For the Sufferers in Europe

I will announce that the auditors have made the usual report, and reported that they found the books and accounts, and everything in the Bishop's Office and the Trustee-in-Trust's in perfect order. ¶

The Church Stenographer, Brother Frank W. Otterstrom, handed me the following, which appeared in last Sunday's issue of the New York Times, being a statement made in 1911 by Dr. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard University: ¶

" Hozv to live long -- Go to Church. Keep a clean heart and a good conscience. Give your mind exercise as well as your body -- really think. Exercise regularly, eat in moderation, take a full allowance of sleep. Avoid indulgence in luxuries and the habitual use of any drug whatsoever -- not only of alcohol, but tobacco, tea and coffee." ¶

In 1833, the Lord told us, in a much more substantial way than President Eliot, to refrain from all those things. Among other things, my brethren and sisters, keep the Word of Wisdom. ¶

I am very pleased to announce that Brother George Albert Smith is with us this afternoon on the stand, but it is scarcely considered wisdom for him to attempt to address this vast congregation. ¶

FOR THE SUFFERERS IN EUROPE ¶

There was a special drive made during the past season for the suffering people in Europe; and in addition, there was a drive made for clothes, and we have been able to send four carloads of clothing to Europe. The railroad and steamship companies have furnished us transportation for these clothes, practically free of charge, for which we are grateful indeed. It has been estimated that the cash received, $12,500 of which went to the Near East organization, and the clothing, would amount, in round numbers, to fully $100,000. Sixty and odd thousand dollars was the estimate placed upon the clothing sent. We have received word from our European missions that this clothing was very good indeed, that they were surprised at the high quality of the ¶

clothing that was delivered. There were extensive repairs made on the shoes that were given, which made them very much more acceptable. This assistance has been rendered to the Netherlands and Germany, to the Armenians, and also the Near East, as stated, and some assistance also to Great Britain. ¶

PROGRESS AND INCREASE IN MANY CHURCH ACTIVITIES ¶

There has been a substantial increase in the attendance at our sacrament meetings during the past year. There has been better wardteaching and an increase in the number of families visited monthly; statistics show an increase in our tithes, a large increase in the number of tithe-payers, and a splendid record of the stake and ward officers in the payment of tithes, for which we are grateful. ¶

An extensive building program is being carried out in many of the stakes of Zion. New meeting-houses are being erected and the people are very liberal in their donations for the same. ¶

In the conservation of life, the records show a marked decrease in the deaths of children under five years of age, showing that better methods are being adopted all through the state to prevent our little ones from passing away in their infancy. ¶

For the first time, more people have removed to the missions of the Church from the stakes of Zion than have been received from the missions. A splendid work is being done, as I announced here at the opening of our conference, by the missionaries in every part of the world. ¶

It is estimated that there have been 1200 converts to the Church as a result of our home missionary work in the various stakes of Zion. ¶

The work of increasing the accomodations in the Salt Lake temple has been completed, and has proved a great convenience to those attending this temple. The facilities have been very greatly enlarged and are highly appreciated by those who are working in that temple. ¶

The Manti temple has been thoroughly overhauled and renovated. ¶

The frame-work of the Arizona temple is now completed and the terra-cotta is being delivered. The building is to be covered with terra-cotta -- the same general style of covering as the Hotel Utah. The walls will be completed within a few months. ¶

CONDITION IN THE MISSIONS ¶

There is a marked improvement in the conditions for missionary work in Great Britain. The Netherlands mission is very prosperous, having very many investigators. A French mission has just been created, comprising the French people in the devastated regions of France, the French-speaking people of Belgium, and the French-speaking people of Switzerland. ¶

In the Scandinavian missions we are still having difficulty in getting people into Sweden. I regret that the present condition is ¶

altogether different from what it was in the days of King Oscar. It fell to my happy lot, with Brother Alex Nibley, whom I see here, and some of my friends, to have the privilege of calling on King Oscar on the 4th day of July, many years ago. With characteristic American assurance, I presented myself at the king's palace and requested an interview and the man who came to the door looked at me as if he thought I was crazy, not to be properly presented through the minister plenipotentiary. I wrote a letter of introduction to his majesty and enclosed a letter from Governor Heber M. Wells of the state of Utah, told him that day, July 4th, was the day that we Americans celebrate, and asked for an audience; and added that I knew that I ought to be presented in proper order, that I had letters from the Utah senators to our minister; but, the day being the 4th of July, we hoped that he would waive all of the customary formalities necessary to see a king. And he very kindly consented, stepped out of the palace, and greeted us; and after learning that only two or three in our party understood the Swedish language, he immediately changed to faultless English, perfect English. He was a magnificent specimen of humanity, standing over six feet high. He made this remark to me: " Mr. Grant, I have sent my personal representatives, unknown to the people, to nearly every state in the Union of the United States, to find out how my former subjects are getting along, how they are prospering; and in no other state in the Union are the former subjects of Sweden and Norway more contented, more prosperous and happier than in Utah; and, as long as I am king of Norway and Sweden, your people shall have religious liberty, notwithstanding all the priests and religious denominations are against you."I wish he was still alive. ¶

An extensive building program is now in operation in many of the missions of the United States. Meeting houses of a substantial character have been erected in some of the missions -- in far off New Zealand, in Australia, and in some other places. We are grateful for the very excellent progress that we are making all over the world in our missionary work. ¶

WORK OF THE M. I. A. SCOUTS ¶

Some remarks have been made here, telling of the good opinion that people have of us today, in comparison with what it used to be. It fell to my lot to be at a Boy Scout gathering at the West-side High school, where representatives from this section of the country were present. President Moore, the head of the great World's Fair at San Francisco, was one of these men, Stewart French was another, and other influential national representatives were there. One of the men present upon that occasion was George J. Fisher, who is the second in command of the Boy Scouts of America. The man in charge, the head man, Mr. West, was with us in this building about a year ago. and he delivered a magnificent address and paid splendid com- ¶

pliments to our people. He remarked to me that it was a great pleasure to him to have nominated Oscar A. Kirkham to have charge of the Boy Scouts who went to Europe -- a great compliment, I feel to the American people. Oscar A. Kirkham has received a letter from Dr. George J. Fisher, which I think every Latter-day Saint would like to hear read. Every Latter-day Saint ought to have read it, because, in every Latter-day Saint home there ought to be the Improvement Era. But, for fear there is not one in every home of those who are here, I will read this from the March number of the Improvement Era: ¶

" It was my pleasure recently to meet the representatives of the Boy Scout movement in Utah and to observe Scouting in action. ¶

"I was deeply impressed not only with the extent to which the boys of Utah had been reached, but with the quality of the program of Scouting which was being conducted. ¶

" Utah excels in Scouting. In Salt Lake City and in Logan, the headquarters of two Councils of the State, I witnessed actual demonstrations by the boys themselves. ¶

"I was profoundly moved and greatly inspired by what I saw. Utah excels in the number of boys reached in proportion to the population. In many communities practically all of the boys available are scouts. There are more boys of advanced rank and a greater percentage of Eagle scouts than in any other section of America. ¶

" Scouting reaches the boys not only in the large centers of the state, but in the remotest villages. ¶

" So well is scouting administered that the boys themselves manage much of their activities under wise adult guidance. ¶

"I saw a great rally directed entirely by scouts in Salt Lake City. The dispatch, precision, efficiency and spirit with which they conducted the affair was worthy of high praise. I have never seen it excelled. ¶

" Scouting is raising up a fine breed of boys in Utah. It is giving them splendid executive training that will fit them for effective leadership in the affairs of state in the years immediately ahead. ¶

" Scouting is a course in the practice of patriotism. It is developing patriots in Utah, yes. boys who will be felt in the public and private life of the nation. ¶

" That state is a great state which gives to its youth its first attention. Utah excels in that regard. ¶

" The secret of it all is that splendid, high motived men are giving themselves unselfishly to the boys of the state. This is the way to success and real achievement. ¶

" These men are taking serious training for their tasks. I associated for part of two days with almost a hundred of them in training at the State Agricultural College at Logan. They came from the remotest parts of the state and of nearby states. It was an inspiration. ¶

" These men will determine the standards of boy life in the state. It is a noble enterprise, a worthy and commendable service. All praise to them. ¶

. " These scouts in the stat^ are catching and demonstrating the spirit of Scouting. It is a great spiritual crusade. They are living the Scout Oath and Laws. They are practicing the 'daily good turn.' ¶

" Scouting is reaching all boys: poor boys as well as those who are more favored. Utah is setting standards for the whole country. Utah is repeating history. Just as she developed the early scouts, the great heroes of pioneer days, so now she is raising up boy scouts, caught by the same ¶

spirit of enterprise, by the same spirit of adventure. It is the pioneer spirit, the holy crusade of olden days applied in practical, yet romantic fashion to the youth of this later age. ¶

" The 'Mormon' Church is the largest factor in this splendid achievement. She it is that is furnishing men and vision and ideals to the young men throughout the state, and they as scoutmasters in the great majority are inspiring the youth of the state to become good scouts. Splendid cooperation is given by other religious agencies in this work. ¶

" And for this good service we are deeply grateful. Scouting is marching on in Utah, an excellent example to all the nation." ¶

PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG'S ADMONITION SEVENTY-ONE YEARS AGO APPLIES TODAY ¶

October 6 to 9, 1853: Words of President Brigham Young: ¶

" We will now bring our conference to a close. I wish the Latter-day Saints to hearken to the counsel they receive from time to time, and especially to the counsel I will now give to all Latter-day Saints in this house, in the valleys of the mountains, and to all who are scattered among the nations of the earth. I ask one thing at your hands, and that is, to live your religion day by day. ¶

" The religion we profess is the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ; a religion of revelation, ministering of angels, and the power of God on the people through the ordinances of God. My counsel is, to live their religion. If they do, they will live watchfully, prayerfully, humbly; and their hearts will be filled with compassion one towards another, and they will seek to do good all the days of their lives; and when an evil is presented to them they will shun that evil, and will cleave to that which is right before the Lord; otherwise they will bring disgrace upon themselves, and dishonor their religion. This is my counsel to all Saints, and I wish you to carry it from this conference to your neighbors, and spread it abroad, throughout all the churches of the Saints, upon the face of the whole earth; -- Live the religion you profess!" ¶

Brother Junius F. Wells was indexing some of the Journals of Discourses and ran across the above and handed it to me; and I felt I would like to read it here. ¶

THE SUGAR INDUSTRY ¶

I am very happy to inform the Latter-day Saints that there has been a very wonderful and remarkable "come-back"in the sugar industry of this inter-mountain country. Instead of the various sugar factories being in debt many, many millions of dollars of money to the banks in New York and Chicago, with large stocks of sugar on hand and no sale for it, there is now a demand for sugar throughout the entire country; and almost without exception, if not without exception, (I am not thoroughly posted) the companies are not in debt to bankers who were unwilling three years ago, without additional capital being invested, to renew obligations that they held. Today, most if not all of the companies are free from bank obligations in the East and the industry has come back in a splendid way; for which we are grateful. The farmers are giving loyal support and raising larger quantities of beets, which means an increased product, which means an increase of prosperity to this intermountain country. ¶

GIVE LOYAL SUPPORT TO HOME INSTITUTIONS ¶

From my earliest recollection, I have heard Brigham Young and all of his successors preach to the people and beg them to support and sustain all of the various industries that were established throughout this inter-mountain country; and I appeal to the Latter-day Saints today, to all who are here present, to carry the message to the people throughout the entire Church -- to support the institutions of our state, to be loyal to those institutions through which employment can be given to the people, and from which you can secure articles that are manufactured here at home. Give them the preference; help to build up our country; sustain this inter-mountain country. We need support for everything that is started in the nature of a manufacturing institution in this country. We are so far away from the centers of consumption for many of our products that railroad freight charges prevent us exporting many goods which, but for the long distance to the markets, we could do. Therefore, let us be loyal to our institutions here at home. ¶

BUILDING OF THE ARIZONA TEMPLE PROGRESSING ¶

I am pleased to inform you that it has fallen to my lot, during the past six months, to visit Arizona and to see the progress that is being made there upon our temple; and I am sure that when that building is completed we shall all be proud of it. I am sure that it will be one more monument testifying to the faith and the loyalty of the Latter-day Saints to the work of the Lord and to the message that has come to us in our day -- to labor for the redemption of our dead. I am sure that it will be a credit to our people that will be recognized by those not of our faith, in seeing one more splendid monument of the kind and this in the state of Arizona. ¶

INCREASED TESTIMONY AND FRESH INSPIRATION FROM READING THE ¶

BOOK OF MORMON ¶

I have rejoiced during the past six or seven weeks in reading carefully through, at the rate of about ten pages a day, with a prayerful heart, the Book of Mormon. I do not think that I have ever before enjoyed that book so much. I do not think the wonderful testimonies contained in it regarding the divine mission of the Savior, have ever made a more profound impression upon my heart and soul than they have made this last time that I have read the Book of Mormon. I remember, and have often spoken of the fact of reading it in my youthful days, and how there came into my heart an abiding testimony that that book was true, that it was in very deed exactly what it purports to be -- the sacred history of the forefathers of the American Indian. I could not as a child or as a young man, comprehend and understand as fully as today the splendid discourses regarding the divine mission of the Savior. His wonderful teachings to the people upon this continent, the wonderful inspired teachings ¶

of Alma and Abinadi and many others, as contained in that book. But I am thankful beyond expression that I did read the book in my boyhood days and that the assurance came into my heart that it was in very deed the truth, and that I fell in love with the character of Nephi. More than any other mortal man that we have any record of in the Bible, the Old, or the New Testaments, or in the Book of Mormon, more, I believe, than the influence of my friends and associates with whom I have lived, Nephi has made an impression upon my heart and my soul and has been one of the guiding stars of my life -- a man who endeavored upon all occasions never to become discouraged or disheartened, never to complain; but who endeavored to the full extent of his ability to carry out his own wonderful words spoken to his father -- ¶

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commanded them." ¶

That remarkable declaration, exemplified through his entire life, has stayed with me, I am sure, now for fully fifty long years; and I rejoice in the fact of the impression that was made upon my heart and soul by that statement. I also rejoice in his immediately exemplifying the statement that he would do what the Lord required. What had the Lord required? The Lord, through Lehi, his father, had received a dream to the effect that his sons were to return to Jerusalem and secure the brass plates upon which some of the ancient scriptures and the genealogy of the forefathers of Nephi were recorded. And his brethren were complaining, when he made that impressive announcement that he would go and do the thing which the Lord had required. ¶

They made a failure of their first attempt, and his brothers desired to return to their father in the wilderness, but Nephi said: ¶

" We will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us." ¶

And they went up again to Jerusalem, and they gathered their riches and they offered them to Laban for the record. Instead of making the exchange, Laban sent his servants to kill them, and he stole their wealth. Nephi's brothers then commenced beating him, and an angel of the Lord appeared and told them to go up again unto Jerusalem and the Lord would deliver Laban into their hands, and they would obtain the plates. ¶

No sooner had the angel disappeared than these men, lacking in faith -- and men that do not keep the commandments of the Lord are always lacking in faith and always will be lacking in faith, and always will find fault; and those who are perpetually seeking for some great and wonderful manifestation will never amount to very much in the Church; while those who keep the commandments of God never find fault, they have faith, they believe -- these brothers of Nephi said: ¶

" How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?" And the answer of Nephi was: " Let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?" ¶

Many men say: " If I could only see an angel, if I could only hear an angel proclaim something, that would cause me to be faithful all the days of my life!" It had no effect upon these men that were not serving the Lord, and it would have no effect today. ¶

As I say, I rejoice in the increased testimony that has come into my heart and soul regarding the divinity of the Book of Mormon, in the reading that I have just completed while on my recent trip to the south. ¶

THE TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE AT CASTLE GATE ¶

We have had one of the most terrible catastrophes in the history of the state of Utah, on which occasion one hundred seventy-three, as I remember it, lives were lost in the Castle Gate coal mine explosion. It fell to my lot, with Elder Richard R. Lyman and others, to visit Castle Gate and to see the effects of that terrible calamity there. The Governor of the state and others have inaugurated a drive for the benefit of the families that have been left destitute of a provider. I hope and pray that in every hamlet, and in every home there will be a disposition to contribute something toward this great drive for the benefit of the families of the men who were killed in that great disaster. There is nothing truer than the statement in ancient writ that " It is more blessed to give than to receive,"and I say that the greater blessing will come to those who give than to those who are not willing to give in this case. Let us do our part, as we have ever done our part in all of the various calls that have been made by our nation in times of trouble and by those in distress. I am sure that the appeal will not be made in vain. The Church has been solicited to assist and we have contributed $2,500 of the tithing funds for this purpose, which was somewhat more than the request made by the chairman who called upon us. ¶

THE SAINTS LOVE THE GOSPEL, AS WITNESS THE CONFERENCE ¶

ATTENDANCE ¶

I have been very pleased indeed, my brethren and sisters, with the wonderful attendance at our conference. We have never had anything like it within my recollection, nothing to compare with the wonderful outpouring of the people at these conference meetings. To have our week-day meetings so crowded in this tabernacle that many have had to stand up is a new experience, and it shows to me that the Latter-day Saints are awake, that they are alive, that they have ¶

a love of the gospel, that they are anxious to come here to partake of the spirit of our conferences, that spirit which has been with the Latter-day Saints, in this building, from the very day it was first opened. It has fallen to my lot, from my childhood days until now, excepting when I have been absent from the state upon foreign missions, to attend conferences in this building twice a year, and I have never come into this building and been disappointed; I have never come here but what I have been benefited and fed with the bread of life and built up in the faith, and strengthened in my knowledge and testimony regarding the divinity of the work in which we as Latter-day Saints are engaged. ¶

PRAYER FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ¶

I pray that the Lord will bless the President of the United States of America and his cabinet, and that he will vindicate the President and every honest member of his cabinet; and I believe that there are honest, upright, God-fearing, patriotic men in the cabinet of President Coolidge. I believe he is a man worthy of the blessings of Almighty God. That is my opinion of the President of the United States. I believe that he has the welfare of the people of this great country at heart. ¶

BLESSINGS ON ALL ISRAEL, AT HOME AND ABROAD ¶

I pray that the Lord will bless each and everyone of the Latter-day Saints throughout all the stakes of Zion, from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south. I pray that he will bless the Saints all over the wide world, in all the different missions, that they may grow and increase in the light and the knowledge and the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

I bear my witness to you here today that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of mankind, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the living God, and that each man, woman and child who lives the gospel of Jesus Christ shall find life eternal in the presence of our heavenly Father. ¶

I pray for the blessings of the Lord to abide with all Israel, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen. ¶