It Is Always A Great Spiritual Uplift...

It is always a great spiritual uplift to attend the conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am grateful with you, my brethren and sisters, once again to have this privilege. ¶

President McKay's great message yesterday, which went straight to the heart of the individual, gives encouragement to the remarks that I thought to make about honesty. The great need of the world is for spiritual quality in men, for depth and altitude of soul, for wealth of inward life, out of which good deeds shall come like a stream from the mountains, with power. But this nobility of character is not arrived at in a day. Its source lies far back in the days of youth, in the practices of restraint and the acquisition of honest thoughts and good habits. ¶

We believe in being honest! ¶

Through the efforts of the American Bar Association and Presidential Proclamation, we now have a new day in America. It comes every first of May and is referred to as "Law Day." Efforts are being made to popularize this day by many national organizations of which the following are but a few: ¶

The American Heritage Foundation, The United States Conference of Mayors, and The General Federation. ¶

The need for such a day to be brought to the attention of America stems from the apparent complacency with regard to the rule of law, devotion to morality, and moral honesty. ¶

In recent weeks, as reported in our newspapers, J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, based upon statistics compiled by this bureau, stated among other things "that since 1950 the crime rate in America has increased four times as fast as our population. For every dollar our churches cost us, our crime is costing us 12 dollars. Bank robberies and fraud have increased with leaps and bounds." ¶

In viewing this appalling situation there are those who say, "Such crimes are committed by the professional criminal, and we will always have them." But, truly, are such deviations into crime and dishonesty expanding only in the so-called ranks of the professional criminal? ¶

In an article appearing in the Reader's Digest not long ago, we learn of the reported inroads of dishonesty made into the ranks of the average person. ¶

A fisherman or a hunter is generally regarded as a "sportsman" with a sense of fairness and of playing the game according to the rules; yet in one month in one of our states, 350 "sportsmen" ¶

were fined for violation of the game laws. An officer reported that there would have been many more had there been sufficient wardens to check the infractions. ¶

Access to the daily press releases of the Federal Trade Commission reveals the mendacity of our sellers of goods — lies about origins, lies about qualities, lies about reduced prices! ¶

Recently, a New York newspaper printed many columns about unscrupulous persons on relief who had dishonestly requested and received more money than the law permits. ¶

The revealed facts of employee and customer dishonesty are most startling. ¶

Chiseling a big impersonal company is not stealing at all, say some. A report of this was made in Look Magazine published the last week of September. ¶

A reputable citizen recently told proudly of returning a five dollar bill to a drugstore clerk who had given him too much change; but when he completed a long distance call from a pay booth and the operator returned his five quarters by mistake, he kept the money without any qualms. "The phone company is so big they won't miss it," he said. ¶

The New Jersey Bell Telephone Company not long ago made a big fuss over a ten-year-old girl who had returned several dollars which she had found in the return slot of a public telephone. ¶

The company tried upon this occasion to impress the fact by having her picture placed in the paper that when a person faces a machine with a moral question, his answer should be the same as when he faces a human being. ¶

During the first ten months at New York's new Americana Hotel, the wellmeaning average guests stole among other things 38,000 demitasse spoons, 18,000 towels, 355 silver coffee pots, 1,500 silver finger bowls, and, believe it or not, 100 Bibles. ¶

Supermarkets are especially vulnerable to the "amateur" thieves, eighty percent of whom are women. One example, 500,000 supermarket shopping carts disappeared last year, at an average cost of $30.00 each, this comes to $15,000,000.00. One expert estimates that fifteen percent of your food bill goes to cover what customers and employees take, salving their conscience with the thought that big companies can afford it. The question is: Can you afford it? ¶

It is estimated that supermarket employees steal the equivalent of $300,000.00 every day. Across the country, employee thefts of money and merchandise are estimated to total two billion dollars a year. Three years ago this was estimated at one billion. Such pilferage has destroyed many companies. An organization has been formed in New York City not to investigate criminal rings, but to suggest methods to big business concerns on how to control employee dishonesty. Much of this is in such innocent quantities that it hardly appears evil at all. Secretaries go home with pencils and carbon paper. Employees use the telephone for personal calls that add up to big money. One executive in a big company said, "If you asked a girl to put down a dime for a phone call, she would think you were crazy." ¶

The fact that moral dishonesty has settled like an evil blanket upon the peoples of all lands is told in an interesting story by Russell Kirk reporting in the National Review, having written the story from a country house in Fife, Scotland. "Once upon a time," he wrote, "a strict Calvinism, whatever its defects, did install a high degree of honesty in the typical Scot. But this week, at the raspberry picking here, the gardener remarked to me, that of the thirty or forty people who came to pick on shares, probably everyone would steal a basket or two of berries if he saw the chance." ¶

These examples of moral dishonesty are not those of the hardened criminal, but rather the average everyday citizen we see go to and from work on the streets of our cities. Civilizations may not fall because of cheating raspberry pickers or dishonest supermarket employees, yet great states do come to an end of their tether when religious sanctions no longer govern the soul of the average citizen. ¶

Well might we ask ourselves this question at this crucial time, "What is it that produces moral and physical dishonesty in the lives of people?" The facts that have been reported here refer to overt acts of moral dishonesty, in a supposedly noncriminal cross section of the people. Can we possibly believe that any act of such dishonesty is born as of that minute when the act is committed? This cannot be true, for it goes back even to childhood where little traits of dishonesty go undetected. I once heard a father jokingly tell of how his little son was always able to find loose change around the house. ¶

Perhaps the urge to take something that does not belong to an employee can be traced back to the lack of respect which adolescents have for the property of others, even members of their own families. ¶

That child or adult who is unaccountable for his actions, disregarding repentance and restitution, weaves into his character the trait of dishonor. Here we see the need of righteousness and kind discipline in the home. ¶

The lack of realism on the part of parents in failing to detect and correct innocent acts of dishonesty in their children can lead to disaster later. The passing over of small amounts of money taken by children, the failure to correct stories told by children which are completely false, can lead to acts of a graver nature later. There are many ways in which the unsuspected seeds of moral dishonesty are planted and which will blossom forth in due time. ¶

Generally speaking, moral dishonesty tends towards insincerity and hypocrisy. ¶

These three are evil companions and can destroy the majesty of the will, nullifying the power of agency. Nothing displeases the Master more than hypocrisy. His frequent denunciations of the Pharisees because of this trait are a matter of biblical record. Of those who are not what they profess to be, the Apostle James has said, "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." (James 1:8.) Following this declaration with another: "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." ¶

(Ibid., 1:22.) An insincere person lives a strenuous life, says Anne Lindbergh. There must ever be restraints against "putting on" ¶

or assuming a superficial front to sway an impression or a credit in our direction. That leader or teacher who is not honest in heart lacks sincerity. Such a one does not live by what he teaches. ¶

The very word itself when traced to its origin means to be honest in our relations with others; a negative message will ever emit from an insincere and morally dishonest person. From my own experience in serving with thousands of missionaries, I have come to know that sincerity is the most necessary of all qualifications. Without it a missionary can't hope to succeed. ¶

The Prophet Joseph Smith, while being held without cause in Liberty Jail, was inspired to say concerning those whose insincerity of purpose had led to dishonest membership: ¶

"How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God than the vain, (insincere) imaginations of the human heart! None but fools will trifle with the souls of men." (DHC 3, 295.) The Apostle Paul urged the Ephesians to serve God with sincerity of purpose and honest intent. Said he: ¶

". . . Be obedient, . . . with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; "Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; "With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: ¶

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¶

". . . in the evil day, and having done all, To stand." (Eph. 6:5-7, 11, 13. ¶

Italics added.) Someone has written a paraphrasing of this of those who take much from life but give little: ¶

"He stands having his loins girt about with religiosity and having on the breastplate of respectability. His feet are shod with ostentatious philanthropy, his head is encased in the helmet of spread-eagle patriotism. Holding in his left hand the buckler of worldly power and in his right hand the sword of influence, and thus shall he stand in the evil day." ¶

In conclusion, I quote the thirteenth Article of Faith of our Church: ¶

"We believe in being honest, true chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul — We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to endure all things. ¶

If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." (Italics added.) I have spoken of but one phase of this article: ¶

"We believe in being honest!" ¶

I bear testimony to the need of this attribute in our daily lives that we may not be deceived by the force of evil in hidden and unsuspecting ways. I bear testimony also of the vitality and truth of the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which we have for the world. In the words of Joseph Smith the Prophet: ¶

"We say that God is true; that the Constitution of the United States is true; that the Bible is true; that the Book of Mormon is true; . . . that Christ is true; that the ministering angels sent forth from God are true, and that we know that we have an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, whose builder and maker is God; . . ." ¶

(DHC 3, 304.) I testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶