Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-04-06

I ~ enormous In the Office OF the pre-
! siding bishopric the amount Of work
! done is something astonishing There
I tho records Of about so stakes and
| about 500 wards are kept, besides those
| Of n missions In the world The ma
| Chinery Of the presiding bishops Office
IS so delicate that II any half-naked
Maori out in the South Sea Islands
pays nickel IN tithing. the records In
that office viii show Il. Under the
very able management OF the presid-
Ing bishops office a splendid system
OF keeping records has been installed.
and the result is very gratifying.
Among the departments coming
under the purview Of the bishops Of
fee are the land and title department
OF the Church. in which all the deeds
and titles to lands owned by IL are
preserved and the Latter-day Saints
hospital, which is a great and bcne-
fetal institution. Last year there were
200 operations performed in the hos
pital, and 500 Of them were the means
Of preserving life. The mortality rate
In the Lattor-day Saints hospital,
where people go in the last extremity
of danger, is shown to be less than
the mortality prevalent through the
United States as a whole.
THE Deseret News Is one Of the
large and nourishinE institutions OF
the Church. OF which the people are
proud. The bureau Of Information. too.
comes under this department. and this
little institution, which began a few
years ago with 800 in funds for the
dissemination Of information. now has
$4,000 at It's disposal for that purpose.
secured entirely by its own efforts.
II viii say that the last year showed
a very material increase In the re-
ceipts from tithing and voluntary dona-
tons from the people over the year
before This / take II is not entirely
because OF the Increase I'm business
activities throughout the country, as I'm
the demonstration OF the confidence OF
the people expressed i'm their leaders. I
wish to say, and am no man worship
err. that | cannot conceive Of any man
administering the funds of the Church
with a truer conscience than has Pres
ident Smith / know that he holds
those funds sacred. and in all the re-
searches Of that committee OF bust
ness men. We did not find that a single
dollar had gone In any way that could
be disappruved.
Il wish TO disahuse the minds Of any
as to the idea that some sections are
favored with respect to the distribu-
ton OF tithing funds against others,
to the effect that tithes are gathered
from outlying distrlcta and turned In 10
enrich the central stakes and the i'm
poverishment of the outlying districts
This Is not true.
last year 81 per cent Of all the
tithing collected was sent out again 10
the local districts which paid IL in for
the purpose OF assisting in the erection
OF local meetinghouses, etc, This
amount was returned to the stakes,
OF course the return was not uniform,
in the nature OF things Il could not be.
one stake. where the necessities were
great received 1903 per cent OF the
tithing IL paid in, that Is Il received
all back that Il had paid In and three
per cent more Another stake received
so per cent according TO the condi- |
lions existing But salt Lake stake, or
the stakes comprising the old Salt |
Lake stake. only received back 40 per |
cent OF the amount paid In. or con- |
siderable proportion less than the |
average amount returned 20 the stakes /
IN general
II wish to say. too that no undue |
amount of the funds OF the Church |
donated by the members OF the Church |
goes into the hands OF the heads OF the /
Church. The income from other funds |