General Statistical Information and Mission Changes

General Statistical Information

It has been customary at the April Conference to give some statistics regarding the expenditure of the tithes of the people, our mission work, and other items ; and, as a rule, during the time that I have presided over the Church, I have read those statistics at the close of my remarks; but, today I have decided to read them first and trust to the inspiration of the Lord that the latter part of my remarks may perhaps be more interesting and more inspiring than statistics. ¶

Following are the expenditures from the tithes of the Church for the year 1922 : ¶

Stake and Ward Purposes

There has been returned from the tithes to the stakes and wards ¶

for their maintenance and operation $ 928,859.00 ¶

Education

Expended for the maintenance and operation of Church schools. 771,490.00 ¶

Temples

Expended for the construction, maintenance and operation of ¶

temples 168,371.00 ¶

Charities

For the care of the worthy poor and other charitable purposes, ¶

including hospital treatment 273,657.00 ¶

Missions

For the maintenance and operation of all the missions, and for ¶

the erection of places of worship and other buildings in the ¶

missions 615,461.00 ¶

TOTAL: $2,757,838.00 ¶

which has been taken from the tithes and returned by the Trustee-in-Trust to the Saints for the maintenance and operation of the stakes and wards, for the maintenance and operation of Church schools and temples, for charities and for mission activities. ¶

Other Charities

In addition to charities paid out of the tithes, (as above stated) there have also been disbursed the fast offerings and Relief Society charities, amounting to $323,638.00, which, added to the $273,657.00 paid from the tithes, makes a total of Church charities$ 597,295.00 ¶

Missions

In addition to the large sum paid out of Church funds' for mission purposes, amounting to $615,460.00, we estimate that there has been sent to missionaries by their families and friends, the sum of $887,500.00. Estimating the value of the services of 1,775 missionaries at $1,000.00 per year each, viz $1,775,000, makes a total expenditure for the missionary work of the Church for the year 1922 $3,277,960.00 ¶

Statistical Report Compiled from the Records of the Year 1922

Church Growth : Children blessed and entered on the records of the Church in the ¶

stakes and missions 19,703 ¶

Children baptized in the stakes and missions 14,440 ¶

Converts baptized and entered on the records of the stakes and ¶

missions 6,376 ¶

There were at the close of the year 87 stakes of Zion, 883 wards, ¶

61 independent branches connected with the stakes, 24 missions and 733 branches in the missions. Since the first of the year the Los Angeles stake has been organized, making 88 stakes today. ¶

Social Statistics

Birth rate — 36 per thousand. Marriage rate — 14 per thousand. Death rate — 8.3 per thousand. ¶

There are 155,606 persons in the Church who are married; of this number, there were 243 persons divorced in the year 1922. Families owning their own homes — 75 per cent. ¶

Missionary Activities

Missionaries laboring in the stakes of Zion 2,552 ¶

Number on foreign missions 1,775 ¶

Total number performing special missionary labors at home and ¶

abroad 4,327 ¶

Books of Mormon and other Church books distributed in stakes ¶

and missions 286,702 ¶

Gospel tracts distributed in stakes and missions 6,601,132 ¶

Gospel meetings held in stakes and missions 153,437 ¶

Temple Work

There were 43,207 persons recommended to the temples during the year 1922. ¶

Ordinances for the living and dead performed in the temples in ¶

the year 1922 768,546 ¶

Educational Statistics

Attending colleges and universities 3,845 ¶

Enrolled in high schools 27,230 ¶

Enrolled in district schools 100,513 ¶

Total attending schools 131,588 ¶

Nearly every child of school age is attending school, except 480 physically unable to attend, and 2,497 who-, in consequence of distance from school, and other conditions, are not attending. There arc only 535 adult persons in the stakes who cannot read the English language. ¶

Occupations

There are 113,000 Latter-day Saints employed in all kinds and varieties of occupations. Of this number 86,780 are employed in productive occupations. "Productive occupations" means those that the Government classes as productive. ¶

Clean Up Towns and Villages

It is expected there will be a great increase in the tourist travel through the state from this time on, particularly through the southern part of the state, where the government and the railroads are spending large sums of money to induce tourists to visit Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. In view of this, our people should take pride in cleaning up. and grading their streets, fixing their fences, planting trees, and in every way making their towns and villages more attractive. ¶

Temples and Meeting Houses

The Alberta Temple is practically completed. Its furnishing and equipment is in process. It will be ready for dedication by August 1, 1923. ¶

The building of the Arizona Temple is under way. It is expected that it will be completed within two years. ¶

Extensive alterations and improvements will be carried out this year in the Salt Lake Temple, to provide facilities for the large number who> visit the temple. Comparative report of total ordinances performed in the Salt Lake Temple: 1918, 158,887; 1919, 189,593; 1920, 212,514; 1921, 300,474; 1922, 413,478, an increase of nearly three hundred per cent since 1918, — a most remarkable and wonderful record. And our other temples, with the exception of St. George, where the population has decreased, have also had remarkable and splendid increases. ¶

A splendid new meetinghouse has been erected in Honolulu and will be dedicated in the very near future. ¶

A mission home is in process of erection in Atlanta, Georgia, for the accommodation of the president and office staff of the Southern States mission, the only mission of the United States that has not been furnished with suitable quarters for its president. Quite a number of chapels, some large and beautiful, are being erected in most of the missions of the United States. ¶

The Primary Convalescent Home

The Primary Home is taking care of from twenty-five to thirty children, who need expert surgical and nursing treatment. The Church has expended considerable means in preparing and equipping this home for these little children. Since then it has been very largely supported by the gifts of the Primary children and other benevolent persons, The Rotary Club of Salt Lake City has just donated $1,000 to this childern's home. ¶

Training of the Aaronic Priesthood

A commendable work is being done in all the wards and stakes in the development and training of the Aaronic Priesthood and this good work should be continued. ¶

Tithes Returned to the Stakes

I should like to call attention to the fact that the amount of tithes returned to the stakes, and the total amount of charity, including that of the relief society and the Fast day donations, amounts to over $3,300,000. Considering the limited membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to my mind this is a marvelous and wonderful showing of the liberality of the people, and of their willingness to contribute for the support and erection of meetinghouses, the support and erection of schoolhuses, and for educational, charitable and church purposes generally. ¶

Remarkable Increase in Temple Work

I am particularly pleased with the very remarkable increase in the labor being performed in our temples. There is no work in which the Latter-day Saints are engaged which brings greater peace and joy to the human heart than laboring in the temples for the salvation of our dead. This vicarious labor is one of the greatest that Latter-day Saints can be engaged in. It is one that brings greater satisfaction and joy than almost any other in the world, and it is one in which the Latter-day Saints have always taken great pride and great interest. I believe there is no money expended by the Church or by the individual members that has brought more comfort and happiness to the people than that expended for the erection of temples and for the labor performed therein. ¶

I am pleased to hear that the temple erected in the Hawaiian Islands is doing a great deal by way of advertising the Latter-day Saints and causing a great many influential people, — tourists visiting those wonderful islands, — to take an interest in the literature of the Latter-day Saints. I hear nothing but good reports from that temple ; and I also hear very wonderful and splendid reports concernnig the spirit of good-will that comes through such visits to the temple that is not yet dedicated in Canada. I believe Brother Wood, the president of the Alberta stake, might be willing to put off the dedication another year, on account of the great good that he thinks would be accomplished iSy admitting strangers into our temple before it is dedicated. But, we have erected that temple, of course, for temple ordinances, and when it is ready for dedication, we will dedicate it that it may be utilized for the purposes expected of us by the Lord. ¶

The Beet Industry and the Church

A year ago, in this stand, at the opening of the Conference, I devoted nearly the entire time in my address, to the beet industry. I urged upon our people, during that conference, the planting of sugar beets, and announced that I believed it would be greatly to their advantage if they would do so. This was my opinion then. I am pleased to say that during the past year the industry has been very successful, and that today it is in a very much better financial condition than it was a year ago. Two years ago this coming October the Church went in debt for the first time in many years; the Trustee-in-Trust borrowed in New York and Chicago in the neighborhood of two millions of dollars, to help the sugar industry. It went against the grain, to run the Church in debt, but it was the unanimous opinion of the Presidency and Apostles that it was a wise thing to foster this industry, by borrowing the money necessary to protect and safeguard it. I am very pleased to announce to the Latter-day Saints that all of those obligations of the Trustee-in-Trust, incurred for the support of the sugar industry, have been paid, and once more the Church has no direct floating indebtedness, barring one little note of $10,000, that we did not get a chance to take up. ¶

People Advised to Stay on the Farm

I believe it will be to the interests of the farmers to raise sugar beets during the coming year. I believe that the sugar industry, in our community, is one of the greatest beneficial industries that has ever been established. I feel that President Wilford Woodruff was inspired of the Lord to call upon the people to invest their means in that great enterprise; although some of the brightest of our business men had no faith in the final outcome. President Woodruff felt that the inspiration of the Lord pointed to the establishment of that industry, so as to have an increase of the products of the soil. It has always fallen to the lot of the Latter-day Saints to be engaged in tilling the soil. From the days of President Brigham Young until the present time, the leaders of this people have always advised the Latter-day Saints, as far as possible, to be engaged in tilling the soil, and in manufacturing, and in other productive enterprises. Erigham Young preached that the Saints perhaps could go to California and get sudden wealth and come back with gold, but said it would do them very little good, while if they stayed on their farms and engaged in cultivating the soil, making homes and in rearing ther famlies, they would gain eternal riches. I believe firmly that the very best place in all the world to rear Latter-day Saints is on the farm, and that about the poorest place to rear Latter-day Saints is in the biggest city in which you can locate them. There seems to be strength, physical, moral and religious, which comes to those engaged in cultivating the soil which, on an average, is far superior to that of any other occupation I know anything about. ¶

At the present time there is quite a feeling that it is not worth while to stay on the farm, that the thing to do is to sell the farm, or if it is mortgaged for a large amount, to say: "Well, we will let the man who owns the mortgage cultivate it. It does not pay us to cultivate it." This is wrong. I believe that with the blessings of the Lord and with economy and the raising of products from the ground, and utilizing those products to feed cattle, sheep and hogs, and to increase your income by producing butter, egges, cheese and in ¶

other ways, that the farms can be made profitably productive. I remember that when I was in the far-off land of Japan, I ate butter from Scandinavia, and I know that while I was in England the great majority of the time I ate butter from Scandinavia. If butter can be shipped all the way from Scandinavia to Japan, I believe that butter can be raised and shipped at a profit out of this inter-mountain country. There are no finer farms to be found anywhere than can be found in this inter-mountain country. It is the best dairy country. There is no stronger, more substantial and splendid soil that will produce year after year if it is only treated right, than that of this intermountain country. ¶

Thrift, Economy and Hard Times

We talk about hard times. I wish to say that I have read more than once the wise sayings of Benjamin Franklin, on thrift and economy, and his reference to the people's complaint against the tax burdens laid upon them. He says that the luxuries in which the people indulge and the wasteful expenditure of their money is a far greater burden, many times over, than the taxes and the public burdens the people have to meet. Today, the great majority of all the money put into automobiles is for pleasure. In the state of Utah we have about 50,000 automobiles. I think we have a few more than that. I do not believe the depreciation, wear and tear, the oil, gasoline, and the tires, will cost less than $50.00 a month per car on an average; 50,000 cars at fifty dollars each a month is $2,500,000; multiplied by twelve, is $30,000,000 a year, principally an unnecessary expense. I believe that this figure could be cut squarely in two, if the people made up their minds to do it. I believe that nearly all of the hardships of a majority of the people would disappear if the}' were willing to forego the habit of wearing silk stockings, so to speak, and get back to the ordinary manner of dressing in a rather quiet, unassuming way; stay away from about nine-tenths of the picture shows that they attend ; return to the ways of thrift and economy that I have heard preached from this stand from the days of President Brigham Young until today. ¶

I believe that the burdens that are upon the Latter-day Saints would be very light indeed had the people listened to the advice of our late beloved President Joseph F. Smith, to get out of debt, whai everything was booming, when they could sell all of their sheep' and their cattle and nearly everything they had for about two or three times its cost instead of running, as they did, further in debt, increasing their mortgages on homes and live-stock, believing that every dollar they could borrow meant increased wealth to them. President Joseph F. Smith's warning sank into my heart. If I have had one opportunity, being in debt, to go in deeper, I have had scores offered to me, but I remembered the teaching of President Smith and I went to work that day to get out of debt and not to speculate one single solitary dollar until I did get out of debt; and, with the exception of some ¶

small loans on my life insurance policies, — I have saved by investing in a building society every month enough to pay these loans — I do not today personally owe a dollar. If I had not listened to and taken the inspired advice of Pres. Smith, I think I should be everlastingly "busted," because of the very many good things that have been offered to me since for financial investments. Pres. Smith's inspired words found echo in my heart, and I went on from then until his death, singing, "We thank Thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us," instead of adding, "providing he does not guide us to keep out of debt," as a good many people should be singing today. ¶

An Appeal to Support Home Industry

Brethren and sisters, support our home manufactured goods of all kinds and all descriptions. At a recent conference, I pleaded with the people to do this, and told story after story about home-made goods, and announced that I was going to have a Provo suit o<f clothes. I got that suit and have been wearing it every since, but it is a little old now, and so I thought I would put on my black suit again this morning. Let us support our home industries. Let us stay on the farm. Let us remember that our fathers sacrificed and came here for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

I want again to assure you that the best place in the world to rear Latter-day Saints is on the soil. I know of people who have sold their farms, gone to California or some other place to work, and spent all their farms brought them. Now they are wishing they had enough to get back to Utah. ¶

"O say what is Truth? 'Tis the fairest gem That the riches of worlds can produce ; ¶

And priceless the value of truth will be, when ¶

The proud monarch's costilest diadem Is counted but dross and refuse." ¶

We have the Truth to give to the world. We have the plan of life and salvation. We have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if we will live our religion, the Lord God Almighty will bless us. ¶

"Yes, say, what is truth? 'Tis the brightest prize To which mortals or Gods can aspire; ¶

Go search in the depths where it glittering lies, ¶

Or ascend in pursuit to the loftiest skies ; 'Tis an aim for the noblest desire." ¶

Every Latter-day Saint should have a desire, above all other things, that his life should proclaim the Truth, and that his life should be a teacher of the Truth, not only to the world, but especially to his own family. ¶

"The sceptre may fall from the despot's grasp, When with winds of stern justice he copes, But the pillar of truth will endure to the last, And its firm-rooted bulwarks outstand the rude blast And the wreck of the fell tyrant's hopes. ¶

/ ¶

Then, say what is truth? Tis the last and the first, ¶

For the limits of time it steps o'er ; Though the heavens depart, and the earth's fountains burst, Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst, ¶

Eternal, unchanged, evermore. ¶

I pray the Lord to bless us abundantly in this conference. We are going to have more speakers than ever before, for we are going to limit the time of the speakers including myself. I usually talk an hour in my opening address ; I decided to take thirty minutes this morning and I have just about a minute left. ¶

We are going to depart a little from our usual custom, and call on the presidents of stakes and others to make brief addresses, not exceeding ten minutes. I earnestly pray the blessings of the Lord to attend you. Amen. ¶