During the Fifteen Minutes Allotted to Me

During the fifteen minutes allotted to me I am very anxious that the spiritual feast which we have thus far enjoyed shall be continued. ¶

I recognize the practical value of the principal theme of this conference — law enforcement. The Dominion of Canada is a country of law enforcement. They have celebrated this year the Diamond Jubilee, or the Jubilee anniversary of confederation. They revere the fathers of federation as we revere the fathers of our Constitution. They are not unmindful of the comparison between the United States and Canada in the matter of law enforcement. My defense has been that the United States is great in potentialities, in practical statesmanship, in self-government and in good common sense, and that it is just a question of a little time when the laxity of law enforcement in the States will be remedied. There have grown up too many technical refinements in the administration of the criminal law, and those refinements and technicalities will have to be swept away without impairing the valuable system of judge-made laws that exists in the United States. ¶

Canada can give us an example of law and order upon the Sabbath day. No newspaper is published nor even distributed on that day, that I have been able to learn of in my sojourn there. ¶

In speaking of the missionary work in Canada : We do not have the background that exists in many of the missions of the United States, the background of from five to eight thousand members to support the missionary work. The statistics of the Dominion give our church credit for having nearly twenty thousand members, about ten thousand of whom are located in the stakes of the Alberta Province. The other ten thousand I do not know just where they may be scattered. Certainly there are not more than one thousand of them in the mission over which I have the honor of presiding. We do feel the assistance of the few we have, scattered as they are among the millions of population there, in supporting the cause. We have young ladies newly converted to the Church who will stand upon the street corners and with very fine courage give a reason for the faith and knowledge which they have. At one of our conferences we called forward two young converts, one from the Northwestern states mission and one from Montreal. Each of them gave a telling speech describing their conversion and the great joy which had come to him as a member of the Church. ¶

We are building upon the work of all those who have gone before — the work there of President Grant, and Elders George Albert Smith, Orson F. Whitney, and Joseph Fielding Smith, all of whom have made tours through that mission. We are building upon the work of President Nephi Jensen, President Joseph Quinney, Jr., and the hundreds of elders and sisters who have served there during the past decade. We are finding very many encouraging symptoms. In going through the districts of the mission last month I discovered a marked contrast between conditions existing now and those of three months before. Instead of the conferences assembling in a private home, as was the case in the city of London, a city of some sixty-five thousand people, we had two or three times the number of people in attendance in a public hall, and some of them had arisen as early as 5 :30 in the morning and traveled long distances to be in attendance at that conference. We have no meeting houses of our own there, but we have about reached a stage when it will be proper to have the stabilizing influences which will come to the people by owning their own meeting houses. I am sure the Presidency will be just as generous with the Canadian mission as with any of the other missions. They have indicated that. They have given token of that in spending the large sums of money necessary to build the Cardston temple. ¶

We have a very fine body of elders and sisters in that mission, although few in number. They are of the same quality as described by the brethren of the other missions. It will save much time for me to simply incorporate in my remarks here the same words of just praise that have been given the missionaries in each of the other missions by their presidents during this conference. These elders and missionary sisters are of the same cloth, so to speak, that these other missionaries come from. They manifest good zeal, good spirituality in all they have encountered, and when they have made it a matter of fasting or of prayer, the end desired has been attained. That was the case in the matter of having the privilege to use a Young Men's Christian Association pool to baptize in. As they went back after their fasting and prayer, without any argument, they were accorded the privilege denied them by the same man shortly before their fasting and their prayer. ¶

We have experiences of interest, adventures upon every street corner where we hold meetings ; and we are holding many street meetings during the summer months. The period is very short during which it is practicable to hold such meetings in that cold climate. Next month, if not this, will surely terminate the holding of street meetings for the year. ¶

While upon an elevator in the Queen's Hotel, going to luncheon, by invitation of a member of the Rotary Club, I was introduced to "Jim Hughes," as they called him in Rotarian parlance, but no less a person than Dr. James L. Hughes of Toronto. He said to me in a voice loud enough to be heard by all those in the elevator, knowing that I was from Salt Lake City: ¶

"Are you a member of the 'Mormon' Church?" ¶

In a tone just as emphatic I declared that I was. I did not know what was coming, but he followed his question and the answer thereto by saying : ¶

"Mr. Hart, do you know that I am the first man in Canada to do justice through the press to your people?" ¶

He had written a splendid article for the Canadian Magazine in the April number, 1904, under the caption, "My Misconceptions of the 'Mormon' People," or some such heading. He had visited the tabernacle. His interest in the subject started from an acquaintance with one individual, Sister Susa Young Gates. He told me that after his article was published a preacher said to him, "Dr. Hughes, I am ashamed of you for writing the article you did." And he said, "I retorted to the minister, 'I should think you preachers would be ashamed after all the fibbing you have done and are doing against the 'Mormon' people. I'll tell you what I will do. We will get on the train and go to Salt Lake City, and if you can find a single misrepresentation in that article I will pay the expenses for both of us. But if you are unable to find a single thing in which I have misrepresented the case, then you pay the expenses. Now, come on, let us get on the train.' " The preacher would not accept the challenge. ¶

We need such information as that and such friends to remove prejudice. It is not an unusual thing to find people who at first will rave at the mention of the "Mormon" people ; they will decline to accept a tract, will refuse to hold a conversation with you, but by being a little patient with them so as to get our cause before them, they soon grow apologetic. It is a rather good sign when they are so intense in their feelings to begin with, because after we get the truth to them they are more friendly than they perhaps otherwise would be. ¶

The missionaries there are laboring hard. For example, one of the elders purchased a second-hand car, and used it as a means of conveyance by day and a bedroom by night for himself and his companion. They presented the picture slides, giving archaeological and geological support to the Book of Mormon, to 2,500 people scattered through the eastern part of the Dominion. They traveled 3,725 miles and held fifty-seven meetings. ¶

We had a choice treat in meeting at the Memorial Cottage. We had the honor of warming our feet at the same hearth where the Prophet as a child had been warmed, whose destiny was to take part in the greatest single achievement of the nineteenth century, — the coming forth of the gospel and the restoration of the holy priesthood. The monument to Joseph Smith is certainly a very beautiful creation. Those who had to do with it are to be congratulated. The one hundred tons of granite are certainly in very beautiful form. ¶

It is a matter of regret to me today that I could not attend the unveiling of the monument to our Salt Lake boys of the 145th Artillery. I stood the other evening viewing the Mormon Battalion monument, and it seemed to me it was a beautiful creation, and I was impressed much as the poet Vachel Lindsay was impressed, as recorded by his traveling companion, who gave a description of the Canadian temple by electric light and moonlight. For an artistic treat one should visit the monument not only by day but also by night. ¶

We were thrilled at Cumorah in celebrating the centennial of the anniversary of the delivery of the golden plates. We had the honor to there meet President Grant and several of the mission presidents. Those who sang, those who prayed, and those who spoke did so in proper appreciation of the historic significance of that occasion. The missionaries, two hundred of them, some of whom had traveled a thousand miles to be in attendance, at the invitation of President Grant, were greatly impressed. I am sure they received a spiritual elevation that will richly repay them for the journey. They made that journey, many of them, by the "missionary express," and they were not so modest as not to remember the scriptural passage, "Ask and ye shall receive." They were cheerfully driven by men who acknowledged that they were not in the habit of picking up people upon the highway, but it seemed to be different to them on this occasion. The elders have preached the gospel as they traveled, and have received the appreciation of people of distinction who have driven them for hundreds of miles. ¶

We were thrilled by holding the exercises in the Sacred Grove. I look forward to the time when that will be made a Mecca more than it is now. I anticipate that the desire to visit there will increase from year to year and that they will receive spiritual exhilaration, as they contemplate the glories and wonders of the great event that occurred there more than a hundred years ago. ¶

My time has expired. May the Lord bless us, my brethren and sisters, and help us to put into this work all it is entitled to receive, that this glorious message may go forth to all the world, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶