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Show SEVENTY.THIRD CONFEOCE LARGE CROYIn'S ATTtNO SEMI-ANNUAL -A ( CONFERENCE AT SALT LAKE. ' , Prldnt Smith Exprraara RutlaNdl"!! t Ir Attendance nml ilratltud to Almlfhtx for I'roaprrltj That Ilka Attcndfiil the l'o- ' il Uurliic tha l'nat " 8l-HB4ltl. ; . The seventy-third semi-annual con-. con-. fere nee of the Latter-day Saint op- end Saturday forenoon, October 4th, lu Ilia Tabernucle, with uu attendance 1 that completely tilled the vast edldce. 1'romptly at 10 o'clock Presldeut. loscph F. Smith arose iiuil bade the cougre Katlon open the conference "I til the singing of the hymn, "Our liod, We Raise to Thee." Invocation wus offered by Slake President Illggs, of Nephl, and, nfter the mammoth congregation had sung "Redeemer of iHrael," President Presi-dent Smith, the flist speaker, stepped to the pulpit and addressed the ussem-blage ussem-blage briefly. President Smith expressed ex-pressed satisfaction at thu unusually large attendance, aud spoke his gratitude grati-tude to the Almighty for the prosperity that has attended the people during the past season. During tho morning session Presl- aent Hcu K. Rich, of thu .Middle Stales mission, denounced in severe terms the lastern press, which has set up the , iry of "blood atonement" In connection J with the cold-blooded murder of which 3 Hooper Young Is accused. "What damnable lies lliey tell," said President Rich. "They will die and CO to hell and be damned forever. And they will remain in hell forever unless some Mormon elder goes down and helps them out," President Rich said the press In New York, wheru Hooper Young is in custody, cus-tody, had been trying lo hi lug home to the Mormon church the icsponslbll-ity icsponslbll-ity of the clinic, of which the young man Is accused. Regarding blood atonement, Mr. Rich said the church I authorities, In 18b0, declared openly that the shedding of blood was abhor- rent to them, und denied that enemies of the faith hud ever been ordered hilled. lie said the Mormon people believe In blood atonement only lo the extent demanded by the laws of the country. President Joseph Robinson, of the Callnifornia mission, In a short talk before the conference, repotted thu. the California mission Is prospi i n ' i and that the membership is now fuilr , (100, despite the fact that the ehlei-who ehlei-who are at work In that Held have met much vigorous opposition during the past six months. Presldeut K. II. Nye, of tho Southern States mission, followed with a short address on conditions throughout the l South. lie said there are about u hun- - J5 dred elders operating throughout thu Southern Slates, mostly among the rural and backwoods districts. v President McRae, of tho Colorado mission, was the next speaker, and he told of the work being done lu his districts, giving a most encouraging ; report of tho bticccss of the mission. Apostle Uyrum Smith made the clov ingaaddress of tho morning session, dealing with thosu who aru defaming tho church. Apostle Smith said tho spirit that Is being manifested by somo Is tho same that caused thu murder of Josoph Smith, whose blood Is still cry-lug cry-lug for vengeance. Ilu deplored the fact that people, among them ministers, minis-ters, go east and deliberately He about v Uie Mormon people. At the afternoon session President i Buflln of the Southern States mission said that mob violence, In that district is dying out, and that people lu tho southwest are becoming favorable to missionaries. President Woodruff, of tho mission of the Northeast, said that there were many couverls being made constantly throughout his mission. Presldeut Nephl Pratt, of tho Northwest North-west mission, also spoke of the flattering flatter-ing state of affairs lu his Hold of labor. Apostle John Henry Smith said he . had visited Hancock county, Illinois, ' - daring the past year, and found that W" all the hard feeling tliut once existed v against the Mormon people has died at, "I found that tho placo Is Jack-Mormon Jack-Mormon rather than anti-Mormon,' Mild Apostle Smith. ''There seems to be a belief that tho Mormon people iieuld return to that country and build up the towus that have wasted since bay were driven out by persecution." SECOND UAl'8 HESHIOH. Apostle Reed Smoot, the flrst speaker at the morning session called the Valnts to task for their failure to pay their fast offerings. In many of the stakes of Zlon, i.c said, thero are no poor, and here the people have been led to think that they lire no longer required to pay their fast offerings. : This, the speaker said, was not true, as there are many poor In some of the arger stakes, and the means received from these qffcrlngs, Is distributed where It Is most needed. lie added that If the payment of fast offerings was observed by all the Saints, there would be no poor In Zlon. A report of work being done by the Saints In Mexico was given by Anthony W. IvInB, president of the slake; of the Sundwlch Islands mission by Samuel E. Woolley,'wlib labored there for sevon years; of tho Canadian mission by President Alleu of the Alberta stake, and of the Wasatch stake by President William II. Smart. Apostle Abraham O. Wood ruff, speak. Ing of labor unions, sold: "We do not show Iho Interest In each other In these temporal affairs that we should. Wo have not as much Interest in obtaining employment for each other as the labor la-bor unions have lu obtaining employment employ-ment for their members, and I am In favor of either joining the unions or being a union utiiong ourselves, for tho Latter-day halnts Hro In a position to demand some consideration In these things.'' Klder Louis A. Kelsch, who has spent the past year laboring In tire Japanese mission, told of the experiences of missionaries in that field. Ilosald but two eon vi rts hud been made, although more could have been baptized had Iho missionaries been sure that those seeking seek-ing to accept tilts faith understood It thoroughly. At thu afternoon session Apostl0 Rudger (Jlaw.son, the tlrst speaker, urged upon the congregation the Importance Im-portance of paying their tithing. The next speakers were President William T. Jack, of the Cassia stake und Samuel llenniou, pieshlctit of the Uintah stake, who told briefly of the work throughout their respective stakes. Apostle MulhlasXowley appealed lo the people to settle (heirdltllcultles by conveying them to tho presidents of their respective slakes and not by appealing ap-pealing them to the president of tho church or the apostles In every little diflicully that arises, lie said tho priesthood should be honored and that dltlleulties should be settled through them. An overflow meeting was held In tho Assembly Hall, which was presided over by Apostle Woodruff. Thu most practical address of the uftcruoon wus by Apostle Reed Smoot, when he advised the members of the church to save money and keep out of debt, nnd admorlsheil them to cease snipping wheat from the statu. Other speakers weie President Moses Tuylor of Summit stake, one of the youngest stake presidents at the conference; con-ference; President James W. Paxinun, of Juab stake, President Joseph Mer-rell Mer-rell of Cache, President Georgo C. Parkinson of Oneida, Rider George J. Cannon and Apostle Woodruff. Tlllltl) ItAVSNBSSION. Earnest exhortations to tho Saints to faithfully pay their tithing, studiously avoid getting Into debt, abhor mortgages mort-gages and he steadfast In the principles princi-ples of their religion characterized the addresses of the closing day of the conference. con-ference. The Saints were warned that tho coming of Christ was near at hand, and that they should be diligent in iho performance of their duties that all prophecies might be fulfilled and they might be ready to enter Into the kingdom king-dom of heaven when the time came. They wero exhorted to send their children to school and give them every advantage of an educatiou thatltmlght not be said against the Saints that they were an Ignorant people. The charge that the church relied upon the Ignorance Ignor-ance of its people for the maintenance of Its power over them was strongly refuted, re-futed, and the further charge that tho authorities of tho church wero allied against the non-Mormon educational Institutions was denied with equal strength. Thu young were advised to attend these schools If they could not attend a church Institution, but tho establishment of religious classes wheru the young people could be taught the principles of Mormoulsm was advocated. advo-cated. The Saints were taken to task for some of their shortcomings and urged ,to remedy these things. Testimonies to the power of the gospel were mado by every speaker, and instances were related where It was claimed the power pow-er of healing by blessing and laying on of hands had been proved by actual demonstrations. The speakers at 'the morning session were Apostle M. W, Merrill, David K. Udall, president of the St John's stako In Arizona; Jesse Crosby, president of tho new Illy Horn stake; d, L. Chip-man, Chip-man, president of the Alpine stake, Uriah Jones, president of tho Parowsu stake, and President 0. D. White, of the Heaver stake. At the closing session, in accordance with the usual custom, the general authorities au-thorities of the church wero presented and sustained unanimously by the Saints, Joseph V. Smith as prophet, seur and ruvulator of the church In all the world, and other otllcers In their respective capacities. |