Conference Address

My brethren, I think perhaps if I were as wise as I ought to be, I would endorse, as I do fully, all that has been said by President Evans and President McKay, bear my testimony, and take my seat. However, I suppose that perhaps you expect me at least to try to say something and I shall meet, so far as I can, at least part of your expectations. ¶

I hope that the very few minutes that I shall stand before you, I may really have an interest in your faith and your prayers. I am not saying this idly, I am saying it because I know and you know the power of prayer, and that if I am aided by your prayers, I will be able to say a little something, at least that may be helpful to all of us. ¶

Losses Resulting from War ¶

I should like Brother Evans' permission to refer to one of his observations, and that is as to the losses we suffered during the last war and as a result of that war. I am not speaking now of the loss of loved ones, great as that loss was. I wonder if I can strike at the very root of the loss. You cannot fill the hearts of men with murder and then have a normal world. When you get hate into the hearts of men, anything can happen — lying, cheating, stealing, immorality, and the thousands of other things that follow. For when we lose our regard and respect for human life, we have very little left. And that is one reason why the Church has taken the position it has taken regarding compulsory military training; because the military men may speak as they wish — I have been rather close to them in years past and have been among some of the best of them — but I tell you that to make an army, you must teach to kill and that must be the thing that you get into the hearts of these young people. And, I repeat, plant that once in their hearts and everything else is possible. ¶

I am going to push the problem one step farther. So far as one can judge, the next war is now planning under a system that will call for the use of weapons which will wipe out cities and, if necessary, nations. I have had it reported — I do not know how accurately— that our military men are saying that if we had a forty-eight hour lead, the war would be over. How many of us brethren are really horrified by the thought of the indiscriminate, wholesale slaughter of men, women and children — the old, the decrepit, the diseased; or are we sitting back and saying, "Let's get at it first." ¶

How far away is the spirit of murder from the hearts of those of us who take no thought in it? We have travelled a long distance since the opening of World War I. ¶

Course of International Relations ¶

There is not time for me tonight to trace, even briefly, the course of international relations since the day when the great Grotius wrote his great work concerning war and peace; but I would like to say to you this: That when we went into the Civil War, there was no rule or regulation of war, and I would like to say to you, further, that the United States Army— the Union Army — drew up the first Military Code that the world has ever known. It was drawn by Francis Liebert, a political exile from Germany, and it is known as General Order 100. And I should like to tell you, briefly, that it provided that unfortified places should not be bombarded, that works of art should be sacred, that hospitals should be protected, that non-belligerents should not be killed, that the children, the aged, the infirm, the mothers and the babes at their breasts should be preserved, and it was sought to make war as human as an agency of Satan can be. Today, we sit quietly, with our consciences scarcely stricken when we contemplate Nagasaki and Hiroshima where we introduced the use of the Atom Bomb. Now, if you want to know where the losses of war are, that great field to which I have referred is where you can look. ¶

Principle of Unity ¶

I want to revert to my favorite theme in these Priesthood meetings, that of unity; and I do urge you brethren to come to a unity of faith in your feelings, one with another, in your ministrations among the people, in your administering of the affairs of the Church. I hope that we shall not have brought to the ears of the First Presidency, more situations where Bishops and Presidents of Stakes cannot agree. You Presidents of Stakes have no right to try to impose your will upon the Bishops; and you Bishops have no right to resist the counsel of the Presidents of Stakes, because you feel somewhat differently. Work together. Make mutual concessions on matters of opinions. There are precious few all-wise men in the world. ¶

Relief Society Wheat ¶

One more point I would like to touch: Some of you older men here have been through what I have been through out in the fields. I do not recollect the days of the scythe, but I do remember the days of what we called the "dropper," which was a great advance over the scythe. And you who know about it will remember that you had to have enough men scattered around the field to bind the grain as fast as it was cut. The next advance was where it was raked off at the side, and then we had the self-binder, etc. ¶

In the early days of this Church, in the days of the scythe and the "dropper," while it was felt that we might have trouble to get enough to eat, the Relief Society was asked to begin to accumulate wheat. And how did they do it, brethren? They were to go out in the fields and glean after we men had taken out of the field all that we thought was worthwhile. And to those of you who have bent in the sun, as some of us have, and had the sun bake your backs as you bound the grain by hand, working as perhaps you had not worked before, and maybe since, so that you know the heat, dirt, and the discomfort and all the rest of it — I want you to think about the women that we afterwards let go into the same hot fields where we had cut the grain and taken all we cared to garner, that they might glean, pick up the occasional wheat heads we had left. This wheat which the sisters so gleaned, was hauled into the yards and threshed. Over the years, it accumulated in their bins until they had three hundred or four hundred thousand bushels, wheat laid up against a day of need. Enough to give bread for one year to 50,000 or 60,000 people. ¶

Then we got into international trouble and the Government came along and took it and paid us for it. The Presiding Bishop handled this wheat fund for years, paying to the Relief Society an interest return thereon. When the Welfare Program was set up, we reinvested the money in wheat. ¶

Building for Women ¶

But in the meanwhile the sisters had been promised a building and they began to build what we now call the Presiding Bishop's Office. The sisters thought it was to be their house, but time went on and the Presiding Bishopric needed it — not this Presiding Bishopric, I do not know what they would do about it if the situation arose now — but the Presiding Bishopric then needed the building, so they took it, and it became the Presiding Bishop's Office. Well, I hear of some Bishops who expect the Relief Society to furnish the money to run the Ward. I am always reminded, as I think about such a situation as between a husband and the wife, of the farmer's wife who makes a little butter and gathers a few eggs, etc., you brethren know — she gets a little money and father gets into financial trouble and does not have any money to pay his taxes or other obligation, and so he "borrows," he "borrows" Mother's money and too often never gets where he can pay it back. ¶

You know these women of ours are as near angels as some of us are going to see for a long time. ¶

Now, these Relief Society sisters are starting out with high hopes and a great deal of confidence in the Presiding Bishopric — they want to build a building for themselves. There has been some talk about it as being the wrong time. It is nearly always the wrong time for Mother to have a little bit of money. ¶

Now, brethren, Bishops, let us see if we cannot help them a little. I know no reason why we should not, and every reason why we should. If there is any Bishop in this Church who thinks he can get along without his Relief Society, he does not yet know his job. And if he is getting along without his Relief Society, he is not doing his job. So, I ask you, brethren, not to hang back in helping your wives in this matter. They are not going to ask you for much, five dollars, I believe — any one of them is worth five dollars. Let us hear no more sour talk about this Relief Society Building. ¶

The Condition of Our Hearts ¶

Now, I want to return — and then I will close — to this question of the condition of our hearts. Brethren, I beseech you, put hate out of your hearts, fill them with the love of your fellow-men and bring into your consciousness the enormity of the crime that is contemplated and pray God that some way may be found to avoid it. If the nations will seek for peace in the spirit of the peace of Christ, it will be found. I fear they will not do it. ¶

God give us strength to live our lives day by day, give us the testimony that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph was the Prophet, build the testimonies we already have until they fill our beings, to the upbuilding of our strength, our determination to do the will of God, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus, Amen. ¶