A Lifetime of Testimony and Gratitude

PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT ¶

I had hoped that during our conference we would have an abundance of time — seeing that we had four days instead of the usual three — in which I might make some closing remarks at the last session. It does seem that we never get quite enough time at our conferences. I know of nothing that has been more interesting to me in these gatherings than the brief addresses we have had upon many occasions from presidents of stakes. Since we quit having overflow meetings in the Assembly Hall we have not been calling on returned mission presidents and presidents of stakes to speak at our conferences, as we have lacked the time necessary to hear from them. ¶

I do not know but that in the future it might be a wise thing for us to have our meetings start at half past nine and half past one, as an hour and a half is sufficient time for most people to eat their lunch, and this would allow two and a half hours for each session of the conference. ¶

Since I became President of the Church, we have always been crowded for time towards the close of our conferences and have had to limit some of our brethren of the General Authorities to very brief addresses, which I regret. I realize that twenty minutes is hardly sufficient time for a man to enlarge upon any idea to a very great extent, and yet I believe that the five minute speeches by our sisters and the very brief remarks by our presidents of missions during our conference have found a warm echo in the hearts of those who listened. ¶

A WONDERFUL CHANGE ¶

One of the things I wished to say at the conference I will say now, and that is that I have never felt happier in my life than over the wonderful change that seems to have come all over the world in the attitude of people toward the Latter-day Saints. It has fallen to my lot now to labor for forty-seven and a half years as one of the General Authorities of the Church. In my early ministry as one of the officials, almost without exception as I traveled around the country, I found a spirit amounting almost to hatred in the hearts of people toward the Mormons. I have found people who would double up their fists and say: "If I had my way I would put all of you Mormons in the Tabernacle, and then turn the guns of Fort Douglas upon you." ¶

I remember that during my three years'ministry in Europe I did not succeed in getting one single line of refutation in any of the newspapers of Great Britain, notwithstanding some of the vilest and most wicked and abominable stories were printed against our people. ¶

ONE PARTICULAR CASE ¶

I call to mind one particular case. I went to London with a letter of introduction from the shipping firm with whom we had done business for over fifty years, to the editor of one of the large papers. This letter of introduction not only vouched for me as a gentleman of integrity and honor, whose word was as good as his bond, but it also vouched for all of my predecessors as presidents of the European mission being ¶

in that same class. The editor to whom the letter was addressed was away, but his assistant, a Mr. Robinson, received me. When I told him I was anxious to refute the seven to ten columns that had been published on different occasions in his paper, he declined to accept a single thing that I would write. He announced that he was convinced that they had published the exact things that ought to be published about the "Mormon" people. ¶

LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION ¶

I answered him that a man may call his neighbor a liar, but that does not make him a liar. Yet he might be honest in thinking that his neighbor had lied. I told him I defied him to furnish a certificate of character from any reputable man or woman for any of the men or women who had furnished him the information that had appeared in his paper. I told him that I had letters of introduction from influential bankers in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and from every non-Mormon banker in Salt Lake City, vouching for my integrity. I had no testimonies, I told him, from "Mormon" bankers. That would be equivalent to my writing a testimony: "To whom it may concern: The bearer, Heber J. Grant, is an honorable man. Very respectfully, Heber J. Grant." ¶

All of my credentials were from those not of our Church. He said: "It does not make any difference what you have. We will not publish anything that you have to say. We believe that we have published the right things." "I know," was my reply, "that you have published that which is false." ¶

At that time all of our missionaries in Great Britain were expected to wear "stovepipe" hats and Prince Albert coats. They seemed to be very particular at that time in regard to dress. They have changed somewhat in the last twenty or more years. ¶

THE ASSISTANT EDITOR ¶

When I got to the door I put my hat on, turned around, took it off and pretended to have an idea. I had had the idea as I was walking upstairs after the boy told me that the editor was out, but that the assistant editor, Mr. Robinson would receive me. I turned around and said: "By the way, my letter was not to you. The editor is out. You are only the assistant editor, and if I remember correctly the young man who ushered me upstairs told me your name was Robinson. Is that correct?" ¶

He said: "It is." ¶

"Do you know Phil Robinson ?" ¶

"Everyone knows Phil Robinson." ¶

I said: "Would you accept any statement that Phil Robinson made?" ¶

"Certainly I would." ¶

"Did he represent the London Telegraph, one of the two greatest (and I emphasized the two greatest, because his paper was not one of them) London newspapers, during the Boer war?" ¶

"Yes, he was their correspondent." ¶

"Were all of his statements received at one hundred cents on the dollar?" ¶

"Certainly." ¶

"Then you would believe anything he says?" "Certainly." ¶

"All right. Buy his book entitled'Sinners and Saints,'and you will find that everything that you have published in your paper is a lie pure and simple. It will only cost you two shillings, and if that is too expensive, I will be very glad to purchase it and present it to you with my compliments." ¶

He said: "You astound me." ¶

I said: "You are not the only person that has been astounded when he has come up against the Mormon question." He said: "Write us half a column." ¶

I said: "Seven to ten columns of falsehoods and a half column of refutation. Small favors thankfully received, and larger ones in proportion. In two hours, you shall have your half column." ¶

MANUSCRIPT [RETURNED ¶

I sent it to him. He kept it the usual thirty to sixty days and returned it with the usual printed slip, many of which I have seen: "The editor regrets very much that he cannot find space for this article." The manuscript was sent back to me. ¶

THE CONDITION IN EUROPE TODAY ¶

What a wonderful change ! When Brother Talmage who is sitting upon this stand presided over the European mission, and today while Brother John A. Widtsoe is presiding over that mission, we have been able to get practically anything and everything that we desire printed in the newspapers. They give us the best kind of notices regarding our conferences there, favorable and honorable notices. ¶

OUR LOCAL MORNING NEWSPAPER ¶

I am grateful beyond expression for the change in attitude of our local morning newspaper. I wish to pay a tribute to them for publishing twelve pages with illustrations of all the presidents of the Church, my counselors, our great temple in this city and all our other temples, and for accepting an article written by one of the General Authorities of the Church, covering the twelve pages. ¶

I am reminded of the fact that some years ago I delivered a sermon in this tabernacle and the report of it was so garbled by that paper the next day that it was about as honest as though a man had said: "I killed John Jones in self defense," and someone had published that this man said: "I killed John Jones," without mentioning that it was "in self defense." ¶

I remember that the president of the great Hartford Fire Insurance company, of which I was the agent at that time (I have had the honor of representing them for more than fifty years) was in the audience at the ¶

time I preached the sermon. The next morning he read this garbled report, and he said to me: "You ought to sue that libelous paper; that is not what you said at all. They have twisted around what you did say, making it altogether different." ¶

Today no one could ask for fairer publicity or for a better article to be written, with illustrations, than the twelve pages that the Tribune recently published to which I refer. I am very grateful for this wonderful change. ¶

A VICIOUS OPPONENT ¶

I remember that when George Q. Cannon was elected a delegate to Congress his right to a seat in Congress was contested. The attorney who went to Washington to oppose Brother Cannon, and in behalf of the man who had received, as I remember it, just ten per cent as many votes as President Cannon, told the Congressmen that we were a vile lot, and went on to say that if a man were opposed to the Mormon hierarchy he was liable to disappear and nobody would know what had become of him; that a man took his life in his hands if he dared to be in opposition to the Mormon people. When he got through President Cannon said to him, calling him by name: ¶

"You pride yourself that than you, no more bitter, no more unrelenting, vicious opponent of this awful Mormon system lives, do you not ?" ¶

"I certainly do." ¶

Brother Cannon said, addressing the committee hearing his case: "Gentlemen, I do not think it is at all necessary for me to answer the gentleman's arguments. He has lived with us for over twenty years. He has a fine dwelling that has cost about $25,000 to erect." Then he sat down and the committee voted for Brother Cannon to retain his seat. ¶

FRANCHISE TO WOMEN ¶

Years later it was suggested that the horrible Mormon problem could be solved by giving the franchise to the women. It so happened that the legislature was in session at the time, and there was not a single non-Mormon in the legislature. Within 48 hours, if my memory serves me right, the women were enfranchised by our legislature. The same identical gentleman who was employed to fight George Q. Cannon's taking his seat in Congress, was sent to Washington to have the franchise taken away from the Mormon women as he said that it only added power to the awful hierarchy. He announced that the Mormons had from two to twenty wives, etc., and that these women were all slaves and voted just as they were told to do by their husbands. ¶

When he got through speaking, President Cannon remarked: "Does it not surprise you, gentlemen, as you are all married, how some intelligent men believe that other men's wives can be bossed." He then sat down. He had killed the gentleman's argument. ¶

However, when the discussion came before the Congress of the United States, the franchise was taken away from the women of Utah, but it was later restored when Utah attained statehood. ¶

PLURAL MARRIAGE ¶

The statement about every Mormon having from two to twenty wives, which has been uttered many, many times, is an absolute falsehood. I presided ecclesiastically for two years over one of the counties during the time that we were preaching and practicing plural marriage, and no individual was permitted to take a plural wife without the written recommendation of the bishop of the ward in which he resided, vouching for his character. Not only that, the president of the stake had to vouch for his character as well. And before he could go into the temple to marry a plural wife the President of the Church had to give him a recommend. I had only two applications for permission to marry plural wives during the entire time I presided over the Tooele stake of Zion, covering the entire county of Tooele, and I refused them both. I said to the first applicant: "What is needed in your family is sufficient brains to take care of one wife and one family, and certainly you cannot get a recommend from me to marry another wife." ¶

To the next man I said: "I happen to have lived in Salt Lake before I came out here, and although you are vouched for by your bishop he is not familiar with your conduct when you are in Salt Lake. I happen to have seen you under the influence of liquor, and your kind cannot get a recommend from me to obtain another wife. It is bad enough to have a man who breaks the Word of Wisdom and gets drunk raising one family, without giving him the opportunity to raise another." ¶

There never was a time in the history of the people of Utah that two per cent of the population were liable under the Edmunds-Tucker act. But it was a very fine argument to say that we imported, as people are saying yet that we do, women to Utah and forced them into plural marriage. ¶

AN INCIDENT IN CHICAGO ¶

The first time I was in the east, in the city of Chicago, in May, 1883, a gentleman who afterward became the general manager of one of the greatest insurance companies in the world, whose representative I was, took me to dinner at the Palmer House. After dinner there were about twenty ladies in the rotunda, and he said to me: "I have invited my lady friends here, Mr. Grant, to meet you." ¶

I was a young man of 26 and it was my first trip east. I never had read a book on etiquette — and by the way, I never have read one since — and so I watched to see what people did so that I might not make a mistake. I noticed after eating that bowls were brought to us with a piece of orange in them. I thought it did not look very much like orangeade and wondered what it was. I saw my friend dip his fingers in the water and wipe them, and so I did the same. ¶

When we came out to the rotunda, I noticed that he kept his hat on, notwithstanding there were ladies there. So I kept mine on. One of the ladies turned to me, after we had chatted a few moments, and said: ¶

"Now — now, really, Mr. Grant, I don't wish to give offense, but would you mind removing your hat ?" ¶

I said: "Not at all, madame, I am only 26 years old, and the horns do not come out on the Mormons until they are 32. You will have to wait six more years." ¶

She blushed and said: "Oh, I have heard that Mormons have horns." ¶

I said: "I supposed you had, but they do not come out, dear madame, until we are 32 years old. I am sorry that I shall have to disappoint you." ¶

FAIR PUBLICITY ¶

Things have changed. We have had some of the very finest publicity all over the country. Occasionally I have seen a picture or two of myself, of Brigham Young and others, together with articles regarding us, that really if I were on a jury, trying the person who was the possessor of the face represented by those pictures I am sure I would convict him no matter what the charge might be. On the other hand there have been better publicity and better articles published about us during this centennial celebration than anything I have ever read before, and I am very grateful for it. ¶

I want to pay this tribute to those who have published these articles and I expect to acknowledge with thanks the many telegrams that we have received. ¶

OUR PEOPLE RESPECTED ¶

When I realize that for years and years not a single person from Utah was ever able to secure employment in Washington, and that today we have several hundred of our people employed there, and when I realize that the delegate from Utah was expelled years ago, and today one of the apostles of the Church is recognized as one of the foremost and one of the most outstanding senators in the United States and respected by the president and his colleagues, I rejoice in this wonderful change. ¶

I rejoice in having had ex-President Taft say to me when I met him upon a trip to Washington: "Mr. Grant, you did not call on me the last time you were here. Now I want it understood that you are never to come to Washington without coming to see me. There is in my heart a warm feeling for your people. I have great respect for them and I want you to call on me whenever you are here." ¶

He was in such a condition of ill health that I couldn't call upon him the last time I was in Washington. I rejoice in the friendship for our people of every president of the United States from President Roosevelt down to the present time. ¶

FRIENDSHIP OF U. S. GRANT ¶

I rejoice in the friendship of Ulysses S. Grant. He sent out a lot of officials whose work and only object seemed to be to destroy our people politically and to take away from us the franchise, and do everything against us that they possibly could. But he came here himself and met the people. He saw 20,000 vigorous, fine children on the side ¶

hill out near where the Catholic cathedral now stands, waving American flags, and young girls all dressed in white singing a song. And as his carriage stopped and they welcomed the president of the United States, he said: "Whose children are, those? Are they Mormons?" When he was told that they were he said: "I have been lied to outrageously." He went home and chopped off the heads of the officials, figuratively speaking, whom he had sent out here, and then sent us some good men. To everybody who undertook to tell him untruths about us he said: "I have been there. I have met them. I know." ¶

HIGH STANDARDS ¶

The one thing I rejoice in is that people are beginning to know that if we are judged by the standard laid down by the Savior of the world they cannot help but respect us. What was the first great commandment of God? To multiply and replenish the earth. We have a higher birthrate, higher than the average of any state in the Union. We have a low death rate. I have been engaged in the insurance business for 58 years. We have a lower death rate than the great life insurance companies. A wicked people never have a low death rate. We have a low divorce rate. We have a low insanity rate. ¶

ARIZONA PIONEERS ¶

The ex-governor of Arizona remarked upon one occasion in a public speech that the Mormon pioneers of Utah who had gone over into Arizona and settled there, the early pioneers of Arizona, were among the choicest and best of people in that state. He said: "In one particular they are being robbed of their share of the public moneys of this state. In proportion to their numbers they are feeing robbed of 2,500 to 3,000 per cent of their share of criminal taxes, because they are entitled to have 25 or 30 inmates in the state penitentiary and have but one. Then again, they are being robbed in that they are entitled to six, seven or eight in the insane asylum and they do not have one." ¶

The very first time I went to Arizona, after hearing this I quoted the governor, and the district judge arose in the audience and said: "Mr. Grant, I am the district judge. That one was from Apache county and he has since been pardoned." ¶

A year or so after that, Governor Campbell, who was successor to Governor Hunt who made the statement that I have quoted, was here at a convention of all the governors of the different states. They came into our splendid office building to pay respects to the Presidency of the Church and as I shook hands with Governor Campbell I told him what I had heard that Gov. Hunt had said and of the one person in the state penitentiary being pardoned. He said: "That is correct. He was from Apache county and he has been pardoned." ¶

BY (THEIR FRUITS ¶

When people stop to reflect upon the statement of the Savior: "By their fruits ye shall know them," and then examine into the record ¶

made by the Latter-day Saints, we are not afraid of the decision that shall be made regarding our people. We rejoice that we are becoming known for just what we are. ¶

I know from my contact with people in early days, of the vindictiveness regarding plural marriage. I have had very many men say: "Why, Mr. Grant, it is a crime morally, intellectually and physically against the posterity of these polygamous marriages." I have said: "I am under the necessity of acknowledging the truth of that statement, because I am the last son of the last wife, and I am a horrible example intellectually, physically and morally, of the fruits of plural marriage among the Mormons." ¶

I can think of nothing that is more gratifying to me than this wonderful change that has come over the people of the world. ¶

I am reminded of an incident wherein a young man applied for a prominent position for which his predecessor had received a salary and commission of a little over thirty thousand dollars a year. This was in one of the outlying states where the Mormons have but few members in comparison with others. In this particular state I do not think we have five per cent of the entire population. The man who had the position to offer said to the young man: "You are a Mormon ?" ¶

"Oh, no," said the young man. "I have outgrown that." ¶

The gentleman said: "Well, we are considering your application with others. Come around at a later date." ¶

In the meantime he sent for the president of the stake and said: "What is the matter with that young man?" He thought that by announcing that he had outgrown Mormonism he would get the job. "Unless you can vouch for his honesty," said this gentleman to the stake president, "he will not get the job. What has he done ?" ¶

The stake president said: "Well, he has been studying psychology, and he thinks he has outgrown Mormonism. But I can say to you that I think he is an honorable and energetic young man." ¶

"Then," said the gentleman, "we will give him the position." ¶

OBSERVERS OF WORD OF WISDOM ¶

The word "Mormon" today is a synonym for an honorable, upright, sober, industrious person, provided the person who is a Mormon is living up to his religion. ¶

We are fundamentally for prohibition. As Latter-day Saints we have as you all know — and if there are any strangers here I announce it to them — that we have in our Church what is known as the Word of Wisdom, which is a revelation given to Joseph Smith, in which we are told to leave hot drinks (and Joseph Smith interpreted "hot drinks" to mean tea and coffee) tobacco and liquor alone; that tobacco is not good for man, and that liquor is not good for man, except for the washing of the body. We are promised that if we obey the Word of Wisdom it will give us physical strength, whereby the destroying angel shall pass us by as he did the children of Israel. And we are promised that we shall have hidden treasures of knowledge if we live in accordance with the Word of Wisdom. ¶

It is only fair to say to our friends who may have honored us with their presence here this afternoon that we have more than 1,000 bishops of wards and presidents of branches in this Church, from Canada to Mexico, and they each have two counselors, and that each bishopric and branch presidency has a clerk. So that we have more than 4,000 men in the different wards of this Church who must pledge themselves to keep the Word of Wisdom, or we do not install them in office. Occasionally men do not live up to their pledges, but unless they repent we tender them their resignation and of course they accept it, as they cannot help themselves. ¶

ENDORSE WHAT -LINCOLN SAID ¶

In addition we have more than one hundred stakes in the Church. A stake includes from five to ten or twelve wards. There are a president and two counselors and a high council of twelve and a stake clerk in each of these stakes. We have more than 2000 men as officers of these stakes who make the same pledge to obey the Word of Wisdom. Therefore, so far as we are concerned, we absolutely believe and endorse most heartily, always have and always expect to, this remarkable and wonderful statement which I am about to read to you, by a man who was loved perhaps as much as any man has been while occupying the presidential chair of the United States after the war closed. Some terrible things were said about him just before the war started and while it was in progress. Lincoln said: ¶

"Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the revolution never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life, his property and his sacred honor. Let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the law be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, in spelling books, and almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. In short, let it become the political religion of the nation." ¶

As I said before, we are fundamentally in favor of prohibition and we feel that any man who violates the prohibition law, the Eighteenth Amendment, as long as it is in force, is encouraging anarchy and shows a lack of that patriotism which should be in the mind and heart of every true American. * ¶

CONSTITUTION INSPIRED ¶

I wish to say to our friends who are visiting with us here today, that the Latter-day Saints believe and have taught from the beginning that God raised up the men who wrote the Constitution of this country; that it was an inspired document, and that the Lord fought on the side of our revolutionary fathers. ¶

It was my privilege to be one of the men who worked to make a ¶

success of the Liberty Loan drives. I was chairman of two of the drives for the State of Utah, until I became president of the apostles. I was present in California at a convention of people known as the Patriotic Committee of One Thousand. And then we had a smaller meeting and I was permitted to be a speaker at both of these meetings. In the latter meeting there was quite a feeling that it looked as though the enemies of the United States and of our armies were going to win. These men were saying that the outcome looked very dubious. I said: "There are some people who have no fear in regard to this matter, and those people are the Mormons. Why? Because we not only believe in the Bible, but we believe in the Book of Mormon, as a divinely inspired record, that it is the holy scripture of the forefathers of the American Indians, that it gives a sacred history of many of their prophets and others. In the Book of Mormon we find the statement recorded that this land — America — is a land of liberty, choice above all other lands, and that no king shall rule here. So we are not afraid of the Kaiser ever winning the war. We are convinced that God is on our side in this great conflict. ¶

TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH SMITH ¶

I rejoice in the wonderful change that has come and the manifesta tion of good will toward our people. We are glad that people are beginning to acknowledge that Joseph Smith was a very remarkable and wonderful man. Although it has been quoted by me a great many times, I am going to close my remarks by quoting from Josiah Quincy at one time the mayor of the great city of Boston, a man who was acquainted with many leading men of his time. He paid a most remarkable tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith. For the sake of our friends who are here as tourists — the Latter-day Saints have heard this quotation many times — I have decided to read it before the conclusion of my remarks here today. ¶

"It is by no means improbable that some future textbook for the use of generations yet unborn will contain a question something like this: What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written:'Joseph Smth, the Mormon Prophet.'And the reply, absurd as it doubtless seems to most men now living, may be an obvious commonplace to their descendants. History deals in surprises and paradoxes quite as startling as this. The man who established a religion in »this age of free debate, who was and is today accepted by hundreds of thousands as a direct emissary from the Most High — such a rare human being is not to be disposed of by pelting his memory with unsavory epithets. Fanatic, imposter, charlatan, he may have been; but these hard names furnish'no solution to the problem he presents to us. Fanatics and imposters are living and dying every day, and their memory is buried with them; but the wonderful influence which this founder of a religion exerted and still exerts, throws him into relief before us, not as a rogue to be criminated but as a phenomenon to be explained. The most vital questions Americans are asking each other today have to do with this man and what he has left us... A generation other than mine must deal with these questions. Burning questions they are, which must give a prominent place in the history of the country, to that sturdy self-asserter whom I visited at Nauvoo. Joseph Smith, claiming to be an inspired teacher, faced adversity such as few men have ever attained, and, finally, forty-three days after I saw him, went ¶

cheerfully to a martyr's death. When he surrendered his person to Governor Ford, in order to prevent the shedding of blood, the Prophet had a presentiment of what was before him.'I am going like a lamb to the slaughter,'he is reported to nave said,'but I am calm as a summer's morning. I have a conscience void of offense and shall die innocent.'I have no theory to advance respecting this extraordinary man. I shall simply give the facts of my intercourse with him. ¶

"A tine-looking man is what the passer-by would instinctively have murmured upon meeting the remarkable individual who had fashioned the mold which was to shape the feelings of so many thousands of his fellow-mortals. But Smith was more than this, and one could not resist the impression that capacity and resource were natural to his stalwart person. I have already mentioned the resemblance he bore to Elisha R. Potter, of Rhode Island, whom I met in Washington in 1826. The likeness was not such as would be recognized in a picture, but rather one that would be felt in a grave emergency. Of all men I have met, these two seemed best endowed with that kingly faculty which directs, as by intrinsic right, the feeble or confused souls who are looking for guidance. ¶

"We then went on to talk of politics. Smith recognized the curse and iniquity of slavery, though he opposed the methods of the abolitionists. His plan was for the nation to pay for the slaves from the sale of public lands.'Congress,'he said,'should be compelled to take this course, by petitions from all parts of the country, but the petitioners must disclaim all alliance with those who would disturb the rights of property recognized by the Constitution and which foment insurrection.'It may be worth while to remark that Smith's plan was publicly advocated eleven years later by one who has mixed so much practical shrewdness with his lofty philosophy. In 1855, when men's minds had been moved to their depths on the question of slavery, Ralph Waldo Emerson declared that it should be met in accordance'with the interest of the South and with the settled conscience of the North. It is not really a great task, a great fight for this country to accomplish, to buy that property of the planter, as the British nation bought the West Indian slaves.'He further says that the'United States will be brought to give every inch of their public lands for a purpose like this.'We, who can look back upon the terrible cost of the fratricidal war, which put an end to slavery, now say that such a solution of the difficulty would have been worthy of a Christian statesman. But if the retired scholar was in advance of his time when he advocated this disposition of the public property in 1855, what shall I say of the political and religious leader who had committed himself, in print, as well as in conversation, to the same course in 1844?" ¶

STATESMANLIKE AND INSPIRED ¶

We as Latter-day Saints say that God, through his inspired prophet, Joseph Smith, pointed the way to save the vast loss of human life, the breaking of hearts and the vast waste of money which the rebellion brought, by selling public lands to buy the slaves. ¶

"If the atmosphere of men's opinions was stirred by such a proposition, when war-clouds were discernible in the sky, was it not a statesmanlike word, eleven years earlier, when the heavens looked tranquil and beneficent?" ¶

It was a statesmanlike and inspired word from the prophet of the living God. ¶

"Born in the lowest ranks of poverty, without book-learning and with the homeliest of all human names, he had made himself at the age of thirty-nine a power upon the earth. Of the multitudinous family of Smith, none had so won human hearts and shaped human lives as this Joseph. His influence, whether for good or for evil, is potent today, and the end is not yet. ¶

"I have endeavored to give the details of my visit to the Mormon prophet with absolute accuracy. If the reader does not know just what to make of Joseph ¶

Smith, I cannot help him out of the difficulty. I myself stand helpless before the puzzle." ¶

All over the wide world the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been proclaimed by weak humble elders, many of whom have never stood on their feet to speak in public before they were sent out into the world. Men and women from every denomination, under heaven, every religious sect, and in every country where the Gospel has gone, have received the witness of the Holy Spirit that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of the true and the living God, and they have sacrificed their families, their friends, their homes and their associates. Many of them, in earlier days, have been turned out by their families, as things of evil because of the testimony that had come into their hearts of the divinity of this work. ¶

TESTIMONY ¶

I thank God for the knowledge I possess by the inspiration of his Spirit that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Redeemer of the world, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. And I thank him that I do know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the living God. I rejoice in having had the privilege of bearing this testimony from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south, in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, in the Hawaiian Islands and in the far-off land of Japan. May God help me and every Latter-day Saint who has a testimony of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged to so live that our lives may proclaim the truth of this Gospel, is my humble prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen. ¶

I want, to say that I have been overwhelmed with gratitude for our marvelous and wonderful pageant. My heart goes out in deep gratitude to those who have taken part in it, I mentioned it at conference, but I want to mention it again today. ¶

We now have on file more than fifty thousand applications for additional tickets to the pageant. I do not know how we are going to accommodate all of the people who want to see it. But we rejoice in the loyalty and, the patriotism of our choir and of all who have taken part in this great pageant. And we are grateful because of the fine reception it has had from all of the citizens who have seen it. ¶