| Show IN SALT LAKE CITY seventy sixth semi annual confer ence of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints attended by an immense crowd the opening service of the seventy sixth aemi annual conference of the later day saints in salt lake city on friday october 6 drew an immense crowd and much enthusiasm was manifested the feature of the morning services was the address of president smith while the sustaining ot authorities and speech of apostle reed smoot held the closest attention in the after noon the most important development of the day as far as president smiths speech is concerned was his indita alon to all faithful all tithe payers and saints in good standing to ex arnene the books in which are hept the tithing accounts he said those who paid tithes were welcome to look in the book and see but that he propose to let every tom dick and harry in the country pry into the records president smith openly defied any man to prove that a dollar of tithing money had been wasted or stolen and expressed gratification at the in creasing tithes president smith welcomed the lat berday saints to the conference and I 1 expressed his gratification at the un usually large attendance in his open ang remarks be said that the authora ties of the church had been active and diligent in the performance of their duties during the past six months he reported missionary work in good shape with the exception that the demands tor young men to preach the gospel were greater than the supply large amounts have been expend bd in the erection of meeting houses in wards and for stake houses said president smith the trustee ln trust has been called on to furnish largo sums of money tor the erection of churches meeting houses and also bouses of entertainment I 1 would like all to know that the church of latter day saints believes not only in houses of worship but of instruction and amusement that the people may have places for young people to gather in dance and the en of desires of the heart in righteousness counselor john R vander and counselor anton H lund also spoke at the morning session apostle john henry smith rudger clawson reed smoot and hyrum smith were the era at the after noon session of the conference john henry smith paid an eloquent tribute to the mission workers of the church in conclusion he bore mony that the present head of the mormon church was honest able upright fearless as all other presidents of tho church had been rudger clawson appealed to the congregation to know it president smith and all the others who had ad dressed the conference had not en by the spirit of god apostle reed smoot said that he knew the gospel of his church was true and that the work of the authora ties was the work of god I 1 say to you later day saints he said that people never had any more confidence in any man or any set of men than they have in the presidency of the church today the adversary is try ing to stir up strife to set people against the authorities by making un just attacks upon them but hell fall in this just as sure as the sun rises after a brief address by apostle hyrum smith president smith pre dented the names of the authorities and church officers to be sustained by the conference all were sustained without opposition answers to charges of the reorganized or josephite church of latter day saints and additional mony that the tithing funds were righteously spent were the important development of saturday s sessions of the seventy sixth semi annual confer ence of latter day baines elder brigham H robertl replied directly and apostle W penrose indirectly to assertions made by pres ident joseph smith of the josephite church and his leaders at th after noon session in the morning session president W jack of cassia stake idaho upheld the handling of the tithing funds by president joseph F smith as trustee in brigham H roberts address or that portion devoted to the charges of the josephites tes was in direct an awer to the speech made by the pres ident of the church in salt lake city sunday september 24 the president of the reorganized movement la the son ol 01 joseph the prophet and claims that the slon came rightfully to him in his speech elder roberts claimed that never had the mormons as individuals more rights and that the great power centered ln the pres I 1 ident was exercised with moderation he denied a statement made by the president of the dissenting church that the world at large had been so prejudiced against the mormon doc trine by the followers of brigham young that they were refusing to em brace the new alth apostle penrose while making no direct reference dwelt on the charge that there had been a hiatus or dis organization following the prophets death and in a speech preceding that of elder roberts vigorously upheld the succession of brigham young the attraction of the last day at the state fair did not thin the attend ance at conference a whit something like 6 persons being present at each session apostle george A smith delivered the opening address at the morning session he rejoiced that the saints were a peculiar people but rebuked an apparent tendency to overlook for giving those of the authorities who had perchance unknowingly offend ed some member of the church he gave the mormons counsel that it they felt affairs were not going right in zion it was their duty to look into their own hearts and see it they could locate the trouble and dissatisfaction there frank Y taylor president of the granite stake followed apostle smith and during his remarks paid a glow ing tribute to president smith patriarch john smith one of the most venerable members of the church made a brief statement near ing his testimony to the truth of his religion but explaining that the con dialon of his health and voice ren dered it impossible tor him to speak at length W jack president of the cassia idaho stake besides eulogizing pres ident smith and other leaders of the church spoke feelingly of president roosevelt for the work that this man of destiny Is doing in reclaiming the arid wastes of the west probably the greatest crowd that ever attended services in the taber nacle was present at the closing ses slon of the conference president smith speaking of the enemies of the church said I 1 ask for this mercy upon my enemies upon those who slander me and lie about me I 1 ask to pity them and to have mercy upon them I 1 ask god to pity those who are misguided I 1 ask god to have mercy upon those who do this with their eyes open and I 1 ask god to pity them because they need god s pity and mercy more than the others I 1 would not harm a hair of their heads tor all I 1 possess in the world and I 1 ask my brethren to keep hands off don t touch them dont touch those who are paving their way to destruction let them go give them the liberty of speech they want and let them write their own doom it hurt us and it it does them any good let them do it this conference Is a tes that mormonism Is not dead nor sleeping but a living entity and Is still doing let the world know it another feature of the afternoon meeting was a remarkable story of a vision told by samuel W richards brother of the late apostle franklin D richards and a member of the quorum of the seventy nauvoo regrets having driven the mormons out and would gladly wel come them back declared german bi ellsworth president of the northern states mission at the morning meet ing of the conference you do not hear of the latter day saints missionaries stirring up dis cord laying traps telling lies and doing that which will bring their op ponente discomfort said elder ru ion S wells of salt lake in speaking of the peculiarities of the mormons but you find them traveling without purse or scrip often going hungry and enduring indignities to which they have not been accustomed the great peculiarity of the latter day saints Is their quality of love the latter day saints are firmi established in canada in oregon montana idaho wyoming california utah colorado arizona new ico and have gone over the wall and are in the republic of mexico still fur ther south and in the states of the union the countries of europe and ahe islands of the sea said A W ivans president of the juarez stake of mexico all over the world the saints have acquired possessions few it Is true and it must be so in accordance with the gospel the religious atmosphere of call ornia Is abnormal said joseph rob inson president of the california mis sion christian science Is strong there he said as Is theosophy spirit etc making it a hard land for mormon the conference Is said to have been one of the greatest in point of attend ance in the history of the church |
