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Show Fffliii mn ITTMEI is! iidrrnHlHii uUm LSILJkUL Salt Lake, April S. Four members of the. counsil of twelve apostles in Hie past two days have reiterated with stern emphasis the stand of the Mormon Mor-mon church on the prohibition question and at yesterday's sessions of the general gen-eral conference in the tabernacle two of the four openly and franlcly counselled counsel-led the members of the church to elect such men to the legislatures as would carry out the policy of prohibition. At the second general session Thurs. afternoon Frcsident Francis M. Lyman Ly-man of the council of the twelve apostles apos-tles Introduced the subject, and warn- ed Uie members of the church con cerning tho law against the use of liquors and tobacco At the session yccterday morning Heber J. Grant, second In rank in the council of apostles, apos-tles, reiterated and made stronger what President Lyman had said, lie was followed by Apostle George Albert Al-bert Smith, who advised members of the church that when they were going to elect members of tho legislatures or governors of states, they should exercise their franchise according to the desires of God as taught them in the laws of the Mormon church, which he had previously stated commanded abstinance 'from liquor. Ivins Is Emphatic. Apostle A. W. Ivins took up the sub. ject again at the afternoon session yesterday and declared that the Mormon Mor-mon church was and always had been ; for prohibition, that It was-not right to ' blame the church because that state',, did not get it. The people must take i the matter in hand and send to ther legislature, he said, men of integrity ' and principle who would legislate ae- ' cording to the will of the people. ( "If you want to sustain the two ' most pernicious influences that work ' in the world today," said Apostle Iv- ' ins, 'go on sending irfen up here who ! will vote for open saloons and open ' houses of prostitution. Don't allow ' men to twist Avords to make you be- 1 lieve that the truth is an error and ' error the truth. There is no change ' of policy as far as the church is con- ' cerned. We are for prohibition and 1 want it!" 1 Apostle Ivins vigorously scored clti ' ?.qiis who would permit the man to seek the office rather than seek out ' men who could properly fill public ' office. I "The Lord tells us It is our duty 1 to Beek out good, just and wise men ' to conduct our public affairs," ho said. 1 "I want particularly to emphasize the ' 'seeking out phrase. It seems as though, we sit supinely by and let the men aok the office, Instead of follow- Ing the counsel of the Lord, 1 Dangerous Politics. 1 "A man told mt the other day that 1 some of his friends wanted him to t run for governor. He told me that i they had advised him if he put up ' ."10,000 he stood a good chance of be- I ing elected! I warn you, that kind 1 of politics is dangerous. I "You only need to review the his- tory of the last six years to under- t stand what I say. Tho president in conference here once spoke clearly and authoritatively on tho great issue. But you people have sent men up hero 1 that repeatedly Ignored it We don't r want you to hold us responsible. We i don't elect the legislators." . i Some interesting facts about condl- t tlons with the Mormon colonists In Mexico were also given at the sessions ses-sions yesterday. Two bishops from i the Juarez stake were nmong the t speakers, Bishop Joseph C. Bentley of ( Juarez at the morning session nnd I Bishop Philip H. Hurst of El Paso at e afternoon session. Presiding Patriarch Ilyrum G. Smith also criticized especlallv the young people of the church for carelessness care-lessness in observing Its teachings and observing the laws of men In many cases rather than the laws of God. He gave statistics to show that there had been 2SC4 members of the church married outside of the temples tem-ples by civil authorities during 1915, as against 2S45 married in the temples. tem-ples. Conditions in Mexico. President Joseph F. Smith called the morning session to order, and the choir sang, "Oh Ye Mountains High " President Thomas Reese of Juab stake offered the invocation, after which the choir sang "Redeemer of Israel " Bishop Bentley was then called upon up-on by President Smith, and he related relat-ed an interestfng account of the affairs af-fairs of the Mormon colony at Co- loma Dublan during tho past few weeks. lie said, in part: "Conditions for the last few weeks in Mexico have been unusually trying for our people. You are all doubtless aware of the fact that our colony is situated in the very heart of the revolutionary revo-lutionary section of Mexico. Affairs have not been satisfactory or pleasant pleas-ant for a number of years, but since the recognition of Carranza by our government there has been an unusual un-usual disturbance. "Our people have tried at all times to be neutral. We were so counseled by President Smith before we went back Into Mexico the last time and wo have tried to carry out his ad-Aice ad-Aice and be friendly to all parties and factions. That this was good counsel is indicnted by the fact that while we are considered as foreigners the Mexicans have always made a distinction distinc-tion between the Latter-day Saints aud the ordinary American who goes into that country. "After the recognition of Carranza, Villa returnod to our locality and stopped, with an army of 12,000 men. close to Dublan. For weeks we kept those soldiers. They were surprised to find so much food and sustenance there and said it did them good to sec something to eaL And they were a pretty hungry lot of people, I assure as-sure you. Of course, they paid us In their currency, but that was of no use to us, as it had depreciated to where It was valueless. Nevertheless, we kept that great body of troops for six weeks and we were surprised to find after they left that our crops produced the greatest harvest we have ever had since we have been in Mexico. "A portion of Villa's army returned after having been defeated In Chihuahua. Chi-huahua. They were not quite as friendly then as they were when they had previously stopped with us, but we managed to get along with them fairly well, and finally they passed us by again. "Four weeks ago, when Villa killed tho American mining men, he passed our colony shortly afterward on his way to Columbus, N. M. Mexicans brought word to us that he was coming com-ing down to our colony to kill all the Mormons. But, while he passed not far from our colony, ho did not do It, and said later that his Intention Inten-tion to kill us hud completely slipped his mind. When he recalled It he was too far beyond to turn, around and come. back. Naturally, wo were thankful for his lapse of memory. "We became considerably concerned concern-ed after the raid on Columbus, because be-cause we knew he would be returning return-ing In " the direction of our colony. That was natural, because he had always al-ways been able to get more food and more horses in that locality than in any other portion of Mexico over which he had operated. "Carranza's forces near us were not very well equipped and were not trained soldiers, and thereforo we could not . expect much protection from them. But they neverthelosB had a special interest In us, and kept us Informed as to the movements of Villa. And I assure you the Information Infor-mation they gave us was not very comforting. The Carranza forces Invited In-vited us to move into their garrison for safety ; but, bless their hearts, thej couldn't even take care of themselves, them-selves, let alone trying to look aftor us. We expressed our gratitude to them, however, for their kindness and told them wo might accept their offer of-fer later. "Then we set a faBt day and gathered gath-ered together to pray for guidance and talk the matter over. We were absolutely helpless, as there was scarcely a gun In the whole colony. I was asked yesterday how many of us there were In tho colony. There were twenty-five men and 250 women wom-en and children. But we decided to trust in the Lord to protect us, and when we dispersed we were all ready to accept the fate he sent. "That night Villa passed our colony, col-ony, but we slept in peace. We were not disturbed, despite the fact that we did not even have a guard posted to warn of his approach. Villa came across to Colonia Dublan and looked over the town, but passed on without molesting us. Wo feel that the spirit of love was our safety. We feel that the Lord has protected us. It waB a wonderful testimony for our faith, I III ff(J IlilU IIU OLI1U1 UL-IKIIOU llIOll UUl faith and trust in the Lord. "I love Mexico and I love Its people. peo-ple. I have marveled that there is as much good left there as there is today. to-day. The Mexicans are very childlike. child-like. Love and kindness will do more with them than all the guns and ammunition you could get. The mission mis-sion of the Latter-day Saints Is a mission mis-sion of peace. The revolutions In Mexico are not battles of men against men, but of the power of the Heavenly Heaven-ly Father against the powers of darkness. dark-ness. "The Mexican revolutionists have robbed us and persecuted us, it is true, but I thank God they have spared spar-ed oui lives. And, notwithstanding their robbery' and persecution, I have heard many of them say they would rather live near us than any other foreigners in Mexico. There is a mighty work to be done by our people peo-ple there In spreading the gospel of peace among these people through lovr and kindness " |