The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-07
JOHN HENRY SMITH MA MED
COUNSELLOR OF PRESIDENT

in straightforward businesslike man
ner Ali The members of the committee
| are business men, and all of them have
| at some time been bookkeepers and |
wish to say that what they found they
Were able TO judge of. from a standpoint
OF knowledge and experience.
And | wish TO say that the books and
records OF the presiding bishops office
are the most PERFECTLY organized and kept
OF any time in the history of the church.
as tar as know Every book required
Dy the committee was furnished us with
aiacr1ty, and there was no evidence of
the least thing being withheld.
desire 70 mention few of the things
we FOUND In regard tc the finincial oper-
auonS OF the church. They are so ex-
tensive and widespread in their ramifi-
cations that few of the Latter-day Saints
feailze the magnitude of them. The
amount OF funds handled by the depart
ment of the trustee-in-trust of the church
Is simply enormous. In the office of the
presiding bishopric the amount of work
zone Is something astonishing. There the
records OF about 60 stakes, and about 600
wards are kept, besides those OF p mis-
sions in the world The machinery of the
presiding bishops office is so delicate
that II any half-naked Maori out in the
south Sea Islands pays a nickel in tith-
ing, the records in that office will show
II. Under the very able manag sment of
the presiding bishops office a splendid
system OF keeping records has been in
stalled, and the result is very gratifying
Among the departments coming ur = {
the purview of the bishops office are
the land and title department of the
church, in which all the deeds and titles
TO lands owned by it are preserved and
the Latter-day Saints hospital, which is a
great and beneficial Institution. Last year
there were 1900 operations performed in
the hospital and 800 of them were the
means of preserving life. The mortality
rate In the Latter-day Saints hospital
where people go in the last extremity of
danger, is shown to be less than the NOR
tality prevalent through the United
States as a whole.
Increase in Tithing Receipts.
Il will say that the last year showed
very material increase in the receipts
from tithIng and voluntary donations from
the people over the year before. This
take II is not entirely because of the in
crease in business activities throughout
the country, as in the demonstration of
the confidence of the people expressed in
their leaders. 1 wish to say, and 1 am
no man-worshiper, that 1 cannot conceive
OF any man administering the funds
with a truer conscience than has Presi-
dent Smith. l know that he holds those
funds sacred, and in all the researches
Of that committee of business men, we
did not find that a single dollar had gone
in any way that could be disapproved.
Il wish to disabuse the minds of any as
to the idea that some sections are favored
with respect to the distribution of tithing
funds against others, 10 the effect that
uthes are gathered from outlying districts
and turned In to enrich the central stakes
and the impOverishment of the outlying
districts. This is not true.
Last year 81 per cent of all the tithing
collected was sent out again to the local
districts which paid it in, for the purpose
of assisting in the erection of local meet
ing houses, etc This amount was re-
turned to the stakes. Of course the re-
turn was not uniform, in the nature of
things ii could not be. One stake, where
the necessities were great. received l03 per
cent of the tithing II paid in; that is 1t
received all back that 1t had paid in and
three per cent more. Another stake re-
ceived 50 per cent, according to the con-
ditions 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, OF a considerable por-
ton less than the average amount re-
turned to the stakes in general
Il 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
are sufficient to maintain the expenses of
the church, so that it is not necessary
TO trench upon the tithing funds for this
purpose, and therefore the uthing funds
are devoted entirely to the legitimate pur-
poses Tor which they are collected. The
people have implicit confidence in the
men at the head, and this is shown by
their increased offerings.
There are many departments which
come under the purVieW of the presiding
bishops office which l have not time to
mention, but 1 viii give few of the vital
statistics of the church which are
recorded and preserved in that office.
High Birth Rate.
1.-THE birth rate in the stakes of the
church. not including the missions, or any
civil organization, just simply among the
members of the church, is SO per 1000 as
against 30 for the United States. The
death rate is 9.3 among the people OF the
church, as against II for the United
States. The lowest death rate expert
enced by life insurance companies. who
only accept physically perfect men as
risks. is little less than 10 per cent The
Latter-day Saints average rate is 9.S, or
a little less than 10 per cent.
1.-The marriage rate last year among
the Mormon people was 1612 per LOO.
There are 81 widows and widowers for
each 1000 members; there are 90 persons
over q years of age in each l,0O who are
unmarried; the remedy for that is in your
hands; there are missionaries IN the tIe esl
for every 600 members, or total OF 2,O55
missionaries In the world on January !,
1910, costing their friends 100000 per year
to maintain.
There are 46 persons. or % couples. who
were married in the temple divorced last
year, OF an average of Is per cent. There
were s. couples divorced who had not been
married in the temple, or I. per cent. or
a factor of safety in the marriage relation
in favor of temple marriages of more than
two to one.
There are 46 per cent of the member
shin of the church enrolled in the Sun
day schools, including children, larger
boys and girls and grown up men and
women. In the other auxiliary associ-
atoms, 81 per cent are enrolled in the
Young Ladies' association; SIS per cent
in the Young Mems; 10 per cent in the
Primary, and u per cent in the religion
classes OF the male members of the
church, A $50 hold the Melehisedec priest
hood and g, 357 hold the Aaronic priest
hood.
81 take great pleasure in making these
figures public, for they show great pro-
gress In the church In the march of