this great government that now prevails among the states of the Union. I stood upon Lexington Green where, I knew, more than a century arid a half ago, those Minute Men had stood to defend their rights and to give their lives for the principles of liberty and freedom, which they regarded as so important and so dear to them and to their people. As I stood upon this historic spot I thought something of the conditions which then prevailed as contrasted with the conditions which now prevail. ¶

Momentous Problems Before the Nation

I was in attendance upon the sessions of the American Bar Association in Boston, when there were called to the attention of those present, many of the important problems which now confront the people. Men of prominence, men who have given themselves over to thought and study, admitted the perplexity of the situation. They confessed that the very foundations of civilization were threatened. They were willing to admit that the problems now confronting the nation and • the people were well-nigh beyond the power and wisdom of men to solve. ¶

While I was in the New England states the people of Boston were confronted with one of the most, if not the most, sorry spectacle that has arisen in this nation during its history. During that period the men who were sworn to enforce the law in that great American city went on strike, disregarding their oaths of office. They refused to serve, and they turned the city over to the whims .and caprices and outrages of mobs and mob violence. The commonwealth of Massachusetts, which has been the very cradle of American liberty, from which have come many of the best parts of the Constitution, many of the best laws that have been formulated, was disgraced by this outrage and by this failure of men to adhere to their oaths, to keep their covenants and to enforce the law. Everywhere men who studied public conditions were disturbed. The honorable Elihu Root, speaking with reference to this occasion, said in substance, that it betokened a departure from American institutions and from the observance of law, that threatened the very foundations of our civilization. Other men of prominence and of national repute considered it in like manner. ¶

Before I had reached New York City I learned, as we all know, that great forces were there on strike, and as I came back through the big cities of the country, having occasion to visit manufacturing and other institutions, I learned that the whole business world was upset, disturbed, unable with any degree of certainty whatever to predict as to the future, and wholly without any feeling of security as to that which might transpire. I recall going into one manufacturing establishment, consulting with the president of the company, and hearing him say that within the past six months his institution had been affected, directly or indirectly, by more than twenty-four strikes. It is needless to attempt to point out more of such difficulties and problems which confront the people. ¶

How Shall We Solve These Problems?

We have passed through a great war; we have met the problems and the difficulties of that war, but I venture that any thoughtful man will be willing to admit that the problems which confront our people, after the war, are equally serious and important to those which came to us during the war. How are we going to meet these situations? What are we going to do here in America — this chosen land, of which you have heard many things said during the sessions of this conference? How are we going to preserve this land for the pure in heart? How may it be maintained as the land of Zion? How will it be possible that it shall live to its traditions and that it shall preserve the high principles of liberty and justice and equity upon which it has been founded ? These are among the questions that give us concern at this hour. Not only do they concern us as citizens of this great country, but they concern the whole world, because the whole world has come to look to this land, to foster the spirit of liberty and the principles and the cause which underly freedom and liberty among humanity. ¶

Reasons for Turmoil, Disloyalty and Unrest

As we give consideration to these great questions we are forced, I think, to confess that the great statesmen of the world have not been able to find the remedies and have not been able to solve the problems. I believe that the conditions which we see prevalent in the country today are a natural and logical outgrowth of much that has prevailed in our systems of education, in our systems of ethics, and in the very manner in which the affairs of this country have, from time to time, been carried on. Throughout the past half century at least, our educational processes have been largely, if not entirely "devoid of anything pertaining to the divine, of anything pertaining to the spiritual, or anything pertaining to the truely religious. There has been a studied effort on the part of those who have controlled the educational systems of the day, to avoid even the appearance of religion in any way, shape or form. I take it that there has come, as a natural consequence, from that kind of education, a total disregard for the religious in man's life. There has come an absolute disregard and disrespect for things divine. God has been left out of consideration; the methods of men alone have prevailed, and everywhere and under all conditions the things that have pertained to this world, the things that have pertained to our temporal life have been made paramount and have predominated over the things that have pertained to our souls and the welfare of our souls. In our politics, — I speak not of one party but of all of the great parties, there has grown up such a partisanship, such a bias, such a hatred, between those who espouse different causes, that things have been said, campaigns have been conducted in such a way and manner as to do away with, rather than to foster, the true spirit of national patriotism. Men and women who have belonged to political parties have been led to think that the great thing to be accomplished, the great end to be achieved, is the dominance of their own ideas, is the success of their own party, rather than the great welfare and common good of all. Indeed so much of antagonism, so much of bias and envy and hatred have been engendered that I am one of those who believe that this has been largely responsible for some of the great national crimes. There has come to be a total disregard for those in authority. There has grown up a disrespect for law, that, in my judgment, has been the consequence of the kind of education, political and otherwise, that our people in this country have had. ¶

We as a people believe in honoring and sustaining the law. We recognize the absolute necessity of upholding the fundamental laws of our land if progress, if advancement, if the integrity of the nation itself are to be maintained. The evils of which society now most complains are the evils that result from the failure on the part of men to consider that they have any obligation to the law. They are a law unto themselves, as, was pointed out by Brother McKay. Their covenants, their compacts, their contracts are worthless. They keep them only when it is expedient to keep them. They subserve only their selfish interests. They have not been taught the fundamental necessity of obedience, to preserve not only the law of God, but the law of men. They have not been taught respect for person or property ; and such respect as has been yielded, in many cases, has only been the respect that has been enforced by external processes. There can never be a great citizenship that comes from the mere force, external force of law. You cannot superimpose the duties of citizenship in order to make a great people. The obligations of citizenship, the love of country and patriotism must come from within and not be imposed from without. Therefore, as I see it, the great need of the hour is the need for systematic training for men and women and children in the fundamental obligations of citizenship and the fundamental obligations that pertain to their life in this world. The great questions — Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? have been left out of consideration in our educational processes. It has not made any difference who we were, where we came from, or where we are going. Our education has been a commercialized one. We have thought to stimulate the industrial, the financial, and to gain prestige from, a worldly standpoint. While, thank the Lord, there has remained in this great land, something of the spirit of the fathers, something of the great love of liberty, unfortunately there has not been sufficient of it to curtail the selfishness, the mercenary and the ulterior motives. of a great part of this country. Therefore upon this fundamental basis I deplore the organization and the maintenance of any society, of any class, of any fraternity, of any union of people that in anyway can be construed to be against the interests of all the people and the common good. For my own part the Church is my union, the Church is my club, the Church is my lodge; the Church is my fraternity ; and I want to say to every man that there is within the Church an opportunity for the expression of every legitimate desire that should be in the heart of man. While it may be considered proper for men to organize themselves into clubs and unions and fraternities of one kind and another in order to advance their own selfish interests, I feel constrained to say that in time to come it will prove inimical to the government, and in. time to come these self-same selfish interests will be against each other. The only way in which a great cause can stand and prevail and persist is that all its adherents shall have an unselfish, altruistic motive in seeking to render service to all and for all. Truth, the great principles of the gospel, the bestowal of the Priesthood itself, teach us that we must serve all and love all, if we shall succeed in God's work. ¶

Seek No Alliance With Any Union That Does Not Urge the Common Good of All

My brethren and sisters, I believe that it is a proper time to warn our people against the dangers that lie ahead, from associating themselves with any institution that does not make for the common good of humanity. I concur with my brethren that there are many institutions in the world that do make for the uplift and the advancement of mankind; I believe that many of our Father's children who are without the pale of the Church, are instrumental in carrying on his work. I cannot but think that he has let his Spirit rest upon good men, the world over, to advance the cause of Truth. It seems to me that it must be so. We, I believe, should unite with and foster every good ' movement, every good cause, everything that tends to advance the interests of the gospel and of truth in the world ; but I think that we should preserve ourselves safe, inviolate, compact against incursions of all kinds, of influences of all kinds of organizations that in any way will tend to disrupt us. If we all hang together we will be safe. If we all espouse the one cause, if we are all devoted to it, we will make that cause felt in the world. And the only way that we can all adhere uniformly to the great cause of truth is to all keep the commandments of God and to follow the leadership that has been placed over us. ¶

We have been criticized as being a people who act with such unanimity that we are mere puppets, that we do not think for ourselves, that we do not act upon our own initiative and that we are not guided by our own wisdom. That criticism is wholly without justification. We follow the leadership that God has placed over us, because we know that it is right, because we know that it is safe, because we know that the leadership of men, in man's own wisdom, is not safe and cannot be trusted, and that we cannot repose our confidence in the wisdom of men. ¶

Let Latter-day Saints Follow Their Leadership

I call upon the people of this Church to follow the leadership of these men who have been set to preside over them, in their wards and in their stakes. I know that you will not go wrong if you take their counsel. I know that you will be preserved from the dangers, the temptations, the evils and snares of this world if you will follow their leadership. They are true leaders; they have no ulterior motives to subserve, nor selfish purposes to subserve. They seek only your welfare, and I deplore .the fact that occasionally we find those within the Church who impugn improper motives to the men who lead and guide. I want further to testify to you that it is God's truth that the general authorities who preside over you and over the Church have nothing but your welfare at heart. They have no personal purposes to subserve. Their only thought, their one single purpose, is to advance God's work in the world. They love the Latterday Saints. I believe that there is not one of them who would not be perfectly willing to lay down his life for the Church, to advance this great work and to help carry the Truth into the hearts of men. Do not criticise, do not complain on that score. It is wrong; and the man who says that the leaders of the Church are not actuated by the finest and the highest motives, I fear, has within himself a sinister motive that prompts such a statement. ¶

God bless our people that we may be a shining light to this world. Here, right here in the valleys of the mountains, I have concluded is the cradle of liberty. I am willing to grant to Massachusetts all the credit that is due her for the great effort that she has made to bring freedom to mankind; but I say right here, with God's people, is the real cradle of liberty. I have reached the conclusion that there is only one perfect law of liberty, and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that all the systems that may be devised, all of the governments that can be constructed, will not bring liberty to mankind if the true principles of liberty are not in the hearts of the people. The thing that the world needs today is individual righteousness, and if men and women will conform their lives to the principles of the Gospel, if they will, as has been said, be vitalized by these great principles of truth, the problems of the world will melt away, peace will come, the Lord will find his people ready for his reign, and the Millennium will be upon us. God bless us, that as the salt of the earth we may not lose our savor, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶