The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-04-06

erned by mans wisdom. Some remarks
had been made during this conference re-
garding the increase of luXuries among the
people. The saints were suddenly becom-
ing rich. A stream of wealth was flowing
among them. Many who recently were
working for their bread were now worth
J thousands.
| Wealth was good under certain circum-
stances, and. there was no improperly in
the people of God being rich, for wealth
would never be dangerous to the saints I'M
less it created class distinctions But if it
lifted one class above another, then there
would be great danger of its becoming
curse rather than blessing. The elders
had carried the gospel to all classes, but
the rich would not receive it because it
came IN contact with their pride and their
vanity, while the poor and the meek had
gathered to Zion. They had done all in
their power to convert the rich, and if they
had failed it was not their fault One of
the first commands given to the church was
that members should conSecrate their sur
| plus property to God, and it was to be dis
trlbuted among the poor, who needed it.
! Joseph Smith labored diligently to bring
| the people up TO that law. In travelling
around. the speaker frequently heard the
saints say they wished they could have the
Uniten Order among them. But that order
could not be established without prepare
tlon, as their own experience showed.
He did not look for any such
thing as the ushering in of the
United Order until the people had
made great progress. Was there faith
enough among taem to make them willing
| to put their surplus wealth into a fund for
the good of Zion? There was a constant
cry for means in every direction, and if the
church had million dollars under its CON
troll 1t could all be spent in works which
would result in benefit to the people.
Church schools or academies had recently
been establishedin nearly every county and
means was needed to sustainuthem. Then
there was some talk of establishing a stake
of Zion in Palestine, and manufactures
were needed among the people. 1t was also
probable that the saints would soon be de-
prlved of the franchise, without regard to
their practices, and bills has been intro
duced in Congress for that purpose, bat at
the same time it would not be an unmixed
evil and he could view the prospect with
compla1en cv. This was because he did not
wish to see class distinctions among the
people, as was apt to be the case where
some of the saints had the fran
chiSe and others were deprived of
it. That was shown by the feeling which
existed among the former class to relegate
the matter to the rear. He viewed with
distrust anything which tended to create
inequalities anon the people He closed
by invoking the blessings of God upon the
saints.
President Woodruff
said that heretofore it had been the custom
to present the authorities and reports of
the stakes on the Sabbath day. He thought
it would be better TO transact that business
on some other day and called upon Presi-
dent Cannon to read the reports.
President Cannon
said that complete reports from all the
stakes had not been received but read the
following general summary:
FINANCIAL REPORT.