We Know No Party

In time of war we know no party; all come to the defense of the country. In this hour, when Constitution and laws are being ridiculed, there ought to be no Democrats and no Republicans, no Prohibitionists and no Socialists, but only the one great party — the party of those who stand for law and order, for the Constitution of our country and the liberties for which we have paid so great a price. ¶

Surely this, the greatest country in the world, is not bringing up a generation of young folks who carelessly, recklessly, and thoughtlessly break the laws and trample the Constitution under foot, shouting in drunken laughter that this sacred document is "only a scrap of paper." ¶

Four things I desire to mention in the few moments that I stand before you : First, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon ; secondly, a brief reference to the teachings of this book ; thirdly, the greatest problem that confronts the people of the United States at this moment — lawlessness and disrespect for law ; and fourthly, in a few words, I desire to make an appeal to you, here in the tops of these everlasting hills, to come to the defense of the Constitution of the United States. ¶

I THE BOOK OF MORMON ¶

My lifetime has been devoted to the study and the teaching of mathematics and engineering. I think I am not regarded as one given - to hysteria. I have asked many scientific men to offer a solution for Joseph Smith and the work that he accomplished. I have not found anyone able to give any other explanation than that which we give ; that is, that Joseph was directed in his work by divine Providence. One man might be deceived; but can you deceive three or four together? ¶

THE THREE WITNESSES ¶

"Be it known unto all nations * * * and people, unto whom this work shall come : That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen .the plates which contain this record. * * * We know that these plates have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us. * * * And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates. * * * And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that wc beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; ¶

• • • And it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to lie obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things."

THEY WERE NOT DECEIVED ¶

Let us consider that testimony. Is it not remarkable, odd, strange — something new in the world ? One man might be mistaken ; but can three or four ? Here are the Prophet and three witnesses. They say : > - ¶

"And we declare with words of soberness" — three sane men, mark you — "that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon ; and it is marvelous in our eyes" — marvelous to me, marvelous to you, marvelous to all the world for an angel in these days to come down from heaven. ¶

"Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things." ¶

In this skeptical age when the world doubts nearly everything, men might not be satisfied with the testimony of the Prophet himself and these three witnesses; so there are eight more, twelve in all, who bear also the same testimony : ¶

EIGHT MORE WITNESSES ¶

"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come : That Joseph Smith, Jun., the translator of this work, has shown unto us the plates * * * which have the appearance of gold.". ¶

Does anyone suppose that these witnesses were deceived in that respect? They say the plates had the appearance of gold. People may object: "All that glitters is not gold; the witnesses may have been in error." But their testimony is : "They have the appearance of gold ; and as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated we did handle with our hands." Can eight men be so deceived? Can they come along, one after another, and handle with their hands plates which have the appearance of gold and be deceived as to their reality? ¶

"we have seen and hefted" ¶

"As many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shown unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the said Smith has * * * the plates of which we have spoken. And we give our names unto the world, to witness unto the world that which we have seen. And we lie not. God bearing witness of it." ¶

I want someone who thinks these testimonies are not true, to account for them. ¶

TESTIMONY OF THE SPIRIT - ¶

Those who were in the Assembly Hall this morning listened to the reading of the sixth chapter of Jacob in a silence as profound as I have ever observed in an audience. When you go to your homes, open that book. If you can read the sixth chapter of Jacob as it was read this morning, and can be impressed as was this audience, I believe that a light of heaven will shine into your souls, and bring to you the conviction which we call a testimony, that this is scripture. ¶

II. TEACHINGS OF THE BOOK ¶

A PERVERSE GENERATION ¶

From Helaman, 13th chapter — that odd number 13 — I shall read from the 38th verse, a few words spoken by Samuel the Lamanite prophet, as he stood upon the walls of the city of Zarahemla : ¶

"O ye wicked and ye perverse generations * * * how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?" Does not that sound like scripture? — like the gospel of Jesus Christ? It seems to me that, generation after generation, as Samuel explains, the human family "will choose darkness rather than light." ¶

CYCLES OF HISTORY ¶

Nations go around in a cycle. Out of poverty comes religion ; out of religion come character, honor, industry and dependability; the result is faith. Then come success, prosperity, riches — all the bright lights; but with these, temptation and that darkness spoken of by this prophet arise. Sin, iniquity, wickedness, follow this darkness, and thus again, the causes of poverty return. Within a few generations, we begin with poverty, rise into riches and success, then go back to poverty. Speaking to the people in Zarahemla, Samuel says : "In the days of your poverty you shall cry unto the Lord, saying, O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us?" Then he continues : ¶

/ ¶

HOW TO BUILD MEN ¶

"But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation * * * ye 'have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity." ¶

And does not the world, at this minute, seem to be seeking for happiness in doing iniquity? It is character, it is honesty, it is integrity, sincerity, dependability, that will bring stable success. This Church is struggling to bring up a generation of people having these qualities. The Relief Society conference, just adjourned, was struggling to learn what to do before and after children are born, to make them young men and young women with the qualities of Abraham Lincoln, upon whose life and character no limelight has yet been turned that is strong enough to find a flaw. ¶

A CALL FROM LINCOLN ¶

In a proclamation, March 30, 1863, Lincoln said : ¶

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven ; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our own hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, and to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." ¶

INIQUITY BRINGS RUIN ¶

Can doing iniquity bring happiness? Iniquity is the absence of character, honesty, integrity, virtue, sincerity, genuineness and dependability. It is the want of rectitude and uprightness ; it is injustice, unrighteousness, and wickedness.' Some of its fundamentals are drunkenness, immorality, gambling, crookedness. When I speak against these, I am teaching not only the doctrine of my own Church, but that of every church, of every philosopher. Educators agree that these vices will bring ruin not only to individuals, but to nations and peoples. ¶

PROHIBITION AND PROSPERITY ¶

I shall here refer to only one of these types of evil — the use of intoxicating liquor. The United States is enjoying unprecedented prosperity. The savings of the country in 1926 were five times those of 1914. In that year the savings amounted to but $6.71 per capita, while in 1926 they were $33.00 per capita, an increase of 390 per cent. ¶

Many attribute this unprecedented prosperity to prohibition. The' late Wayne B. Wheeler has said that since the war we have had hundreds of thousands fewer arrests and jail commitments per annum for drunkenness ; that our drink-caused poverty has decreased 74 per cent, and that we have reached the lowest rate of pauperism that has been known in the United States. ¶

John G. Cooper of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers says that prohibition is making a capitalist out of the worker ; that when the saloon closed, the "Poor Man's Club" vanished, that it is being replaced by comfortable homes. He adds that labor is getting greater satisfaction out of an automobile and a decent home than it ever did out of the corner saloon. ¶

No less an authority than Herbert Hoover says that our prosperity is due to the elimination of industrial waste and to the advent of prohibition. When prohibition was adopted we had in the United States 507 distilleries, which produced annually 288,000,000 gallons of distilled spirits ; 130,000,000 of these were made into whiskey. We were maintaining 1,300 breweries, which made annually two billion gallons of beer. There was a saloon in nearly every business block of our larger cities. ¶

HOW STANDS THE LAW ? ¶

Today, anyone who buys, drinks, gives, sells, or has in his pos- ' session intoxicating liquor is doing so contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and contrary to both federal and state laws. ¶

III. LAWLESSNESS AND DISRESPECT FOR LAW. ¶

The National Economic League which is composed of leading and influential men from all the States of our Union, has concluded that the greatest problem confronting our country today' is "lawless- . ness and disrespect for law," due, they believe, first to indifferent public sentiment on prohibition, and secondly, to lax enforcement of the law. ¶

Hoover says it is time for all good citizens to give attention to the following by-products of our prosperity : One, weakening of moral fiber ; two, loosening of family and home ties ; three, youthful criminality ; four, easy breaking of the law by adults. ¶

"god give us men/" ¶

We need in official positions, more men like John Wanamaker. To the end of his days, this man, perhaps the world's greatest merchant, regarded as one of his most valuable possessions a notebook in which were recorded the names of those with whom he had taken the temperance pledge. ¶

When Postmaster General, he passed through the gay life of the Nation's capital without partaking of wine and without serving it upon his table. This unusual conduct brought censure and ridicule ; but this broad-minded citizen passed without flinching through this fire of criticism. ¶

Not infrequently young men were taken into his presence, while millionaires impatient for an audience with him paced his waiting rooms. When wealthy men expressed surprise at his neglect of them, he explained that those who came on spiritual or religious matters had come on the King's business, and that he always attended to the King's business first. ¶

THE DAY OF EFFICIENCY ¶

Not many years ago a lawyer would hardly think of standing before a jury without a few jolts of liquor behind his belt. It is not long since it was the rule to close a business deal with a drink. But that day has passed. In this age of efficiency, no man can trust himself to do business if his mental machinery is impeded by liquor. Competition is so keen that, other things being equal, he who drinks will fail. ¶

In all seriousness I ask if the United States, or the people thereof, have partially lost the old-fashioned virtues of honesty, sincerity, sobriety, virtue; and dependability. ¶

A PERILOUS TIME ¶

Is it a time to look with indifference upon leading citizens and young people who are breaking the law? ¶

In Salt Lake City recently a national officer in one of the social fraternities of the country said that all good citizens ought to be aroused to the seriousness of the situation. "Most of the young men who are in college today," he declared, "are drinking liquor." If so, what may we expect in years not far ahead? ' This subtle menace threatens the very foundations of our constitutional freedom. ¶

IV. APPEAL TO CITIZENS ¶

I appeal to you as good citizens to go to the primaries, to do your duty at the polls, and elect to office men who are concerned with the wishes and hopes of the people, not heeding the bidding of men whose principal interest is money-making. ¶

THE HOUR HAS COME ¶

The hour has come when a call ought to be issued for citizens to stand with the Boy Scouts and pledge allegiance anew to the Flag of the United States and to the Republic for which it stands. ¶

A resolution of the judicial section of the American Bar Association explains that the United States has undertaken to suppress the age-long evils of the liquor traffic ; that when, for the gratification of appetite or for gain, lawyers, bankers, manufacturers, merchants, and social leaders disobey and scoff at the prohibition law, they are aiding the cause of anarchy, promoting mob violence, encouraging robbery, and increasing homicide. Is it not time for us to call out for those who can save our country from lawlessness and ruin ; time for us to exclaim with J. G. Holland, "God give us men" ? Do not the times demand strong minds, great hearts, men whom the lust of office will not kill, whom the spoils of office cannot buy? ¶

THE PRICE OF LIBERTY ¶

American liberty has been purchased by the blood and lives of our ancestors. My own brother's son gave his life in the recent World War in defense of that liberty. The body of my own brother lies buried in the sacred soil of France, where he gave his life in the same cause. ¶

Have such lives been given in vain? Are we losing respect for the Constitution, that document which Gladstone has called "the greatest state document of all the Christian ages" ? Must voices be raised in the tops of these everlasting hills, calling to the people of the United States to come to the defense of the Constitution? Our forefathers, and our own loved ones have spent their lives for its principles. Are we unwilling to cast our votes for those who will honor it? ¶