Opening Business, First Day Morning Meeting

The Ninety-seventh Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock, April 3, 1927. ¶

President Heber J. Grant presided. ¶

Every seat in the main hall, galleries and choir stand about the great organ was occupied, and many hundreds were standing in the aisles. There was also a crowded house in the Assembly Hall, where an overflow meeting was conducted by Elder J. Golden Kimball, of the First Council of Seventy. Many were unable to gain entrance into either building, but assembled at the Bureau of Information building and listened to the Tabernacle services as they came over the radio. ¶

General Authorities of the Church Present

Of the First Presidency: Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins and Charles W. Nibley. ¶

Of the Council of the Twelve: Rudger Clawson, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Stephen L. Richards, Richard R. Lyman, Melvin J. Ballard, John A. Widtsoe. ¶

Of the First Council of Seventy: B. H. Roberts, J. Golden Kimball, Rulon S. Wells, Charles H. Hart, Levi Edgar Young, Rey L. Pratt. ¶

Of the Presiding Bishopric: Sylvester Q. Cannon, David A. Smith, John Wells. ¶

Officers and Other Authorities Present

Church Historian and Recorder: Joseph Fielding Smith and the following assistants: Andrew Jenson, Brigham H. Roberts, A. William Lund, Junius F. Wells. ¶

Reed Smoot absent, owing to serious illness of his wife. ¶

James E. Talmage absent, presiding over the European mission. ¶

Hyrum G. Smith absent, on account of illness. ¶

Joseph W. McMurrin absent, owing to serious illness of his daughter. ¶

Presidents of stakes with their counselors were well represented from the ninety-six stakes of Zion. ¶

The Priesthood Quorums, including the high priests, seventies and elders, and bishops and their counselors, from all parts of the Church, were in attendance; officers of the auxiliary organizations both of men and of women were present, and also members of the Board of Education. ¶

Mission Presidents were in attendance, as follow: Henry H. Rolapp, Eastern States; John H. Taylor, Northern States; Samuel O. Bennion, Central States; John M. Knight, Western States; Wm. R. Sloan, Northwestern States; Chas. H. Hart, Canada; John G. Allred, Northcentral States; Charles A. Callis, Southern States; Rey L. Pratt, Mexico; Benjamin Goddard, Bureau of Information, Temple Block, Salt Lake City, Utah. ¶

The choir sang, "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah." ¶

Elder Peter G. Johnston, of the Church Auditing Committee, offered the opening prayer. ¶

The choir sang the anthem, "They that sow in tears." ¶