Campaign Against Tobacco

Nearly a year ago the First Presidency authorized the Council of Twelve to organize a campaign throughout the Church against the use of alcoholic beverages and tobacco. This was to be a project for all Priesthood quorums, both Melchizedek and Aaronic, which should be charged with the responsibility of keeping their own members free from using alcoholic beverages and tobacco and of assisting all others to do likewise. Further, the Presidency called upon the auxiliary organizations of the Church to cooperate with the Priesthood quorums in giving help to the campaign. ¶

When the revised Priesthood plan went into operation last January, every quorum was advised to begin working on the liquor-tobacco project. From then until now the campaign has been in process of developing and continues so. ¶

Everyone recognizes that this is a work that cannot be finished in a season or a year. For it is expected to reach every home in every ward of the Church and secure a favorable response to the objective of the campaign — win our people away from the use of liquor and tobacco. ¶

This of course will be a campaign of education, a conversion of the intellect, a winning of the heart and securing action by the will. Of necessity time will be required to do these things. Another reason why the campaign must continue beyond the limits of a single year is that boys and girls are growing up and while at the moment they are innocent and clean, efforts must continually be made to keep them so. Hence it is believed that the campaign should go forward on all feasible fronts and utilize every available means of reaching all the members of the Church, especially those living within reach of Priesthood quorums. ¶

Methods of doing this work most certainly require careful consideration. The objective desired is clear and easily understood. But no two persons are exactly alike ; their circumstances and environments differ and the ways of effectively reaching their hearts and wills must be determined by their individual condition and characteristics. Hence tact, resourcefulness, persistence, wisdom and good will must be factors of any and all successful methods. ¶

Efforts to Be Characterized by Love

It is highly important, of course, that workers avoid giving any offense to those with whom they labor. Love and good will must characterize our efforts. Presumably all members of the Church would like to be free from the habits of liquor and tobacco, free from any desire to use these narcotics. An eminent scientist, internationally known, once remarked to your speaker as they sat at the banquet table that he would give $10,000 if he could stop smoking. "I have tried," he said, but tobacco has got me and I know it is killing me." Undoubtedly there are many habitual users in the Church who could quit only by making the most determined efforts. Aside from these there are many dabblers, persons who partake more or less for one or more of a great many reasons. But be they habituates or dabblers, if they are Church members, is it not well to assume that they would rather be non-users than users ? Must not our campaign be based upon this assumption? ¶

Certainly many of the addicts are fine people, good neighbors, good citizens and worthy of the friendship of their fellow religionists. But they have a weakness that some of us, thank the Lord, do not have. (I say this humbly, not boastfully.) Hence they need help, not condemnation. But help will not be accepted by them if it is given offensively. And so I repeat, tact, good judgment and abundant love must characterize successful efforts to win our people away from the use of liquor and tobacco, and to keep them away. ¶

Why do I say that presumably all Church members would like to be free of liquor and tobacco desires? Because they have a feeling or a faith of the divinity of this work. Every grown-up member knows about the Word of Wisdom, a revelation from God. No reasonable person wishes to go deliberately contrary to the "will of God." Certainly he would prefer not to do so. But the cravings and the weaknesses of the flesh and the temptations of Satan are responsible for many slips that the individual in his better moments is sorry for making. Herein lies an opening, a justification, for helpful efforts of his brethren and sisters. These efforts, be it remembered, are motivated wholly by a desire to render a needed service, to give encouragement and strength to him willing to receive them. ¶

The objective sought and the nature of the problem indicate in a general way the method of work that should be employed. In the last analysis the individual is our concern. It is he that we wish to be free from the use of liquor and tobacco. Hence we wish to secure a favorable reaction from him. This means that we must reach him personally rather than in mass. When every individual is free and clean the mass will be free and clean. Our method of work must be based upon this fact. ¶

To win our people away from the use of liquor and tobacco is certainly a praiseworthy objective, but can it be reached ? Yes, in time. But we are not so optimistic as to believe the goal can be reached in a few months or a year. But we are sure that rapid progress can be made by wise, persistent, united and Church-wide efforts. Our faith is based upon the worthiness and the righteousness of our cause. The good of human souls and the happiness of human lives are the stakes for which we strive. God being our helper we shall win the fight of all those who have a living faith in the divinity of this great latter-day work. And so far as they are concerned and in respect to these narcotics Satan will be bound. ¶

Cost of Breaking Word of Wisdom

If our people in the stakes and wards of the Church were now entirely non-users of the things prescribed in the Word of Wisdom — tea, coffee, liquor and tobacco — their economic condition would be vastly more favorable than it is, just as President Grant from this pulpit has many times pointed out. Were we not astonished to see the great size of official figures recently published of the cost during 1937 to the small State of Utah of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes? Somewhat more than $11,278,000 was paid by the relatively few people in this State. This was an average of more than $20.00 per capita for every soul that lives here. (We do not know how much of the total was paid by tourists. Certainly entirely too much was paid by our people.) Let it be remembered these figures do not include amounts paid for cigars and other forms of tobacco outside of commercial cigarettes, nor for bootleg liquors, which amounts are in no wise inconsiderable. ¶

If to all of these amounts we add those paid for tea and coffee we will get a still clearer realization of the great impoverishment Utah is continually suffering by sending out amounts to buy these worse than needless things. For we all know none of these poisonous articles are produced by us. They constitute a continuous drain upon our economic resources. We complain of our high taxes, of the great cost of our educational system, of the heavy burden of our relief load, and of the crushing weight of our farm mortgages. But do we know that Utah pays for tea, coffee, liquor and tobacco more than half the amount she pays for all her taxes — school, city, county and state? That she pays more for these poisons than she does for our public schools, including the colleges and the University, and that they cost more than twice the amount of the relief load ? And that Utah's farm mortgages could be paid in about three years by the savings if all of us kept the Word of Wisdom? Then are we not ready to admit that President Grant was absolutely right when he declared that our people could be economically independent by observing the Word of Wisdom ? ¶

Health and Wisdom Promised

But even so, would economic independence be our greatest gain, big as this would be? Listen. Experience teaches the practical truth of the declaration of Satan as recorded in Job, "All that a man hath will he give for his life." Is not health more to be prized than money ? The great promise the Lord has given the Saints for keeping the Word of Wisdom is stated in these words : ¶

And all Saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones ; and shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures. . . . And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. ¶

Health, wisdom, knowledge, freedom from the destroyer! Are not these of far greater value than money? But a beautiful thing is that when these come by reason of observing the commandments we also keep our money. ¶

A Light unto the World

But these values are not all. Still other wonderful blessings would follow observance. What could they be, do you ask? The answer is simple. In fact and very deed Zion would be as a light set upon a hill; and all the world would see its glorious gleam. Has the Church Security program set the Church upon a hill ? Yes, but the light of this program has not shone and cannot shine with the effulgent brilliance that would flow from Zion if all her people were strict observers of the Word of Wisdom. God would then fulfill his wonderful promises and the results would make the people stand out so prominently and so favorably that the sinful world would be forced to respect and admire them. By this means the Church would preach its doctrines with a speed and a success not yet dreamed of in its history. And who is there that can doubt it? ¶

Even bad and corrupt people admire virtue, honor, integrity and all the other qualities that lift men up on high planes of moral excellence. Suppose that all the world could see that here are a people that sincerely practice all the God-like virtues they preach. What would the wondrous result be ? Certainly the redemption of Zion would not long be delayed. ¶

Brethren and sisters, have we yet really come to know that there is everything to gain by keeping God's commandments? Why do we not keep them? Do not correct observation, reason and experience all teach us the value of keeping them? Why certainly, answers every member of the Church qualified to speak. ¶

Effort Required to Overcome

But in this connection let us remember that it takes a continual, determined effort to live the Gospel. Wherever the Saints are Satan is likely to be also. It is his purpose to handicap and, if possible, overcome the Saints. He and his helpers are not asleep on their jobs. They do not get weary as many of us appear to do. And so we are tempted all the time and, obviously, tempted in our most vulnerable spots, in our weakest places. We all know this. Further, we have short memories, sometimes very short, and frequently slip before we are aware that we are in danger of slipping. These are facts. I recall them to our memories not by way of excusing us for our slips and failures, but to remind us of the need of being ever on our guard. ¶

To live the Gospel requires positive action. Restful repose is a temptation of the Evil One. There is no excellence without labor, no reward without achievement, no blessing without fulfilling the conditions upon which the blessing is predicated. Granted, you say. Yes, and my urge is that we remember these sayings and continually apply them in our efforts to live the Gospel. ¶

And may I remind ourselves that it is not easy fully to observe the Word of Wisdom? Our lack of courage to stand against social customs, our vitiated and pampered appetites, our ignorance of all that the Word of Wisdom teaches and our lack of faith in the true word of the living God are one or more of the reasons why but few, if any, of us fully observe this divinely-given law of health. ¶

Book by Brother and Sister Widtsoe

May I say this document contains "thou shalt" as well as "thou shalt not." Have many of us overlooked this important fact? To bring these things vividly to our attention was one reason why Brother and Sister Widtsoe wrote the valuable little book entitled, "The Word of Wisdom — A Modern Interpretation." To become acquainted with the "shalts" I urge a careful study of the second half of this book. There is now a general recognition of the fact by the experts on the subject that food is the chief factor in the maintenance of health. But the Lord has known this all the time. So early in the history of the Church he gave us his great law of health — the Word of Wisdom. In recent years scientific methods in the hands of able experts have confirmed in great detail the truth of the teachings of this divine law. ¶

Since it is our unquestioned duty to maintain our health, using the means the Lord has placed in our hands to this end, we should be greatly interested and profited by making careful study of the positive aspects of the Word of Wisdom as they are set forth in this new book by Brother and Sister Widtsoe. The negative aspects have very properly heretofore claimed most of our attention. Let us now study the positive also. If we practice the teachings of this book — the shalls as well as the shall nots — the general health of our people will be greatly improved and, as indicated above, the fame of our people will become world-wide. The values involved are therefore so great that, as reasonable, responsible beings, is not our duty as clear as transparent crystal? When we fail, due to unavoidable ignorance, we may in a sense be in the position of those who have no law and therefore may not be judged by the law. But in this day and time no normal adult person need be without at least a fair knowledge of the fundamental facts of nutrition and of what to eat and what not to eat. These facts are clearly set forth in the little book of which I have spoken. These facts are also briefly indicated in the positive aspects of the Word of Wisdom, but they largely escaped our attention, at least we did not seem to appreciate their values until modern science emphasized them to us. ¶

And as matters now stand Latter-day Saints see clearly that Joseph Smith in the Word of Wisdom gave many facts to the world that even men of science at the time knew but little or nothing about. How could he do this? Because the Lord revealed these things to him. He was in very deed a prophet of the living God. ¶

Brethren and sisters, let us sincerely turn unto the Lord and strive continually to live in harmony with his will in so far as we can learn what it is. In no other way can we fulfill the conditions necessary to insure his blessings upon this people and upon this land. The Lord himself has thus plainly spoken to us. ¶

Let us seek him for a desire and for strength to keep our ears open to hear and our hearts ready to respond to his teachings. Amen. ¶