Conference Address

My dear brethren and sisters, I trust and pray that while I speak I may be guided by the Holy Spirit of God, that some of my words at least may touch the hearts of some of those who listen. ¶

It is good to meet in these great conferences. Thousands of us are of one mind, of one faith, of one purpose. It is always good to bear witness to the reality of the restoration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I bear that witness for myself that this is indeed the work of God, that we are not following a mistaken path, but that we are walking in the light of truth, and that more than one hundred years of existence of this Church of the restoration have demonstrated the truth, the integrity, and the reality of the work begun under divine direction by the Prophet Joseph. ¶

A Great Heritage ¶

We have a great heritage, we Latter-day Saints, a heritage of doctrine, of practice, of tradition. I know of none like it. Just as these conferences coming every six months stand out as unique in the history of the world, so that which we have inherited from those who have gone before us is equally unique and distinctive. It is our duty to respect this heritage, to honor it, and to use it. Things that are not used are dead. They are of little or no value to human kind. It is only by use that knowledge and all the possessions of mankind blossom into life and become of real value. ¶

If this were a testimony meeting, there are thousands here who would bear witness to their knowledge of the truth of this work. A testimony is a living thing. Like all living things it must be fed and nourished and cared for if it is really to be of service and value in human life and in carrying out the purposes of the Lord. So the heritage, that which has been given us, must be used to become effective in the building of God's kingdom. ¶

We have noble traditions handed down from the past. My mind has been concerned for some time with one of these traditions. Some may say that this tradition is not spiritual, therefore not part of the gospel, but the Lord himself has said to some of his servants in early days that before him all things are spiritual, provided, as I understand it, they are used in the building of God's kingdom. ¶

A Land-Loving People ¶

We Latter-day Saints are a land-loving people. We believe in the land. We are a land-using people. Most of us are farmers, directly or indirectly. Some few years ago — not many years ago — in a census then taken, approximately sixty-five percent, at least, of our people were engaged in agriculture, in tilling the soil, or in making use of the things that grow upon the mountains, in the valleys and on the deserts. That has given us strength. I hope that we as a people will not depart from that tradition. Those who own the land and use it in the end will determine the future of mankind. It will not co'me from those who work in the factories or who live in crowded cities; from those whose feet are planted upon the land will come the great determining factors in shaping human destiny. It has been so in the past. It will be so in the future. We Latter-day Saints must ever remember the sanctity and the holiness of the land given us by the Father. There is safety in the land. ¶

New Industrial Era ¶

Most of us live in the western part of the United States. In all these western states, in Utah, the mother of them all, a new era is opening, an industrial era. Nature has laid down in these western territories large quantities of raw materials, many, most of them perhaps, of a non-metallic character. These deposits will be used more and more in the future. There will be a reaching out to supply the needs of mankind by the use of these raw materials, of which great deposits have been laid down by nature throughout the centuries. I am afraid a good many of us will be tempted to say, "I'll join the industrial procession. I will forget the land." This industrial era is welcomed. There's no question about that; but as it arises, we must keep our minds steadily upon the old established tradition that we are a land-loving and land-using people. We must remember that industry itself thrives best in the midst of an agricultural community. Witness the social troubles of today in our own land. Analyze them, and you soon discover that if we had built, as the Saints a century ago wanted us to build, we would have escaped many of the troubles, chiefly by giving heed to the call of the land. ¶

Strength from Soil ¶

When Joseph Smith laid out his ideal city many years ago, he planned it so that while the farms would all be around the city, every homestead would have a kitchen garden in the rear of the house and a flower garden in front. There was tremendous wisdom in that. Men, no matter what their work may be, or what their daily callings may require of them, if steadily and vigorously they touch the soil, be it ever so lightly or ever so small an acreage, perhaps a back yard, will receive from that contact spiritual strength. There is something in the soil and mother earth that gives strength to all who make things grow on the land. ¶

One great man in our history, Henry Ford, sensing this thing, undertook some years ago to make arrangements by which all the employees of one of his factories might be provided with homes surrounded by a little acreage, on which the owners might toil or play throughout the year, and thereby take away the monotony that follows work in a factory. The plan has only partially been carried out as yet, but thinking men are looking in that direction for social safety. ¶

Some years ago, at the time of the first great war, we undertook in Salt Lake City, in common with other cities, to raise all the foodstuff we could on vacant lots and in the back yards of the city. We were not successful in converting all of them to small farms, but quite a number were so converted. When the season was over and we took an inventory of what we had done, we found that six hundred thousand dollars worth of food had been raised in the back yards and vacant lots of Salt Lake City. That was a real contribution to our war needs in those days. ¶

Reclamation of Land ¶

Our young people often say, "There is no more land, none for us." To my office come quite regularly men, usually young men, who want to know where to go to find new land. There is much land still available in the west. We can make more if we want to, for nearly all of these western states lie under irrigation. I trust you of Utah will not feel embarrassed when I tell you that the water now used in the state of Utah could be made to serve twice the area now being served. We have it in our own power, with the canals and reservoirs and conditions that exist today, to double the area of cultivated land in this state alone. The same holds true in nearly all the western states. Moreover, it is a pity that the hundreds of pioneer irrigation projects in this and neighboring states, built by the pioneers in their poverty, with their small means and poor tools, remain unfinished. In the state of Utah alone we have hundreds of pioneer irrigation projects waiting for modern pioneers to finish them with modern appliances, modern means. That is the challenge of the pioneer spirit to young and old. We are fixing our eyes too much upon the great projects. They will come, but meanwhile the little projects scattered all over this western country should be our first obligation as individuals, as communities. The states and federal government will and must take care of the larger ones. ¶

Fertility of Soil ¶

I have noticed also, to my sorrow throughout a rather long life now, that the fertility of our soils seems to be diminishing. Our crop yields are not what they were some years ago, using the same kind of methods as we used then. There seems to be a diminution. That is not the way we should preserve our heritage. When the pioneers came into the west, they found great areas of land made fertile by centuries of sunshine, wind, and rain, frost, and summer heat. Plant food lay upon the top of the soil, so to speak. We have used it, but have not paid back what we have taken from the land. In spiritual and in temporal matters the law of paying for what man gets is ever uppermost. ¶

You farmers who are here, you children of farmers, you understand what I mean. The soil is a willing servant. It yields to the farmer if the farmer treats it right. Forty-nine or fifty years ago this last June I visited the great Rothhamsted Agricultural Experiment Station, the mother of the hundreds of experiment stations in the world. The head of the station kindly spent a day with me. He took me to a rolling hill, rather two hills with a valley between, and showed me about ten strips of the same crop, originally, then in full blossom. One was red, another blue, and still another yellow, each one bearing a different color. As we stood admiring the scene in the beautiful English June sunshine, he said, "All that has come because we have asked the soil to do certain things in a certain way, and the soil has responded. That which we started with has disappeared under the influence of our culture." Nearby, was another field where wheat had been grown continuously for fifty years. The soil still tried its best to do its duty, but there was only a small yield. In a nearby field, properly handled, the wheat stood high, comparable with the best. ¶

Man has control over the earth. The Lord has given us mastery. We are not servants upon the face of the earth. We should use that mastery to preserve our heritage. This theme may not be directly spiritual, but it is important to help us in our spiritual lives, perhaps as important as anything that we give our attention to as a people. ¶

Guiding Principles ¶

I rejoice at the testimonies borne here today and yesterday. I have enjoyed them very much. I have been thrilled by them. I could see running through the talks the age-old principles that have made us what we are today, a great people, new witnesses of Christ. I saw in the talks the foundation stones of this work here mentioned one after the other by those who spoke yesterday. Faith has always been the most important cornerstone of our lives in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is basic to know that God lives, that the story of Joseph Smith is true, that the Lord loves us, and has a great destiny for us. Every speaker touched upon that. Another foundation stone is that we must seek intelligence, education, learning, knowledge. I was thrilled by the quotation made by President [Levi Edgar] Young yesterday, showing how the early hard-handed farmers of middle age or beyond gathered after the day's toil to study Latin, Greek, and subjects of the mind. We must not forsake the tradition of education. Our fathers set up also the doctrine of industry. There is no place for idleness. The idler, the deliberate idler, has no real place in the kingdom of God. All these principles have been bound together by another foundation stone, helping one another, which we call in modern language "cooperation." We cannot be individual members of the Church sufficient unto ourselves. The very fact of membership in the Church and our testimonies compel us to think of our neighbor as we go through life. With these guiding principles: faith, education, industry, and cooperation, with our feet firmly on the land, we are safe. Disaster cannot overtake us. ¶

Now these principles and others were mentioned yesterday. They are always mentioned. There is nothing new in the age-old gospel taught by the Lord to Father Adam when the story of man upon this earth began. ¶

I am grateful to be a member of this Church, to be one with you. I trust I am one with you. I am grateful for the blessings that flow to those who are faithful in this great work. May we all be faithful and worthy of the blessings we need and desire, I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶