The Temporal Affairs of the Church

My Brethren: With you my heart has rejoiced at the love and the blessings which have just come to us from our respected, honored, loved, and revered president, Heber J. Grant. May the Lord vouchsafe to him for many years to come those blessings of life, strength, vigor of mind and body which he shall require to perform the duties and obligations that rest upon him. ¶

We thought that perhaps at the beginning of the conference before we return to the more highly spiritual levels to which President Grant has raised us, that it might be well for me to make a few observations regarding the temporal affairs of the Church — what one might call its semi-business affairs. ¶

Church Finances ¶

I should like in the first place to say that we of the General Authorities return unto the Saints our deepest gratitude for their faithfulness in the payment of tithes. The largest tithing in the history of the Church up to that time came in 1941. In 1942 our tithes increased over fifty percent over 1941. Thus far in 1943 our tithes have increased over 1942 by more than fifty percent. ¶

The Lord has blessed the people in their crops, and he is continuing to bless them. While I do not personally advocate the payment of tithes on the theory that if you pay your tithes the Lord will give you more money, I do earnestly urge upon you the payment of tithes, and a full tithing, because thereby you will have greater joy than through any other temporal activity in which you may engage. ¶

We thought perhaps you would like to know something about the way in which the tithing is spent. ¶

You will recall that the history of the Church, as far as its financial operations are concerned, may be roughly divided into four periods: That which antedated the great revelation given February 9, 1831; that which went on from then until June of 1834; that which went forward from June, 1834, until July 8, 1838, and then from July 8, 1838, until the present time. ¶

The first period down to February 9, 1831, was not marked by any systematic plan of Church financing. The Church was young and few in numbers, but certain great principles were established at that time regarding the expenditure of the funds, all of them looking to the care of the poor and the building of the Church. ¶

The United Order ¶

On February 9, 1831, at Kirtland, the Prophet received the first great revelation on the United Order. We find other revelations bearing upon that subject, the more important concerning it (though it was touched upon in many of the others) are sections 42, 51, 56, 70, 72, 78, 82, 85, 90, 101, and 105. The United Order has not been generally understood, and I think that I may repeat here again what I said on another occasion: that the United Order was not a communal system. It was an individualistic system. Every man was to own his own property. He was required, however, to give the surplus thereof for the benefit of the poor and for the building up of the Church. The United Order and communism are not synonymous. Communism is Satan's counterfeit for the United Order. There is no mistake about this and those who go about telling us otherwise either do not know or have failed to understand or are wilfully misrepresenting. ¶

The Lord tried us for three years to see if we could not set up the United Order; we could not. So then at Fishing River on June 22, 1834, following the dissolution of Zion's Camp, the Lord told us that we should give up the United Order and that he would not reestablish it until Zion was redeemed, and that time has not yet come. ¶

Between that time, June 22, 1834, and July 8, 1838, we again had no regular financial system. ¶

On July 8, 1838, the Prophet prayed: "Oh Lord! show unto thy servant how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a tithing." In response to that prayer the Lord gave the revelations now incorporated in the Doctrine and Covenants as sections 119 and 120. In the revelation printed as section 120, the Lord said: Verily, thus saith the Lord, the time is now come, that it [the tithing] shall be disposed of by a council, composed of the First Presidency of My Church and the bishop and his council, and by my high council [the Twelve]; and by mine own voice unto them, saith the Lord. Even so. Amen. ¶

Tithing Administration ¶

Accordingly the tithing is now administered in the following way: Under the direction of the First Presidency a budget is drawn up, as nearly as may be at the first of the year, which includes all of the proposed expenditures of the tithing. This budget is the result of the careful consideration of the departments which are responsible for the expenditure of the funds. ¶

This budget is then taken before the Council on the Expenditure of the Tithing, composed, as the revelation provides, of the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve, and the Presiding Bishopric. This council considers and discusses the budget so submitted, approving or disapproving, as the case may be, individual items, but finally passing the budget. ¶

The approved budget as it comes from that meeting is then turned over for its expenditures to a Committee on Expenditures, composed of the First Presidency, three members of the Council of the Twelve, representing that council, and the Presiding Bishopric. This committee then passes upon and authorizes the expenditures of the tithing. So that there is a complete check upon all of the tithing which is paid into the Church. None of it is expended except upon the approval and authorization of this committee. ¶

Welfare Program ¶

I would like to say a little something now about the Welfare program. The first move made by the First Presidency in the Welfare program was made in August of 1933, a little over ten years ago, when the First Presidency asked you presidents of stakes and bishops to make a survey. This you did and your reports came in to the First Presidency. Because of its great importance the matter was then taken under advisement and consideration for three years. Then in 1936, the plan was put into operation. ¶

At the time it was put into operation, we called attention to the fact that while its immediate purpose was the caring for the poor, and only temporarily caring for them so far as the individuals were concerned, yet that back of and behind that service there were other considerations, among them being that we should rehabilitate temporally and spiritually those who received the assistance. It was also determined that the principle of help should be the actual need of the individual or family; there was not to be a fixed, uniform amount for each person. Also, in so far as it was practicable, everyone should work for what he received, if he were well. ¶

That program has gone forward in a very remarkable way, and literally thousands have been helped and many families have been so rehabilitated. ¶

But there was another element involved in it, and that was based upon the Savior's principle announced in the Sermon on the Mount, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." And the history of the Welfare movement shows that there has come into the Church an ever-increasing spirituality because of the giving which has been incident to the carrying on of the Welfare work. That giving has been not alone a giving of money or provisions or clothing or fuel, but a giving of manual labor, and of all the contributions the latter has perhaps brought the most of a feeling of common brotherhood as men of all training and occupation have worked side by side in a Welfare garden or other project. ¶

Our achievements for this year in the Welfare program and in the activities connected therewith, have been greatly beyond our dreams. ¶

We have now under cultivation in the Church in connection with Welfare projects some 14,578 acres of land. I think all of this is farmed by voluntary, gratuitous labor. ¶

We have established in connection with the Welfare work 90 bishop's storehouses. ¶

We have set up 65 canneries. ¶

There are in the Church, under the Welfare program, 598 livestock projects, and there are under the direction of the quorums 157 such projects. We have established many manufacturing and processing plants, of which Priesthood quorums have established 30 and other establishments 294. ¶

We do not know just how many families have been rehabilitated in the sense that they have been established in business of some sort of farming, but it runs not far short of 1200. ¶

Supplementary Canning ¶

This year, as you know, we have provided that the canneries should be used by ward groups who might wish to put up fruit. This was done in accordance with the expressed approval of the proper governmental agencies. The figures of what we have done this year through the Welfare plan, through the group canning activities, and through the home processing of fruits and vegetables, are, I think, remarkable. ¶

In group canning we shall have put up during this season 1,253,000 cans. In Welfare canning we shall have put up 849,000 cans, the two together making 2,102,000 cans. ¶

But that is only the beginning. As careful an estimate as we can make indicates that in the wards and stakes, not including the missions, the Church families have put up and have stored in their cellars 42,625,000 cans, or a grand total for the wards and stakes and the Welfare of 44,727,000 cans. We believe that if we included the canning done by Church families in the missions, the total number of cans of fruits and vegetables which we shall have in these three ways brought into storage for the next year, will approximate, if not exceed, 50,000,000 cans. This represents over 1,000,000,000 points. ¶

For this tremendous achievement, the greatest that has come from a unified Church effort in a generation, the most credit and gratitude is due to the sisters of the Church who have done all the home canning as well as the bulk of the canning for the Welfare program and the ward groups. We ask these sisters to receive the heartfelt thanks and congratulations of the whole body of the Church. ¶

Thus we have shown something of what we can do if we set our minds thereto. Furthermore, it should be understood that the home canning has processed much, if not in greatest part, the products of home and group gardens, and of fruits that would otherwise have been wasted. The public supplies of green vegetables and fruits have not been seriously drawn upon. ¶

In the use of all this material we should remember that it should be used carefully and without waste. Furthermore, in so far as we may be permitted so to do under governmental regulations, we should be prepared to remember during the coming winter our neighbors who may be in need. ¶

I am sure we have now demonstrated in this Welfare program, and in the more or less ancillary home canning, in what has heretofore been more or less on an experiment, what we can do, we of the Church, if we set our minds and our hearts on carrying out the admonition of our prophet in becoming self-sustaining. ¶

Spiritual Dividends ¶

This group canning has brought to us this blessing which far outweighs any other that is incident thereto. From all over the Church we hear that it has brought into the wards, where it has been carried on, a feeling of unity, a feeling of brotherhood, or respect for our brothers and our sisters — a desire and willingness to help one another, that we have rarely, if ever, equaled in the history of the Church before. ¶

You will remember that the Lord told his disciples, on the evening of the Passover and thereafter, in His great prayer, that they must be one, and that He expected His people to be one. They must be unified. In our day He has said: "Except ye are one ye are not mine." Therefore, this spirit of unity which this work has brought to us has carried us far along the road which the Lord laid down for us to follow. ¶

It is my prayer that the Lord will bless us, that He will help us still further to unify our efforts — help us to live in peace and quiet and contentment as among ourselves. May He give us the power that we may go with Him, as He said we might, and abide with the Father and Him, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus, Amen. ¶