Show LARGE COHERENCE CROWDS GREATEST GATHERING IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN attendance fair weather and large crowds one 0 the feature of the seventy second an bual conference 0 the of jeene chaiet of lat ter day balits the opening day of the seventy annual conference of the inon church was remarkable for two things fair weather and crushing attendance these conditions prevailing throughout the conference in fact it was the most wonderful conference in the history of the church so far as attendance goes president joseph F amith made a few opening remarks and the other speakers of the day included the seven presidents of seventies who made a general theme of miss conary labor it will be the pol cy of the church judging from what was said to largely increase its representation in the mis fields now numbering about 1 elders the seventies were instructed ted to hold themselves in readiness to answer call it is evident that a large number of m ss oganes will be chosen from that order of the priesthood at no d slant date during the forenoon elder J golden kimball made a on immorality even suggesting that the bishops appoint home m ss oganes to walk the streets at night when crime is thick est the speaker did not compliment the yo ing people on the r morals but expressed the belief that they need some instruct on 1 ke that given to miss ionar es which is he said to shun wine and women as they would shun the gates of hell SATURDAY the speakers at saturday s sessions were of the quorum of twelve apostles and doctrine was the rule in the var lous discourses the most interesting feature of the day was apostle J grants report on what 1 as been ac comp lisl ed in japan wl ich had tendency to elate the congregation his statement of tl e s tuat on in the flowery kingdom with reference to the mormon m ss conary was more encouraging than leports that preceded his home coming at the morning sess on apostle reed smoot was the first speaker lie dwelt on the rapid growth and the prosperity of the church it it vias possible to destroy mormonism tl e er said that would have occur ed long ago for from the day of joseph smith tl e hatred against the people 1 as existed and efforts have been made to destroy apostle smoot le minded the con gre gation that whatever mormons had set their hands to had been accod pi shed there is scarcely a colonize colo niza tion scheme projected now he said that mormons are not sought for to carry it out the apostle referred the recent congress of rel g ons which the semi v 1 zed aad even un civilized people represented but mormonism was not they were afraid said the speaker of the 1 they would rece ve and extended no indita tion to this church apostle smoot ec lared U at no peo pie on the earth holds of virtue as tl e latter day sa ants he pleaded with the people to watch their children who may be biti er a blessing to the parents or a source of trouble to them apostle lugder clawson spoke of the priesthood and the dut es of its various branches apostle A 0 woodruff followed speaking for some time in a similar vein elder joseph E rob of the cal m assion occue ed the rema ning few minutes he spoke of californi Calif orri ans as a cosmopolitan and liberal minded people usually to things spiritual there are about con verts on the coast he said the choir s tr p to the coast will give the work a gleat impetus he bel eved S nce the chon vis ted california he has received many inquiries concerning this state and its people at the afternoon session apostle M F cowley spoke first cautioning the people to follow the council of the priesthood apostle M ft merall declared that tithing was more tant than debts that tithing sl be pa d first and debts cancelled out of the residue apostle john W taylor preached from the ninety third beet on of the doctrine and covenants along tl e line that all true progress is gradual he advised the patriarchs in g ving bless ings to make tl em condit onal so as not to disappoint apostle bieber J grant occupied the remainder of the time discussing thor hughly his experience in japan he spoke highly of h s associates in the japanese m ss on and said ft bf were all well and contented the strongest writer in japan apostle grant said had defended mormon sm in an able article he took to task the enlightened people of tokio for welcoming a sect not long ago that practiced polyandry a i lura lity of husbands abad yet condemned mormonism it was a forceful article the speaker said and after writing it the author volunteered to write a book on mormonism if the elders would furn sh him with items this they d d gladly and the book was published sandal when pres dent smith opened the morning session of the third day of the conference sunday the aisles of the mammoth tabernacle were crowded and hundreds outside the doors unable to enter chis necessitated an overflow meeting in the assembly hall which 1 attended pres dent benjamine E rich of the southern states miss on was the first after a short s of the work of his on wl ich embraces the territory between lal e erie and the gulf of mexico and the mississippi river and atlantic ocean and the amount of literature d in favor of the mormon cause the speaker vehemently critic sed the ministers for the persecution of mormon elders venturing the statement that 85 per cent of the mobs interfering with the elders were headed by clergymen in one southern state the speaker said the i ministry succeeded in having in produced trod in the legislature a bill mak i g t a cr me to preach without salary 11 is was intended as a slap at the elders who perform their work with out salary president joseph A mccrea of the colorado assion which embraces the territory between canada and and tl e miss and alc ocean deplored the fact of tl e church in that territory having so few followers the speaker laid this to the territory being made up of two classes of people wealthy and health seekers neither class of which cared much for religion president james duffan of the south western ss on who followed said the people of tl e m assion were liberal minded and made up of the best classes of people n the country the speaker pred acted great lesul tsin his territory the next speaker apostle george Fe asdale made a general plea for the cause of the church he found object tion 10 the term mormon being ap plied to the church and tr ed to show that the followers were of god and should be called members of the church of latter day baines apostle john henry smith the last speaker gave his experiences of a th arty day trip 1 e made through the east the overflow meeting was presided over by apostle heber T grant the speakers being W penroe joseph W and eulon P wells and apostle hyrum M smith and heber J grant AFtEEl roON SESSION patriarch john smith was the first speaker it was the first time many of the old dimeis had ever known the patriarch of the church to occupy the pulp t he bore a strong testimony to the truth of tl e gospel and urged the sa ants to be dutiful he exhorted the young people to study and prepare for calls to the ministry the young men are often true and honest he believed but fail to study the gospel as they should president bangham young of ta apostles quorum followed he be 1 eved god had been exceedingly merciful to zion in allowing growth and prosperity to follow the persecutions of the sa ants th s people would beco ne he said the bead not the tail of virtue tl the church exclusive of those voted upon at the october conference were then pre dented by pres dent joseph P smith and all were unanimously sustained this concluded president mith cs pressed h s extreme grat ficat on over the confidence shown by the saints in the authorities he believed that the mormon chuch was growing in grace and magnitude KS the people of god he was followed by president lund and president john E winder made the closing speech of the conference |