EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION DERIVED FROM THE WISDOM IN THE PLAN PROPOSED
FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE TEMPORAL CONDITION OF MANKIND.
The New Dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ does not regard
alone the spiritual welfare of man; it contemplates also his temporal
salvation. That is, it looks to the amelioration of those conditions
which today render the lot of by far the greater portion of the human
race so hard to endure.
Nothing can be more patent to the understanding than the fact that
the basis of all our commercial or other industrial enterprises, is
selfishness. The selfish desire for wealth that ease and luxury may
follow and be enjoyed, or power wielded that shall administer to family
pride or vain ambition, seems to have taken complete possession of the
thoughts of civilized man, and well nigh fills up the sphere of his
activity. Almost unconsciously selfishness has been intensified in
our modern life. The inventions of our time have greatly multiplied
human conveniences and luxuries. Ease that springs from affluence
has been brought within the reach of a greater number of people than
at any other time in the world's history; yet those who have entered
within the charmed circle of the enjoyment of ease and luxury are
not satisfied. Something is lacking to the completeness of their
contentment. They see for one thing the instability of their wealth,
and note what small affairs may wrest it from them. So that the fear of
losing what is possessed is well nigh as tormenting as the inability to
gain riches. The wish to permanently secure that which is possessed,
and in like security have it descend to their posterity occasions as
much anxiety and effort on the part of the rich, as the determination
to come to the possession of wealth occasions the less fortunate--the
envious poor.
Instead of this wider distribution of comforts and luxuries among
mankind contributing to the sum of human contentment, it has increased
its restlessness; for luxury being more commonly paraded in the face of
the masses has maddened all with a desire to possess it, and, failing
in that, life is felt to be scarce worth the living. But possession is
possible only to the few; the great mass of humanity is excluded from
its attainment.
This success of the few and the failure of the many divides civilized
communities into two classes--the proud and the envious. It also
results in the division of communities into capitalists and laborers;
the former living in affluence on the proceeds of their wealth, the
latter, for the most part, eking out an existence on the insufficient
means secured through their labor. Capital, it must be said, feels
power and forgets right; labor in its despair grows desperate and
violates the law. Capital, to secure and perpetuate its interests,
combines into huge corporations which control production and the
markets, waters its stock, bribes legislatures, congresses and
parliaments; oppresses labor in its wages, robs the people; and having
thrived by its chicanery and fraud, laughs at all attempts to wrest
from it the spoils in which it revels.
Labor, to protect itself against the ever-increasing greed and power of
capital, forms societies and leagues and asks not only what is easily
recognized as its rights, but often demands that which capital cannot
give. Each confident in its ability to coerce the other, lockouts and
strikes follow, with the result that not infrequently the conflict ends
in civil strife, lawlessness and bloodshed.
Meantime wealth accumulates in the hands of the few; and if every year
does not see the condition of the masses growing worse and worse, it is
a fact at least that there is no just proportion between the increasing
gains of the capitalists and the wages of the laborers. As a result,
the bitterness between employer and the employed increases every year;
and the sphere of our industrial activities, instead of presenting a
scene of harmony and good-will, where the interests of both capital and
labor are recognized as existing in common, and the welfare of both
dependent on each, it represents more nearly the scene of two hostile
camps where distrust and jealousy have arrayed the respective parties
for deadly conflict.
Philosophers and philanthropists who have seen and deplored the evils
of our modern system of economics have not been wanting; but only a
few have ventured to propose remedies. Of these some have suggested
cooperative methods in trade, in manufactures, in commerce and other
labor, with an equal distribution of profits, as not only securing the
conservation of energy, but also a more equitable basis of economics
than our present individual and competitive methods. Many attempts
have been made to carry out these principles in practice, and for a
time, in several instances, partial success has been attained. In the
end, however, human greed, weakness, or individual necessity, real
or imagined, together with inability to make the system universal--a
condition necessary to the system's success, according to the claims of
its advocates--have proven too much for these attempts at co-operation,
and the several enterprises have either drifted into the hands of a
corporation or become the concerns of individuals, or else have been
absolutely abandoned.
Others seeing the failure of voluntary attempts to secure the benefits
of the co-operative system, have advocated the enlargement of the
powers of the State to the extent of consigning to it the management of
all industry; so far taking control of the individual as to compel him
to work, according to his capacity and remunerate him according to his
wants.
Others have gone even further than this, and proposed not only to make
the individual a creature of the State, in relation to the matter of
labor and wages, but to control him in all the relations of life,
even invading the domestic relations to the extent of abolishing the
marriage institution and all domestic government founded on paternal
authority. These last two suggestions, with various amplifications, are
classed as socialism and communism respectively. The former has many
advocates in nearly all civilized countries, especially in Germany and
France, where they wield a political influence of considerable potency.
The latter, communism, since the abortive efforts of Robert Owen in
England, of St. Simon and Fourier in France, and M. Cabet--the disciple
of Fourier--at Nauvoo, Illinois, United States, may be considered as
relegated to the graveyard of impracticable theories which from time to
time have engaged the attention of philosophical minds with a bent for
speculation in human affairs.
But bad as our modern system of economics may be, with all its manifest
absurdities in the waste of energy, the unfairness in the distribution
of the products of industry, still mankind has, so far, preferred to
endure its known evils and incongruities rather than to trust their
fortunes to the proposed systems of the socialists and communists.
The New Dispensation of the Gospel, however, contemplating as it does
the ushering in of that era of peace on earth and goodwill among men
of which angels have sung and prophets written, must perforce and
does, as I remarked at the opening of this chapter, take account of
the social and industrial conditions prevailing, and offers a solution
for the difficulties presented which, while within the possibility
of performance, is effectual as a remedy for the evils under which
humanity groans. Failure to do this would have been a grave defect
in a work making the pretensions of that founded by Joseph Smith.
Moreover, since what it has to offer as a solution of existing
industrial inequalities and evils is either based on or is itself
direct revelation from God, the Divine wisdom must appear in the plan
proposed for the betterment of humanity's condition. All this mankind
has a right to expect of a divine plan for such a purpose, and all this
I claim for the plan revealed through Joseph Smith.
That plan does not begin with the community or the nation, and through
the community or state seek to reach the individual. While not ignoring
the value of institutions or the necessity for favorable conditions, it
does not put its whole trust in arbitrary institutions or regulations
for the successful accomplishment of its purposes. It comes first to
the individual with a cry of repentance, with an appeal to turn unto
righteousness. It teaches him that by repentance, accompanied with true
and holy faith in God, he may attain through baptism to a remission
of sins, to a consciousness of renewed innocence, lost through
transgression, and to the possession of the Holy Ghost. This last adds
to his own strength, in some degree, the strength of the Almighty God.
Through its influence he is guided into all truth, taught a knowledge
of the things of heaven, receives a testimony that Jesus is the Christ;
by it he is reproved for his errors; commended for resisting evil;
prompted in uncertainty; by courting its influence and listening to
its counsels he is purified in heart, is purged of his lusts and his
selfishness, loves his neighbor as himself, and is ready to seek
another's rather than his own good.
It is with an element such as this--cleansed and purified by such a
process, and thus made fit for the Master's use--that the plan revealed
through Joseph Smith proposes to deal. It is an evidence that other
schemes for the amelioration of the distresses of mankind originated
in the petty wisdom of man that they did not take into account the
necessary preparation of the elements for their model communities.
And let me observe, in passing, that that preparation can only be
made through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit of it outlined
above. It is vain for men to seek to build up communities in which
selfishness shall be abolished, and love and goodwill abound, until
they have developed in the separate units that are to compose it
the same qualities that are to be characteristic of the community;
for communities can be no better than the individuals that compose
them. As well might men hope to mix to the same consistency pieces
of iron and pieces of clay, make a rope of dry sand, or do anything
else impossible, as to undertake to organize a society in which want
shall be abolished, unselfishness abound, and all the virtues prevail,
with men unrighteous, proud, envious, jealous, lustful, suspicious,
treacherous and possessed of no higher gauge of right and truth than
human intelligence. Here, then, begins to be seen the wisdom of the
plan for the temporal salvation of mankind revealed through Joseph
Smith: it begins with the individual--with the preparation of the
elements.
Next to the preparation of the elements, the plan recognizes the
Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. It also recognizes
the fact that the earth is the Lord's; that it is his by right of
proprietorship. He created it and sustains it by his power, and man's
right to the portions of it he seizes so greedily can only be that of
a steward. Following these principles to their legitimate conclusion,
the plan contemplates the complete consecration unto the Lord all the
possessions of those who accept it. The person who desires to make the
consecration brings his possessions to the bishop of the Church, and
delivers them to him, with a deed and covenant that cannot be broken.
[1] The consecration is complete.
The person so consecrating his possessions, whether they be great or
small, if it be a full consecration, has claim upon the bishop for
a stewardship out of the consecrated properties of the Church. That
stewardship may be a farm, a factory, a publishing house, mercantile
establishment, a home with the privilege of following a trade or
profession, according to individual tastes, abilities or capacities.
The stewardships are secured to those unto whom they are granted by a
deed and covenant that cannot be broken, hence the stewards are secured
in their stewardships.
The income from a stewardship over and above that needed for the
maintenance of the steward and his family, is consecrated to the Lord's
storehouse, where all the surplus means from the community is, in like
manner, collected. Said surplus to be used, first, in supplying the
deficiency where stewardships fail to yield sufficient income for the
necessities of those who possess them; second, to form or purchase new
stewardships for such as have not received any; third, to supply those
with means who may need it for the improvement or enlargement of their
respective stewardships; fourth, the purchase of lands for the public
benefit, to establish new enterprises, develop resources, build houses
of worship, temples, send abroad the Gospel, or for anything else that
looks to the general welfare and the founding of the Kingdom of Heaven
on earth.
The several stewards have claim upon the general fund created by the
consecration of the surplus of each, for the means necessary to the
improvement or enlargement of the business entrusted to him as his
stewardship; and so long as he is in full fellowship with the Church,
and is a wise and faithful steward, his application to the treasurer of
the general fund is to be respected by being granted; the treasurer,
of course, being accountable to the Church for his management of the
general fund, and subject to removal in the event of incompetency or
transgression.
Each steward is independent in the management of his stewardship, and
is the master of his own time. He must pay for that which he buys; he
can insist on payment for that which he sells. He has no claim upon
the stewardship of his neighbor; his neighbor has no claim upon his
stewardship; but both have claim, as also have their children--when the
latter come of age and start in life for themselves--upon the collected
surplus in the Lord's storehouse, to aid them in the event of their
needing assistance.
The various branches or ecclesiastical wards of the Church, where
the above plan of managing the temporal affairs of life is carried
out, are each to be independent in the management of their respective
storehouses, subject of course to the general supervision of the
presiding bishop of the Church and of the First Presidency.
Such is a brief and, I fear, because of my effort to be brief, a
rather imperfect outline of the plan for the management of the
temporal affairs of life in the Church of Christ. It is a system
which contemplates the humiliation of the rich and the exaltation of
the poor, by the operation of consecration and stewardship, above
described. By the act of consecration both the rich man and the poor
one make a formal acknowledgement that the earth and the fullness
thereof is the Lord's; and by receiving back a stewardship, each
receives that which his wants demand, or that his capacity will warrant
placing under his management; and which may be added upon as he gives
increased evidence of faithfulness and ability to wisely control the
stewardship for his own and the general good.
The plan recognizes the truth that there is enough and to spare in the
earth to provide plentifully for all the wants of the human race; for
all its necessities and all reasonable luxuries, if the wealth created
by the race's industry be justly distributed. In it, too, is recognized
the truth that transcendent abilities for the manipulation of the
elements or the management of affairs by which wealth is created are
not possessed that they might minister alone to personal advantage, or
pride, or ambition; nor are they to be employed alone for the benefit
of the possessor's family. This plan revealed to Joseph Smith teaches
a nobler and higher use of abilities than this; a broader field of
sympathy than that which merely comprehends a family. A great mind
in any department of abilities, and no less in financial or temporal
affairs than in law, or government, or literature, belongs to the race,
and is God's best gift to it; for through it God, in part, shines. The
employment of talents and genius for the common interest is to be the
outgrowth of universal sympathy and a willingness to co-operate with
God to bring to pass the eternal life, and, both in time and eternity,
the eternal happiness of man. Hence it is written that the inhabitant
of Zion shall labor for Zion and if he labor for money he shall perish
with his money.
The plan also recognizes the dignity of all labor; and provides that
the idler shall be had in remembrance before the Lord. [2] Idleness is
an offense against the doctrine of the gospel and has received God's
severe condemnation; for he has declared that the "idler shall not eat
the bread, nor wear the garments of the laborer," [3] nor have place in
the church, except he repents. [4]
It will be observed that the plan revealed through Joseph Smith,
while differing from the present selfish and competitive system,
is neither state socialism nor communism. It neither makes man the
creature of the state, nor invades the sanctity of his fireside. It
preserves a healthy individualism in that it allows each man control
of his own stewardship, and makes him the disposer of his own time.
It provides for the general welfare in that it centralizes all the
surplus means of the community and places it at the disposal of the
wisest men who apportion it out to the improvement of enterprises
or stewardships under the management of men of demonstrated ability
and approved integrity; or who employ it in the development of new
enterprises, or distribute it in new stewardships to those who as yet
may not have received them. This system therefore guards against want
and destitution on the one hand; while on the other it collects the
surplus means to be used in those new enterprises, the success of which
shall remove the community further and ever further from poverty and
wretchedness which is now at once the world's anxiety and shame.
By this plan the anxiety of the fathers to secure estates or a fortune
for their posterity is relieved, since their children will have claim
upon the surplus property of the community for a stewardship when they
are prepared to start in life. And since the prosperity and success
of their children depends upon the success and prosperity of the
community, the fathers shall in that find an incentive to honorable
exertion. The children find no fortune to squander, no opportunity
to grow up in idleness, or contract those vices which unfit them for
life's serious affairs. But trained from youth to be industrious, and
starting with a stewardship that by industry and economy shall minister
to their necessities, and enable them to contribute something to the
general good, they have an opportunity by wise management of their
stewardship, the improvement and enlargement of it, to demonstrate
their abilities, rise in public esteem and have more and still more
entrusted to their control, until they reach a position where they can
do all the good they are capable of doing, or that is in their hearts
to accomplish.
The two prime objections to co-operative methods, state socialism
and communism are, first, that by taking the proceeds of individual
industry, talent or transcendent financial abilities and applying them
to the common good rather than to individual aggrandizement, one of
the chief incentives to earnest endeavor is stricken down; and second,
by creating an assurance in the minds of individuals that their wants
will be provided for out of a common fund and that necessity cannot
overtake them, the other chief incentive to industry is swept aside.
In other words it is held that ambition and the fear of coming to want
are the chief incentives to human activity. Remove these incentives to
action, it is contended, and you have, of course, a listless, idle and
hence non-progressive community, that all too soon from want of motive
principle would come to poverty, ignorance and at last to dissolution.
These are held to be the vices of the schemes of socialists and
communists, so far as the industrial phase of their plans is concerned,
and I anticipate that the same objections will be urged to the plan for
the temporal salvation of mankind revealed through Joseph Smith.
Volumes have been written upon the unworthiness of a desire for
personal aggrandizement, and man's necessities being regarded as the
chief incentives to human activity; and it is not my purpose to add
anything to the mass of matter that exists on that subject. Indeed,
taking average humanity as it is, rather than what idealists would
have it or believe it to be, and I am rather of the opinion that the
objection urged against socialism and communism in regard to the
industrial phase of these schemes is a good one; and that however
unworthy the gratification of personal ambition and the fear of want
may be as incentives to industry, they are, nevertheless, the prime
incentives to action; and if removed, there is grave reason to fear
that what the objectors to community of effort and of interests
predict, would come to pass. My point is that this objection can be
of no force against a system in which individualism is not stricken
down. A man's success in the management of his stewardship in the plan
revealed through Joseph Smith, depends upon his individual effort;
and though the system requires the consecration, from time to time,
of the surplus arising from the management of the stewardships, it
is also provided that the stewards shall have claim upon the general
fund for whatever means they may require to improve or enlarge
their stewardships. But the chances of obtaining means to make such
improvement or enlargement depends upon the capabilities the individual
has developed, in the management of that already committed to his
care; hence his advancement, his growth and standing in the community,
together with the comfort, convenience and beauty of his surroundings
depend primarily upon his individual exertion.
Furthermore, it must be remembered that the system revealed through
Joseph Smith teaches as a religious duty the consecration and
employment of individual abilities for the common good; and it also
teaches that industry and economy are religious duties.
It is by preparing the units of which society is composed through
the acceptance and practice of the gospel; by preserving all that is
desirable in individualism and at the same time abundantly providing
for the common good; by recognizing the religious sentiment and
righteousness as elements necessary to its success; by teaching that
it is the duty of those possessed of transcendent abilities to employ
them for the common good; by inculcating that humility that shall
make those possessed of humbler abilities willing to labor in less
exalted spheres, and, above all, by depending upon the enlightening
and directing influence of the Holy Ghost, as well in each member
of the community as in the appointed leaders, that the plan for the
amelioration of the present distressed condition of society, revealed
through Joseph Smith, hopes in the end to achieve success.
If I am told that the success of this plan depends upon too many
contingencies; that the attainment of all of them is impracticable;
that humanity can never be brought to that excellence of individual and
community righteousness that the plan requires; my answer would be that
the condition of the world, then, is hopeless; for this is the only
plan which can bring to pass the amelioration of the hard conditions
under which mankind is sinking. But I do not at all despair of the
success of it. If it cannot immediately be made universal, its success
will be made manifest in the church of Christ; and as the peace,
prosperity and happiness of those that accept it indicate the wisdom
that constructed it, more and more will seek its benefits, until all
the children of men shall bask in its blessings.
Footnotes
1. Doc and Cov. sec. xlii: 30-32.
2. Doc. and Cov. Sec. lxviii: 30.
3. Doc. and Cov. Sec. xlii: 42.
4. Doc. and Cov. Sec. lxxv: 29.