Remarks by S. Norman Lee

These conference proceedings, up to this time, have been rather exciting for some of us. That has been the case with me ever since I discovered that the President was calling on .speakers in the alphabetical order of the names of their stakes. ¶

Brother Duckworth said that those who occupied this position knew what the feeling was. I might add that only those who have occupied this position know what the feeling is, surrounded as we are by men whom we have learned to revere, men in whose presence I have always felt very humble, men whom I have learned to love, as I have come to know them better. And then to be faced with such a vast audience ! I am thankful indeed that the faces within the radius of my sight are all friendly faces. That is very comforting. I have faced audiences much smaller than this, but more formidable, in a sense, in that many of them were unfriendly, and I think I may depend upon you, my brethren and sisters, to offer up a prayer in my behalf that I may get through this experience satisfactorily. ¶

It is difficult, when one sits down to consider the various principles of the gospel, to determine which of them should be stressed, because of the importance of so many of the principles of the gospel. There are circumstances, however, that bring into relief some of the principles of the gospel more than others, and just at this time I am concerned very much with the financial condition of our people. I am lending money as an agent, and it falls to my lot very often to urge people to pay up their interest. T have quit urging them to pay on the principal, because that does not happen nowadays, except in very isolated cases; but I do urge them to pay up their interest, and keep their loans in good standing, and some of the tales that are brought to me are really heart-breaking. One of the brethren, Brother Austin I ¶

think, said that the condition of the people in Idaho had been represented to be worse than it actually is. That may have been done by people who came in contact with borrowers who were not able to pay up, and they have judged the entire community by the condition of those few. Now, jn our community, which, by the way, I think is in every way the equal of the Snake River valley in the products of the soil, or in other ways, we have a great many people who are not able to pay their debts. They did not hearken to the counsel of the servants of the Lord, and there is one thing that stands out very prominently I think, and I consider that item almost unconsciously whenever I have occasion to deal with such a case. I am referring to the matter of the payment of tithes. I think that tithing is the economic law of salvation, or is the law of economic salvation to our people. I don't believe that Latter-day Saints can expect to prosper constantly and continuously if they ignore that very important law. It is a combination of material things and spiritual thing; that the Latter-day Saints cannot do without. ¶

A few days ago I received an order from a loan company to prepare a supplemental abstract, dated from the time that a certain mortgage was filed in our county, down to the present time. I knew just what that order meant, because I have had a number of them. It meant that they were preparing foreclosure proceedings. I got in touch with the man before I executed this order and had a long talk with him, and he told me of his troubles, misfortune in business, sickness in his family, and a lot of troubles of that nature. Now, it happens that I audit the books of some of the wards of our stake every year, and in auditing the tithing books of the ward where this man lived I discovered that while he had paid tithing pretty well for a number of years, he had neglected that very important law about two or three years ago. In other words in 1919 he had appeared on the tithing books for the last time ; and when I asked him how much he was in arrears with his interest to this loan company he said : "A little over two years." "Well, now," I said, "you don't seem to be making very good progress do you? What do you think the future holds for you?" "Well, I don't know," he'-'said, "I am at a loss to determine whether I shall let the loan company take this farm of mine or whether I shall attempt to pay anything more on it." I spoke to him then and said : "Why did you quit paying tithing two or three years ago ? You see, I know your record." "Well," he said, "I did not have the money to pay it with." I asked him if he had not had any money at all, if he had not ever received any money. "Oh yes," he said, "I have received money, but I have had to use part of it for the maintenance of my family, and there have been a dozen people hounding me all the time for all that I could spare out of it." "Well," I said, "why didn't you pay the Lord his one-tenth of that first?" "Well, because the other people were right there dunning me for it, and the Lord wasn't." "Well now," I said to him, "My brother, there is only one way for you ¶

to get out of this trouble, and I feel safe in promising you that if you will begin at this time and pay your tithing, absolutely honestly, as you go along, and every time that means or substance come into your hands, you will be rejuvenated, you will see your way out, and ultimately you will triumph." He said, "I think I will try it." ¶

My brethren and sisters, I feel entirely safe in making him that sort of promise I know that if he is honest with the Lord and pays his tithing absolutely honestly, and observes to keep the other laws of the gospel as far as he understands them, the Lord will come to his help, because "man's extremity is the Lord's opportunity." ¶

I was talking to a man in this fashion not so long ago and he said : "Well it does not look very good for a strong man to repent after he has got in debt so far he can't wiggle. It does not look very good for him to repent when he is compelled to do it." I said to him : "I think it is a whole lot better to repent under pressure than not to repent at all." Somebody in England asked me regarding the Manifesto : "Why was it that President Woodruff would not receive a revelation concerning the matter of polygamy and issue that manifesto until the laws of the land were bringing such pressure to bear that there was scarcely any way out of it?" I answered him in this way: "I don't know of any time when a revlation is more needed than just when you do not know what to do." And that is the way I feel about these things. Brethren, if you have neglected your duty up to this time, and you see the light now, and you are inclined to repent and to observe this law, I think that I can promise you that the Lord will come to your rescue and that you will be delivered from the hands of your enemies as yon now regard them — those who are trying to collect money from you. I feel a little freer in talking about this matter in the presence of my brethren here on the stand than I should do if I were out entirely on my own responsibility, because if I make some statement here that is not wise, or is in error, I can be corrected before my words have clone any harm. ¶

May the Lord bless his people that they may see the necessity of rendering more zealous devotion, that they may see that they cannot prosper without observing and keeping the laws of the land as made known to them. It is a blessing, a privilege, and it is a pleasure to receive commandments. One of the things the Lord promised the people was that if they would be obedient he would give them commandments not a few, and I think that we cannot receive them and disregard them and hope to prosper. May the Lord bless us all together, I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶