Show OF principles ISSUED W FIRST seventy eighth annual beneral con ference of the church of jesus christ of latter day sa ants a memorable one salt lal e city the chief feature ot the opening session of the seven t eighth annual general conference of the church of jesus christ of lat ter day saints which convened in this city on april 5 was the leading of the declaration of principles and its approval by the tho sands of members of the church present at the morning session together with the address of president smith which was large ly in the nature of a review of the work of the church during the ear addresses were also made by apostles hiram smith george A smith D mckay and george F richards their addresses were devoted large ly to theological themes the tabernacle was crowded at least 8 people being present with the assertion that the mem bers of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints are living better lives than ever before that they paid more tithes during 1906 than in any other year in the history of the church and that as a result the bond ed indebtedness of the church has been wiped out president joseph F smith opened his address president smith denied the charges that have been made to the effect that the officials of the church have been diverting the t thes to their own per bonal use by saying not one gen eral authority of the church draws a dollar from the tithing fund for his own use and profit president smith then proceeded to explain where this money goes say ing I 1 want to take you into a secret in the past money belonging to the church has been used to help start a number of institutions such as the Z I 1 the sugar factor es and other enterprises every cent of the amount so invested has been returned to the church the stool of all these concerns is now paying dividends and from these dividends the expenses of the general authorities of the church are paid we are not using one cent of your tithing except for the purpose for which it was intended when you go home and hear some of the old charges about what is being done with the tithing fund I 1 want you to say that we are not using this fund tor the purposes which they accuse us of that the tithing fund is intact and we have a little to spare and I 1 would 1 ke to say to some of those ano have charged us with atlon of this fund put that in your pipe and smoke it in referring to the general elnan caal condition of the church the dent said today the church does not owe one cent to anyone that it cannot pay we do not want to bor row money and we do not have to borrow any we expect to see the da in the near future when we will not have to ask you for one cent in donations that you don t wish to give with the freest kind of will I 1 hope to see the day while I 1 yet live in the flesh president smith referred to the dec lar atlon of principles which had been formulated by the church authorities and immediately after he had finished his address the document was read by apostle 0 F whitney and adopted by the members present a rising vote being taken the vote being unanimous the document is quite a lengthy one and we are unable to give it in full but the following covers the pertinent points declarant arat on of princ pies the principles and purposes of the church are widely misrepresented and seriously misunderstood the religion Is founded on the rev elat lons of god it teaches pure chris and its theology is based on the docar nes of the redeemer it it be true christianity to accept jesus christ as divine to revere him as the son of god through whom alone mankind can attain salvation to accept his teachings as a guide to comply with the requirements pre scribed by h m as essential to mem barship in his church if this be christianity then we are christians the theology of our church is the theology taught by jesus christ the theology of scripture and reason those who accept of mormonism are among the best men and worren of the nations from wh ch they come honest industries Indu s virtuous and reverent they alq opposed to vie and crime by instinct and training there is nothing in mormon sm to attract the selfish or the vile the mormon people aie not good honest but n gsg folks and the r leaders the personification of all that Is bad pr estwood and the people are inseparable and stand together the charge that the church relies on duplicity and sh ns investigation is contrary to reason and fat enlightened investigation is the means by which the church seeks to promote belief in its principles the history of the church and the precepts of its leaders are sufficient proof the charge that mormonism Is opposed to education is false it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance A man Is saved no taster than he gets knowledge mormon sm is not destructive ot the sanctity of the marriage relation marriage was not designed as merely an earthly union but a union tor eter anity the generations of people born and reared in mormon homes will compare favorably in christian virtues with iny community in this or any other country the charge that the church a ms at absolute abo lute domination in commercial affairs is untrue it Is true that the church claims the right to counsel and advise members in temporal a well as spir affairs this ha been done without exercise of arbi arary powei and has res gilted from wise counsels persuasively given and willingly followed it has been the policy of the ch arch to foster home industries government by consent of the gov arned Is the rule of the ch arch the ecclesiastical government exists itself the will of the people elections are frequent and members are at lib erty to vote as they choose the elective s tern operates b popular acceptance rather than through popular selection all church officials are answerable to the church for their conduct huoh a government cannot be classed as a tyranny nor considered a menace to free institutions the tithing system is not an opples sive tax but a system of free will offerings it Is a voluntary offering for purposes and not a scheme of extortion for the enrich ment of higher officials neither in mental attitude or in conduct has the church been disloyal to the government the only conduct seemingly incon sl tent w th the profession of the mormon people as loyal citizens s involved in controversies concerning plural marriages the law against polygamy passed in 1862 was conaci enviously disregarded by latter day saints in then observance of a pr n cipal sanctioned by their religion and as being contrary to the constitution the supreme court decision did not obtain until 1878 and no attempt was made to enforce the law until s x years later surely this toleration binds the people of the united states to the exercise of patience and char ity in dealing with this question whal the mormon people did in disregard of the court becis on was in the spirit of maintaining religious rights and because the law developed a conflict between a duty to god and a duty to government the mormon people have now bowed in respectful sion to the laws enacted against al marriage the union of church and state dom of the state by the church ec interference with the po lotical freedom of citizens are con arary to the policy of the church this doctrine is predicated upon the un der standing that there shall be no in ter ference by the state with the church mormonism is in the world for the world s good second days sess on salt lake city at saturdays session of the seventy eighth conference of the church of jesus christ of lat ter day saints apostle reed smoot was the principal speaker of the day apostle smoot made no reference to his recent experiences in and with the federal senate further than to declare his belief that many persons who were convinced at one time that he should not retain his seat now have acknowledged their error of judgment and are glad that the senator aa they did apostle smoot delivered an interesting address one of the features of his talk was the recital of a list of instructions which he said his mother had given to him and I 1 which follows pray to god for gu dance and bless ing take for our motto faith in god self reliance honesty and indus to inscribe in our homes this motto luck is a tool pluck is a hero be careful from what source you take our advice rise above the envious and willful 1 ara place our ambitions above the goal ou intend to reach remember that energy and deter mi nation are the levers that move the world dont drink chea smoke swear deceive read trashy books or pay at to v clous and ling news papers be in earnest be generous be civil I 1 ove truth and virtue love i our countr and pray for its success be strong shun not the struggle stand up and speak out bravely in god a name R winder a member of the arst enc spoke at some length the drift of his remarks was that it were far better for the church to rep resent itself than to be misrepresent ed by others other speakers of the day were president joseph F smith apostles heber J grant and rudger clawson and elders rulon S wells roberts J W mcmurrin and seymour young at the general conference the re election of the present officers of the church was concurred in the audit ing committee reported that it had ex the accounts 06 the trustee in trust and found that the books were kept in excellent form |