It Is Always A Refreshing Sight To Witness...

It is always a refreshing sight to witness the large congregation of Latter-day Saints who regularly attend these conferences — men and women who come filled with a determination to serve the Lord and to help build up his kingdom ; who know in their souls that the Lord has spoken in these last days through his servants, that he has revealed his will through the ministration of holy angels, heavenly beings, and that he has established his priesthood in the Church with divine authority to give guidance to the people. ¶

I endorse most heartily the remarks of our President, Heber J. Grant and President Anthony W. Ivins. They are for our benefit and our blessing if we will follow them. I am always glad to report that the Church is growing, that it is increasing in numbers ; and I believe that we as a people are increasing in faith. We have heard from the President as to the good work you are performing in the building of meetinghouses and the amount of tithing of the Church that has been contributed for that purpose. A people no more numerous, no more rich than we are, who will contribute more than two million dollars a year for the building of meetinghouses have a whole lot of good in them. The Latter-day Saints believe their religion after all. We do not practice it as we should. We are not perfect by any manner of means. But we and our fathers before us are of those who have listened to the voice of the Spirit and are really converted to the truth. ¶

A MORE LIBERAL FEELING ¶

During the last week or two I have been away in the Northwestern States mission, visiting with President Sloan, and I have noted with great pleasure the growth and development of the work in that section of the country. I have noted, too, the growth of a more liberal feeling among the people towards the Latter-day Saints. I might almost say there is a spiritual awakening; for in Idaho the governor of the state and other officials in their remarks, made plainly manifest that they desire spiritual thought, spiritual teaching, in connection with their schools and colleges. They said that these things were lacking and they were glad to see that in that state our Church was fostering spiritual development, spiritual thought. Not only is it true in that section of our land, but I think it is true in all sections of it. People are beginning to learn after all that the material alone is not sufficient, and that they must turn unto God. ¶

As we have heard, the Lord has declared that the people, if they are to be maintained on this land, must be a people who will serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ. And I believe that slowly and gradually there is a more liberal spirit growing among the people, with an inclination in their hearts towards the things of God. The Lord will bring testimonies which will foster this feeling. After the testimony of the servants of God comes the testimony of earthquakes, the testimony of the sea, heaving beyond its bounds, through perhaps the force of terrific winds ; the testimony of destruction here and there. These I believe will be more manifest and will more and more bring the people to a realization that they of themselves are powerless, and that they must depend as a people and as a nation upon God. ¶

NOT SO FAVORABLE ¶

We are delighted to know that neighbors feel so well towards us. But I want to remark here, my brethren and sisters, that they have told us things not quite so favorable, even material things. They go around through our country (and there will be tens and hundreds of thousands of tourists in the next few years, traveling all over our country, north and south) and they see in some of our villages and towns the poorest kind of fences, the worst gardens, decaying orchards and an abundance of weeds, which they ought not to see at all. We should improve and beautify Zion, so that people can say that the Latter-day Saints are forward-looking, up-to-date people; and that they have their homes, their gardens, their fences, their orchards and all pertaining to them as spick and span as you could find anywhere in the country. That ought to be, but it is not so yet. Therefore, you sisters, get after your husbands to take up or to do away with the old pole fences and put something else there that looks a little more respectable and modern. ¶

THE CALL FOR MISSIONARIES ¶

The favorable sentiment prevailing throughout the country concerning the Latter-day Saints calls for more missionaries. Missionaries are wanted everywhere. You bishops of wards and presidents of stakes, do you hear me? All over the Church the call is to you for missionaries and still more missionaries. Write it down and do not forget it. ¶

DREAM MINES ¶

We have letters coming to us in the President's office concerning mining and mines, and among others, "dream" mines. Too many of our people, after thirty or forty years experience, are still foolish enough to invest money in "dream" mines. If there is any man here or anywhere who will tell me that a "dream" mine has ever made money or is a success financially I would like to be informed of it. I have never heard of it. ¶

SPEND YOUR MONEY WISELY ¶

So our advice to our people now, as it always has been, is to spend your money wisely, not foolishly. Build up and beautify the country; beautify your homes. Spend your money where you know it is going to do some good. But mining, as President Young said in his time, is for those who understand it. Of course mining is good business. We need the metals, gold, silver, iron — they are all good. But if you have a farm, you tend to your farm. If you are in the dairy business attend to that. Build that up. Do not go speculating in something that you know nothing about ; you are apt to lose your money every time. I speak from experience, for I have lost some myself, though not much ; I was rather cautious, being born Scotch, and did not venture too much. But I lost what I did venture in mining. ¶

I remember talking to Philo Farnsworth at least forty years ago, he was a successful mining man at that time ; and I said : ¶

"Philo, I am thinking of investing in a mine out at Baker City (where I was then living) ; what do you think about it?" I told him of the kind of mine it was represented to be. ¶

He said, "Well, if you want to gamble, it is all right. But if you really want to gamble find a faro game. There are only fifty-two cards in a deck, so that in a faro game you have one chance in fifty-two, because you might hit the right card and there are only fifty-two of them. But in the mining game you have one chance in a hundred." ¶

I took his advice and stayed out of mining. And so, I repeat, let mining or other business that we know nothing about alone, and especially "dream" mines. It is simply a wild dream, and you had better let it alone. ¶

PEACE IS COMING ¶

The winter is coming on, my brethren and sisters. Always we have men out of employment. Let me call the attention of the bishops of wards and presidents of stakes, the leading men of means in the communities, to the importance of trying to provide employment in all your settlements, towns and cities, to help those who are out of employment. Provide work for them if you can. If each one would try to help his neighbor a little, help his brother, we would be a better community and there would be more satisfaction and peace in it. That struggle for peace down through all the ages, which has been sung about, prayed about and prophesied about, is coming still. The world is getting nearer to the millennium. There may be terrible catastrophies, terrible judgments, wonderful things coming upon the earth after the testimony of the elders ; but peace also is coming. Our nation is striving for it. Other nations of the earth are signing up contracts, which may not amount to so much now, but it is all in the direction of peace, and I believe that the time will actually come when men will beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks, and nation will not take up war against nation, neither will they learn war any more. That time is coming, that blessed time that Burns, the poet, 150 years ago sang of when he wrote: ¶

"Then let us pray that come it may As come it will for a' that — ¶

That Man to Man, the world o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that!" ¶

Amen. ¶