Conference Address

I will now read the financial statement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ¶

The ordinary procedure in the expenditures of the Church funds is as follows: The Committee on Distribution of Tithing, consisting of the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve, and the Presiding Bishopric, meet and consider the budgets thereunder, submitted by the various departments of the Church. They approve those budgets as they may be modified by them and then the distribution of the budgets is turned over to the Expenditures Committee. Realizing that the costs are rising in almost everything, we provide a cushion of a million dollars which could be added to the budgets of any or all the departments that might need them. I believe that all of them have had to call for help. Nevertheless, we live within our budget. ¶

[Transcriber's note: Part I — Cash Expenditures Budgeted from Church General Funds (chiefly from the tithes) for 1948 — is reproduced in the printed Conference Report as a photographic financial table. The Internet Archive OCR did not capture it as legible text, so it has not been transcribed here; recovering these figures requires a page-by-page collation against the scan. The narrative report resumes with Part II.] ¶

Part II— Cash Expenditures, Other Than Tithing, from Contributions by Members of the Church, for the Year 1948. The expenditures budgeted from Church general funds and paid principally from the tithes are detailed above. The following expenditures were made from further contributions by members of the Church: paid for stake and ward building purposes, $3,596,839.00; expended for stake, ward and mission maintenance purposes, expenses of auxiliary organizations and for recreation, $3,196,468.00; expended from ward and mission fast offerings, $1,095,893.00; expended from welfare contributions, $956,935.00; assistance rendered missionaries, $220,629.00; expended from dues of General Boards, children's contributions to the Primary Hospital, and donations to temples, $254,410.00; expended by Church schools, in addition to amount listed under budget expenditures, from funds derived from tuitions and other sources (estimated for 1948-49 fiscal year), $1,552,761.00. Total cash expenditures from contributions by the Church membership, other than tithing, $10,873,935.00. Expended by the hospitals for the care of the sick, in addition to the amount paid from the tithes and included in Part I, $60,778.00. Total budget cash expenditures by the general Church offices, brought forward from above, $15,467,080.00. Total cash expenditures of the Church for the year 1948, $26,401,793.00. ¶

Part III— The Church Welfare Program. Fast Offering Data. Number of Church members who paid voluntary fast offerings and welfare contributions: in the wards, 173,546; in the missions, 48,422; total, 221,968. Amount of voluntary fast offerings and welfare contributions: in wards, fast offerings $858,004.00, welfare contributions $963,709.00; in missions, fast offerings $102,854.00. Total fast offerings and welfare contributions, $1,924,567.00. Percent of Church membership who paid fast offerings, 23.13%. Average fast offerings per capita in wards, $1.11; in missions, 54¢; wards and missions combined, $1.00. Average fast offerings and welfare contributions per capita in wards, $2.36. ¶

Welfare Program Cash Expenditures, all included in figures given above but segregated here: expended from ward and mission fast offerings and welfare contributions for the care of the needy consisting of food, clothing, rents, light, heat, hospitalization, burials, etc., and for the purchase of commodities for storehouses, $2,052,828.00; disbursed by the General Welfare Committee for the operating costs of storehouses, for the overhead expenses of the General Committee and for the shipment of relief supplies to Europe, $422,475.00; disbursed by the Corporations of the President and Presiding Bishop for direct assistance and for contributions to civic, denominational and educational institutions, $631,805.00; expended by the hospitals for the care of the sick, $60,778.00. Total relief cash expenditures for the year 1948, all included in above grand total of budget and other cash expenditures, $3,167,886.00. This is an increase over the year 1947 of $239,074.00. ¶

Welfare Report. The General Church Welfare Committee makes the following further financial report, with a statement indicating the production and distribution of bishops' storehouse commodities during the year 1948 and inventories at the close of the year: Summary of the Annual Report of the Church Welfare Plan, December 31, 1948. ¶

Financial Report. Present Net Cash Value (in round numbers): current assets, $1,670,000.00; inventories (principally commodities), $1,000,000.00; fixed assets (land, buildings, etc.), $4,930,000.00; total, $7,600,000.00. The fixed assets include Deseret Industries; Deseret Mills and Elevator; Deseret Clothing Factory; Deseret Coal Mine; 115 bishops' storehouses, including 58 canneries; farms, ranches, dairies and other production properties, including 23,648 acres of land and improvements. These were acquired with funds from the following sources: cash from general Church funds, $1,400,000.00; cash from wards, stakes and regions, $2,900,000.00; donations of labor and property, $600,000.00; total, $4,930,000.00. ¶

Production, Distribution and Inventory of Commodities for Bishops' Storehouses. Production during the year 1948 amounted to 1,725,000 quarts of canned produce; 8,900,000 pounds of fresh vegetables, fruits, grains and grain products; 780,000 pounds of animal products and other foods; 950,000 pounds of cotton, hay and wool; 8,000 tons of fuel; 270,000 articles of clothing, household supplies and furniture. The production in 1948 was approximately the same as a year ago. ¶

The distribution in the United States and Canada amounted to 1,000,000 quarts of canned produce; 3,900,000 pounds of vegetables, fruits, grains and grain products; 760,000 pounds of animal products and other foods; 9,000 tons of fuel; and 385,000 articles of clothing, household supplies and furniture, etc. The value of the articles distributed is $955,483.00, which is an increase of 20 per cent over 1947. ¶

The Bishops' Storehouse inventories, amounting to 1,500,000 quarts of canned produce, 5,000,000 pounds of grain and fresh vegetables and 800,000 other items, having a total value of $930,000.00, are a little higher than the inventories of a year ago. ¶

In addition to distribution in the United States and Canada, as reported above, there have been sent from welfare stocks to foreign missions 473,000 quarts of canned produce, 49,000 pounds of meat and lard, 900,000 pounds of grain and grain products, and 10,000 bars of soap and miscellaneous items. The total relief supplies sent to foreign missions to March 15, 1949 (shipments commenced October 29, 1945) amount of 41 freight carloads of clothing and 86 freight carloads of food; a total of 127 cars. The value of these commodities is $1,150,000.00. They were shipped at a cost, including transportation, cartons, insurance, etc., of $500,000.00, a total of $1,650,000.00. They were sent to Austria, Belgium, Great Britain Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, German Netherlands, Norway, Japan, China, and Tahiti. ¶

Assistance Rendered. There have been from 17,913 to 55,460 persons assisted through the bishops' storehouse program each year since 1938. In 1948, there were 32,779 persons so assisted in the United States. This is an increase over 1947 of 8,321 persons. We also sent to Europe food and clothing to help 17,000 persons, or a total of about 50,000 persons assisted in 1948. ¶

During the past eleven years, and outside of Europe, more than 1,543 families have been helped to become self-supporting, and 11,923 persons have been assisted in other ways. In addition to these, $614,523.00 has been paid in wages to persons working at Deseret Industries. These individuals, most of whom are handicapped or aged and therefore not able to earn a livelihood in commercial pursuits, have collected and processed $1,012,713.00 of salvage materials from which sales have been made amounting to $956,562.00. During this same period, the Deseret Clothing Factory, another employment-furnishing project of the Welfare Plan, has paid $245,185.00 in wages to an average personnel of between twenty and thirty-five employees, many of whom are widows and elderly persons. ¶

Food Processing in Welfare Canneries and Mill and Other Production Projects. During 1948, 1,700,000 cans of produce and 3,900,000 pounds of flour, cereal and miscellaneous items were processed for the bishops' storehouse program. 21,000 individuals using welfare canneries processed, for their own use, 1,400,000 cans of food. ¶

To produce the 1948 budget, 496 crop projects and 206 livestock projects were operated, on which 70,000 man-days of work were donated. For purposes other than the production of the budget, 262 crop projects, 89 livestock projects and 66 manufacturing projects were operated during the year. ¶

Persons Relinquishing Government Relief. Obedient to the commandment of the Lord that men should be self-supporting, looking to the Church for necessary help, 2,929 persons have, during the past six years, relinquished their position on government relief rolls. Of this number, 1,291 have been rehabilitated and are receiving no aid from the Church nor, so far as known, from any other gratuitous source; 1,082 are yet receiving part of their support from the Church; and 556 are receiving all their needs from the Church. ¶

Placement and Counseling Service. During 1948, 2,964 persons were given occupational counseling resulting in the solution of their employment problems, and 2,805 other persons were placed in remunerative employment. ¶

Emergency Activity. During 1948 the Welfare Program was again called upon to meet a flood catastrophe similar to the ones in Arizona in 1942, on the avenues in Salt Lake City in 1945 and in Mt. Pleasant in 1946. In May of last year, the waters of the Columbia River and its tributaries forced 65 families, consisting of 260 members of the Portland Stake, from their homes and did considerable damage to farms owned by members of the Lewiston Ward of Spokane Stake. ¶

During the afternoon of rescue and evacuation in Vanport, the Portland Stake and University Ward welfare organization acted with such efficiency that they either manned or assisted in manning every rescue craft and conducted such a thorough survey of the rescued and evacuated persons that before nightfall, every known Church member in that area was located and provided for. There was no loss of life. Through the generosity of more fortunate Church members many more homes were opened than were needed. Permanent housing was later supplied for 35 families. The emergency distribution in the Portland Stake consisted of 8,815 articles of clothing, 2,649 cans of food, 1,076 articles of bedding and 441 miscellaneous household items. ¶

Through the fine efforts of the members of the Portland and Spokane Stakes, little suffering among the Church members resulted from the flood. This is another demonstration of what can be done when production facilities and bishops' storehouses have been set up and the Welfare Organization is put into operation. ¶

During last year we spent on new construction from the General Funds of the Church $5,722,000. There was a local participation in this of $3,710,000 or a total of $9,433,000 for new construction. ¶

We spent all told on our educational program within $2,700 of $4,000,000 and thus we have expended for new buildings in the Church and for educational purposes a total of over thirteen millions of dollars. ¶

Now, brethren and sisters, it seems that those figures teach us a lesson. We cannot go on at this rate. We have found that sometimes bishops, in their desire to provide proper quarters, have adopted plans and attempted to carry them out that were way beyond the means of the people and so we have made it a rule in the Expenditures Committee — I suppose more honored in the breach than the observance, but a rule we shall try to enforce — that hereafter no bishop will have his request for a building approved until he has presented the full plan to the members of his ward and has their approval for the expenditure. We have not money for luxuries. We must spend within our income. We are solvent and expect to remain so if we sit on the lid. ¶

President Smith and President McKay remind me that the figures which I have given you here do not include the expenditure by families and the missionaries themselves for their maintenance in the field, which is over $3,000,000, thus making a total expenditure by this people of over $30,000,000 in 1948. ¶

Now, brethren and sisters, we must take a reef in the sails. We are carrying too much sail in a sea that may get pretty rough. ¶

Report of Church Auditing Committee. Elder Orval W. Adams read the report of the Church Auditing Committee as follows: ¶

Salt Lake City, Utah, April 1, 1949. Dear Brethren: Your committee has reviewed the annual financial report of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the year ending December 31, 1948. The accounting system is modern and we commend those who have the responsibility of keeping the records. Great care has been exercised in the preparation of a comprehensive budget system which provides a control to safeguard the expenditure of the funds of the Church. The funds are being carefully conserved and are being expended only after thoughtful investigation and consideration. Our review of the records discloses the Church to be in strong financial condition and free from debt. Respectfully submitted, Orval W. Adams, Albert E. Bowen, George S. Spencer, H. H. Bennett, Church Auditing Committee. ¶

We are trying to look after ourselves in the way of having somebody look over the records and see that we are making a proper expenditure of Church funds. ¶

President David O. McKay presented the General Authorities of the Church as also the General Officers and General Auxiliary Officers, and they were unanimously sustained, as follows: ¶

General Authorities of the Church. First Presidency: George Albert Smith, Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; J. Reuben Clark, Jr., First Counselor in the First Presidency; David O. McKay, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. President of the Council of the Twelve Apostles: George F. Richards. Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: George F. Richards, Harold B. Lee, Joseph Fielding Smith, Spencer W. Kimball, Stephen L. Richards, Ezra Taft Benson, John A. Widtsoe, Mark E. Petersen, Joseph F. Merrill, Matthew Cowley, Albert E. Bowen, Henry D. Moyle. Eldred G. Smith, Patriarch to the Church. The counselors in the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, and the Patriarch to the Church as Prophets, Seers and Revelators. ¶

Assistants to the Twelve: Marion G. Romney, Clifford E. Young, Thomas E. McKay, Alma Sonne. Trustee-in-Trust: George Albert Smith, as Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ¶

The First Council of the Seventy: Oscar A. Kirkham, Levi Edgar Young, Seymour Dilworth Young, Antoine R. Ivins, Milton R. Hunter, Richard L. Evans, Bruce R. McConkie; Joseph L. Wirthlin, First Counselor; Thorpe B. Isaacson, Second Counselor. ¶

Church Historian and Recorder: Joseph Fielding Smith, with A. William Lund as Assistant. ¶

Church Board of Education: George Albert Smith, Adam S. Bennion, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Joseph F. Merrill, David O. McKay, Franklin L. West, Joseph Fielding Smith, Albert E. Bowen, Stephen L. Richards, John A. Widtsoe; Frank Evans, Secretary and Treasurer. Commissioner of Education: Franklin L. West. Seminary Supervisors: J. Karl Wood, Joy F. Dunyon. ¶

Auditing and Finance Committee: Orval W. Adams, George S. Spencer, Albert E. Bowen, Harold H. Bennett. ¶

Tabernacle Choir: Lester F. Hewlett, President; J. Spencer Cornwall, Conductor; Richard P. Condie, Assistant Conductor. Organists: Alexander Schreiner, Frank W. Asper, Roy M. Darley, Assistant. ¶

Church Welfare Committee Advisers: John A. Widtsoe, Alma Sonne, Albert E. Bowen, Antoine R. Ivins, Harold B. Lee, Oscar A. Kirkham, Marion G. Romney, LeGrand Richards, Thomas E. McKay, Joseph L. Wirthlin, Clifford E. Young, Thorpe B. Isaacson. General Committee: Henry D. Moyle, Chairman; Harold B. Lee, Managing Director; Marion G. Romney, Assistant Managing Director; Wm. E. Ryberg, Mark B. Garff, Roscoe W. Eardley, Leonard E. Adams, Paul C. Child, J. Leonard Love, T. C. Stayner, W. T. Lawrence, Lorenzo H. Hatch. ¶

General Auxiliary Officers of the Church. Relief Society: Belle Smith Spafford, President; Marianne Clark Sharp, First Counselor; Velma N. Simonsen, Second Counselor; with all the members of the board as at present constituted. Deseret Sunday School Union: Milton Bennion, General Superintendent; George R. Hill, First Assistant Superintendent; A. Hamer Reiser, Second Assistant Superintendent; with all the members of the board as at present constituted. Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association: Elbert R. Curtis, General Superintendent; A. Walter Stevenson, First Assistant Superintendent; Ralph W. Hardy, Second Assistant Superintendent; with all the members of the board as at present constituted. Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association: Bertha S. Reeder, President; Emily H. Bennett, First Counselor; LaRue C. Longden, Second Counselor; with all the members of the board as at present constituted. Primary Association: Adele Cannon Howells, President; LaVern W. Parmley, First Counselor; Dessie G. Boyle, Second Counselor; with all the members of the board as at present constituted. ¶