Canadian Mission Report

(President of the Canadian Mission.) ¶

My brothers and sisters: I sincerely pray in my heart that I shall have strength of mind and body to speak to you a few moments this morning. I have found it to be a very taxing ordeal to speak in the open air to a large congregation. ¶

With President Iverson, who has just spoken to you, I too rejoice in the privilege of meeting with you in this general conference of the Church. With all the power of my soul I rejoice in the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is the power of God unto salvation. There is nothing in the realm of things knowable for which I am so deeply grateful as I am for my knowledge of the divinity of God's great latter-day work. I do know that the God of heaven, with his own hands laid the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that the Spirit of the Almighty has inspired the hearts and the minds of those who have built the superstructure of this Kingdom of our God. I know that this Church is endowed with the Priesthood, the authority of Almighty God. I know that this Church is the depository of the riches of God's wisdom and his knowledge. ¶

I rejoice in the knowledge that the great achievements of this great people are coming to be known among the children of men. The day is past and gone when men can speak evil of this people and escape rebuke. There are men and women in every center of population today who know of the splendid achievements of the Latter-day Saints. These men and women are brave enough and true enough to speak in defense of the truest and noblest people in this world. ¶

I have had occasion frequently, in the cities of eastern Canada, to tell the people that the Latter-day Saints, inspired by the power of their noble religion, have established in the world, the highest civilization known to modern man. That is a bold statement to make about a people, but the statement is just as true as it is bold. ¶

What is the first essential to civilization? What is the first essential to the highest wellbeing of humankind? It is good health and clean blood. The statistics of the United States tell us that during the year 1920, 101 babies out of a thousand in the United States died before they became a year old. These same statistics tell us that in Utah only 64 babies out of a thousand died before they became a year old. What do these figures mean? They mean that the Latter-day Saints have clean blood in their veins. These figures mean that Latter-day Saint fathers and mothers live moral and wholesome lives. ¶

What is the next essential to the highest civilization? It is the common prosperity. I use the expression the "common prosperity" advisedly, because a people who are partly rich and mainly poor cannot attain to anything great in moral or civic progress. What do the facts show concerning the common prosperity of our people? On the 29th day of January, 1921, the Country Gentleman, one of the leading farmers' magazines of the United States, carried the statement that Utah should be known as the "home-owner's state." And this statement was followed by the further statement that out of 62,662 farms in the state of Utah, seven-eights of them were owned by the men who operated them. What do these figures mean? They mean that our people have made the greatest progress in material prosperity of any people in the world. ¶

What is the next mark of a highly civilized people? It is education. On the 23rd day of July, 1920, the Toronto Evening Telegram, one of the largest papers published in the Dominion of Canada, published a statement quoted from Dr. E. A. Winship, one of the greatest educators in the United States, in which Dr. Winship said, "No state is within hailing distance of Utah in an efficient attempt to solve the civic, industrial, and moral problems of the education of the youth from 12 to 18 years." You will notice that he says that no state is within hailing distance of Utah. He does not say that our state is almost on a par with other states in education; he tells us that no state ranks with us in an efficient attempt to provide for the education of the youth. ¶

What is the next mark of a highly civilized people? The next essential is morality. Theodore Roosevelt, that grand man, whose name has rung around the world, in an article published in Colliers Magazine, in February, 1911, said, "Indeed among these 'Mormons' the standard of sexual morality was unusually high; they were better than their neighbors." ¶

What is the next mark of a highly civilized people? It is spirituality-- that quality of which President Iverson has spoken so fervently this morning. How do the Latter-day Saints rank in spirituality? In April, 1920, Colonel William Jennings Bryan sat in the great tabernacle, over there at one of the sessions of that conference, within three feet of the mission presidents, and listened to the sermons of the leading men of this Church. At the conclusion of that session of the conference, he made an informal talk, in which he said, "I have never witnessed such religious fervor in all my life before." ¶

Here we have a people who have the five leading marks of a great people. They are a healthy people, they are a prosperous people, an educated people, a moral people, a spiritual-minded people. I tell you, this people is God's people. With all my heart I thank my God for membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and with all my strength I pray for power to do my part in ¶

making known to the world the great things which God has wrought in our day and time. ¶

My brothers and my sisters, let us remember our heritage of power, of truth, our heritage of inspiration of faith. If we will remember these things, we shall rise and shine and be the glory of all mankind -- which may God grant, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶