ELEVATION TO PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH, 1889.
Arrest of George Q. Cannon.—Governor Murray's Dismissal.—Death of President Taylor.—President Woodruff Appears in the Tabernacle.—Change in Federal Officers.—April, 1889, Wilford Woodruff Became President of the Church.—Visit to California.—M. W. Merrill, A. H. Lund, and Abraham H. Cannon Called to Apostleship.—Senator Morgan Visits President Woodruff.
The highest point of intensity in the crusade against the Latter-day Saints was reached during the year 1886. Although President Woodruff had been in exile previous years he had always enjoyed in some measure the privilege of meeting with the Saints and of exercising himself in the vindication of his calling as an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Persecution became most bitter, the whole atmosphere of anti-Mormon association was charged with intense hatred. Hundreds were in prison and in exile and leading men were hunted down with a fury perhaps unsurpassed by the Roman persecutions in the days of the early Christians. During that year he did not appear once in public nor did he preach a single discourse. He passed some time in Ashley Valley and enjoyed such diversion in fishing and hunting as his circumstances would permit. At the opening of the new year he recounted the experiences of the past year and prophecied concerning the year to come. He felt that the Lord would fight the battles of the Saints and that those who were prominent in the persecution would be humiliated. On the 13th of February that year President George Q. Cannon was arrested in Nevada. A few days later he was brought to Salt Lake City in the custody of United States officers. To intensify excitement abroad and to make it appear that the Territory was on the verge of revolt, Governor Murray sent troops to guard the prisoner to Salt Lake City. Upon George Q. Cannon were heaped various indignities and on his arrival in Utah he was placed under forty-five thousand dollar bonds. John Sharp and Feramorz Little went on his bonds for twenty-five thousand, and Francis Armstrong and H. S. Eldredge for twenty thousand. In view of the extreme bitterness thenmanifested toward him and in view of the fact that offenses might be segregated to imprisonment for life, President Cannon decided to forfeit the bonds. Sharp and Little paid promptly the twenty-five thousand, while Armstrong and Eldredge declined to pay until the question of excessiveness of bail should be determined by the courts. When the case was carried to the supreme court at Washington it was finally dismissed. Later, by action of Congress, the 25,000 dollars was returned.
Governor Murray was removed from office, and under the restraining influence at Washington, the persecution in Utah became less offensive. Murray's conduct had for some time been unsatisfactory to President Cleveland, especially in view of the misrepresentation of conditions in Utah. When Murray vetoed the general appropriation bill passed by the Territorial Legislature the President of the United States decided to remove him. The President further considered Murray's effort to coerce legislation wholly unjustifiable, and his attempt to appoint officers by proclamation as revolutionary. He also remembered that he had been twice deceived by Murray on the "Mormon Uprising."
While the close of the year did not by any means witness the end of the crusade, the hand of God was visible in defeating certain purposes of the enemy. President Taylor and his associates were vindicated. The course taken by them and the changed attitude of the general government marked the fulfillment of prophecy uttered by President Woodruff at the beginning of the year.
At the close of the year Edward M. Dalton of Parowan was shot and killed by Deputy Marshal Thompson. The feelings of resentment among the people were high. They felt more and more the force of President Taylor's words at the beginning of the crusade when he informed the people that nothing was to be done except to turn up their coat collars and as much as possible turn their back to the storm until it passed over. Outrages were daily increasing and there was an evident determination on the part of the federal officers to stand by one another and manipulate the machinery of government for their own protection as well as for the oppression of the Mormons. However, federal zeal in Utah exceeded so far the bounds of all propriety that the authorities in Washington determined to exercise some restraint over their agents in Utah.
General McCook was transferred to another post. Marshal Ireland and Judge Powers went out of office.
On the 8th of February, 1886, a circumstance transpired by which President Woodruff and Apostle Erastus Snow escaped arrest. President Woodruff thought the circumstance worthy of a place in history. Early in the morning of that day he and Erastus Snow went to the Historian's office in pursuance of an appointment to meet a number of the brethren there. Before he had been long in the building it was surrounded by deputy marshals. He and Elders Snow and Richards had been watching the officers from the windows as they searched the Gardo House. They had also observed the raid made upon the President's office and the tithing office. When the marshals, however, came to the Historian's office, President Woodruff offered a silent, fervent prayer in his heart that the Lord would blind his enemies. He then, in company with Andrew Jenson, went into the street in the midst of nearly twenty officers. They were apparently dazed as he walked before them and he attracted no attention. He crossed the street to the President's office, passed through the east gate, entered a buggy with Seymour B. Young, and was driven to the home of Elder Young's mother. In the evening he made his way to his home in Farmers Ward, then took his departure for a year of exile from his family and associates in office. During the year he traveled about sixteen hundred miles and closed the year in the city of St. George, accompanied by his wife Emma and some of her children.
He found St. George a comparatively safe place, as the people there were almost wholly Latter-day Saints and offered him every opportunity to visit his friends and to enjoy immunity from arrest. The sufferings of those times were enhanced by the constant threats of more drastic legislation and the confiscation of Church property.
While in St. George and on the 4th of February, 1887, he wrote an eight page letter to David Whitmer, one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, and bore to the latter a strong testimony to the continuance of the work of God under the administration of Presidents Young and Taylor.
A considerable time before the death of President John Taylor his demise was shown to Wilford Woodruff in a dream.When, therefore, word came to him in St. George from President George Q. Cannon and Elder John Jacques on the 16th of July that President Taylor's condition afforded no hope of recovery he at once set out on the following day for Salt Lake City. He traveled most of the way by team and while at a Brother Bartholomew's in Fayette, Sanpete County, on the 26th, he received the sad news of John Taylor's death which had occurred the day before at about eight p. m. That night he lay awake sorrowing over the mourning that had come to all Israel in the departure of their great leader. Elder Woodruff's mind was greatly troubled by the responsibilities which he felt crowded upon him. In his journal he wrote of President Taylor as follows: "Thus another President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has passed away. President John Taylor is twice a martyr. He was shot four times in Carthage Jail when Joseph and Hyrum were slain, and there he mingled his blood with the marytrs; this was in 1844. Now, in 1887, driven into exile by United States officers in consequence of his religion, he lays down his life for the truth. All honor to the name and memory of President John Taylor. 'Leave judgment with me for it is mine and I will repay,' saith the Lord, God."
Continuing, he wrote: "President John Taylor's death places the chief responsibility and care of the Church of Latter-day Saints upon my shoulders, in connection with the Twelve, which now become the presiding authority of the Church. This places me in a very peculiar situation. It is a position I have never looked for, but in the providence of God this new responsibility is thrown upon me. I pray God, my heavenly Father, to give me grace equal to my day. It is a high responsibility for any man and it is a position which requires great wisdom. I never expected to outlive President Taylor, but God has ordained otherwise.
"Bishop Hunter said on several occasions that I would outlive President Taylor and become President of the Church. On these occasions I rebuked the Bishop and asked him not to prophesy of me such a thing. Each time he answered, 'Nevertheless it is true and will come to pass.' It certainly has come to pass. I can only say, Marvelous are Thy ways, O Lord Almighty, for Thou hast truly chosen weak instruments to perform in Thy hand Thy work on the earth. May Thy servant, Wilford, be prepared forwhatever is required at his hands by the God of heaven. I ask this blessing of my heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, even so, Amen."
Those acquainted with the modesty and humility of President Woodruff can easily understand his feelings of grave concern and deep anxiety at such a time. While he sought no honors for himself and would always "prefer his brethren to him," he was nevertheless quick to maintain himself or any other man in the calling to which the Lord by revelation, or by the order established in the priesthood, placed upon him.
On the 28th of March, 1887, he wrote to one of the brethren in answer to these questions: "Do you know of any reason in case of the death of the President of the Church why the Twelve Apostles should not choose some other person than the president of the Twelve to be the President of the Church," as follows: "I know several reasons why he should not. First, at the death of the President of the Church the Twelve Apostles become the presiding authority of the Church, and the president of the Twelve is really the President of the Church by virtue of his office as much while presiding over the Twelve Apostles as while presiding over his two counselors. In the appointment of Brigham Young and John Taylor to the presidency of the Church it never entered the heart of any one of the Twelve Apostles to claim the right to preside over Brigham Young or John Taylor, as they were all the presidents of the Church, and if they were not fit to preside over the Church they were not fit to preside over the Twelve Apostles. Second, in case of the death of the President of the Church it takes the majority of the Twelve Apostles to appoint the President of the Church, and it is very unreasonable to suppose that the majority of that Quorum could be converted to depart from the course marked out by inspiration and followed by the Apostles at the death of Christ and by the Twelve Apostles at the death of Joseph Smith. I see no reason for discussing this subject until there is some reason for it."
Whether or not this statement of President Woodruff is taken as doctrine, it shows very clearly his sentiment of respect for the line of action which had been taken and his determination not to depart from it as a matter of policy. He felt that man was at best but a weak instrument in the hands of God. As this wasGod's work the man that lived most humbly and contrite before his Maker was most entitled to divine guidance. He had striven in the humility of his heart to gain divine favor. He had been the recipient of that favor and had done nothing of which he was conscious to forfeit it.
On the 12th of March he recorded the following in his journal: "I dreamed last night that the Latter-day Saints were holding a great conference in the Salt Lake Temple. I saw a great rush to finish the Temple. I was called upon to open the conference, and I was given the keys of the Temple to open it. I saw thousands assembling and I met President Young, who asked me what was the matter with the great multitude at the door. Some one answered that the elders did not want to let the people into the Temple. He exclaimed, 'Oh, oh, oh;' he then leaned over to me and said, 'Let all come into the Temple who seek salvation.' I saw several who were dead, among them my wife, Phoebe. I believe there is some special meaning in this dream." The dream is explained by what happened when the Temple was dedicated.
On the 29th of July the funeral of President Taylor was held in the Tabernacle. As most of the elders were in exile, only a few were in attendance. These were Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Heber J. Grant of the Twelve. Also President Daniel H. Wells, A. O. Smoot, Lorenzo D. Young, Joseph B. Noble, and Angus M. Cannon. One hundred and two carriages followed the remains to their final resting place. There were several bands of music in attendance. The occasion was indeed solemn, mourning was silent and deep; men with bowed heads and in the deepest sorrow wondered at God's providences and prayed for deliverance.
From the President's office Wilford Woodruff watched the procession as it passed. President Woodruff says that to himself he remarked, as he stood in silent gaze, "There goes to his final rest the third President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
Immediately President Woodruff and the Twelve entered upon the duties of the presidency. These duties were numerous and pressing. President Woodruff was not yet free from the probability of arrest and therefore did not appear in public. He signed hundreds of recommends to the Temple as they came to him from day to day. On the 9th, however, of October, at the general semi-annualconference of that year, in company with Lorenzo Snow and Franklin D. Richards, he entered the building at the afternoon session. As the people recognized their venerable President they greeted him with a round of hearty applause which did not cease until he arose and waved his hand in salutation. He addressed the multitude for thirty minutes and then quietly retired before the singing, as he deemed it unwise to expose himself to arrest. During the rest of the year he remained quietly at his home.
The duties of President Woodruff now called his special attention to the general affairs of the Church so that he remained constantly near headquarters. While the presidency of the Church devolved upon the Twelve, President Woodruff now looked to Presidents Cannon and Smith for information and assistance, on account of their familiarity with Church affairs during the presidency of John Taylor.
While the crusade was by no means at an end, its extreme bitterness was gradually vanishing. During the year Judge Zane was succeeded by Judge Elliott Sanford of New York. Mr. Sanford was a man of refinement and of moral courage. He manifested no personal bias and no excessive zeal in the administration of the law. During his tenure of office George Q. Cannon was sentenced to 185 days' imprisonment and a fine of $450.00. Apostle F. M. Lyman and others were also sentenced by him. Judge Judd, another federal appointee, acted in harmony with Judge Sanford in dealing with the Latter-day Saints.
Those days were trying to President Woodruff, especially in view of the waste of property going on through the process of confiscation. Private individuals were enriching themselves at the expense of the Church, and to the discredit of the government. Men unable to provide for more than the daily wants of life suddenly came into possession of moderate private fortunes. The Latter-day Saints beheld the travesty of this gross injustice as men, under the guise of law and as reformers, showed an unrighteous zeal to lay their hands upon Church property.
During the year 1888 Elder Woodruff records the death of a number of prominent men with whom he had been closely associated for many years. Erastus Snow died May 27th at the age of sixty-nine years. On June the 24th Judge Elias Smith passed away, at eighty-three. Horace Eldredge also died on September6th at the age of seventy-two. Azmon Wodruff died at the advanced age of eighty-six years. President Woodruff was now eighty-two, but still active. He found pleasure in manual labor whenever he could snatch away some time in which to devote himself to his garden and to his field. One day during the summer of 1888, while hoeing corn by the side of a grandson, who was too swift for his grandfather in the corn field, the latter observed in his journal: "Well, this is the first time in my life that any of my children have beaten me hoeing corn or at any other manual labor."
February 21st of that year President George Q. Cannon was liberated from prison. Gradually the leading men began to obtain their freedom and to appear in the public assemblies of the Saints. On Washington's birthday some fifty Hawaiians met at the President's office for a social reunion. The Tabernacle Choir was present and rendered inspiring music. On the Sunday following ten thousand people were gathered in the Tabernacle and were addressed by Presidents Cannon and Woodruff.
On the 1st of March Elder Woodruff's birthday was celebrated. On a cake presented to him by Elder John Gallagher the following sentiment was given and a copy of it taken from President Woodruff's journal. It reads as follows:
"Fourscore years and two have fled in the work for Zion's causeon earth.This day we greet our honored head to show our love and tell hisworth.We pray that heaven may long extend your life to testify unmoved,As with your family, in the end find welcome by God approved."
"Fourscore years and two have fled in the work for Zion's causeon earth.This day we greet our honored head to show our love and tell hisworth.We pray that heaven may long extend your life to testify unmoved,As with your family, in the end find welcome by God approved."
At the April conference of 1889 and on the seventh of the month, Wilford Woodruff was sustained as President of the Church, with George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as his counselors. "This 7th day of April, 1889," he said, "is one of the most important days in my life, for I was made President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the unanimous vote of ten thousand of them. The vote was first taken by quorums and then by the entire congregation as in the case of President John Taylor. This is the highest office ever conferred upon any man in theflesh. It came to me in the eighty-third year of my life. I pray God to protect me and give me power to magnify my calling to the end of my days. The Lord has watched over me until the present time. I wish to counsel my wives and my children and whoever may read this journal to honor God and keep His commandments to the end of their lives that they may receive eternal life and celestial glory in the presence of God and the Lamb."
About the middle of April President Woodruff, accompanied by his wife, Emma, and President Cannon, Charles H. Wilcken, H. B. Clawson and his daughter, and President Woodruff's daughter, left Salt Lake City on a trip to California. Their purpose was twofold. One, to look after the interest and welfare of the people, and the other to obtain recuperation after a long exile. Here the party met old-time friends who received them cordially and extended to them the hospitality of their homes. Senator Stanford had long been friendly to the Mormon people and their leaders. On this occasion they met a Doctor McDonald, formerly of Nauvoo and a friend to the Latter-day Saints.
They returned to Salt Lake City on the 26th of April, when President Woodruff took up his labors and began a visit to a number of stakes of Zion. At the October conference of that year Elder M. W. Merrill and A. H. Lund and Abraham H. Cannon were chosen to fill the vacancies created in the Quorum of the Twelve.
On the 12th of that month President Woodruff records an interesting interview which he had with Senator Morgan of Alabama. The Senator was passing through Utah and asked President Woodruff, who was then at Provo, to meet him at the station there. The invitation was complied with, and the Senator held the train for an hour while in conversation with Presidents Woodruff and Cannon. Mr. Morgan was very friendly. He was one of those who, in the United States Senate, had taken a strong stand against the Edmunds-Tucker Law. He was pronounced not only in his opposition to the law itself, but against the manner of its enforcement.
On the 21st of October that year President Woodruff again made a tour of the Pacific Coast and to Canada.
Notwithstanding the improved condition of the people with respect to the crusade which began in the most drastic manner in1884, there were those who urged some compromise that would ensure, as they believed, the favor of the government and the complete cessation of hostilities by the enemies of the Church. Appeals were therefore made to President Woodruff to exercise the authority conferred upon him by revelation and suspend thereby the further extension of plural marriages.
In concluding his journal for the year 1889 he wrote: "This ends the year. The word of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, has been fulfilled wherein he declared that the whole nation would turn against Zion and make war upon the Saints. The nation has never been so full of lies against the Saints as it is today.
THE MANIFESTO AND EVENTS OF 1890-91.
The Political Situation.—Visit to California.—The Manifesto.—Its Effects.—Sugar Industry.—Henry M. Stanley.—Deaths of Prominent Men.—Earthquake in Southern Utah.—Address to Irrigation Congress.—Interpretation of Manifesto.—Remarks at Brigham City on the Manifesto.
The year 1890 saw a continuation of the bitter struggle that had been going on for political supremacy in Salt Lake City. On the 10th of the month President Woodruff witnessed from an upper room in the Deseret National Bank building the People's party in parade. It was conducted in the evening by torch lights and bands of music in such a manner as to make the affair one of the most brilliant ever witnessed in Salt Lake City. He declared that it was the finest display of the character that he had ever seen. The Liberal party made a similar display and succeeded in carrying the election the following month.
The political success of the Liberal party at this time gave strength to its efforts to secure more adverse legislation for Utah. The Cullom Bill was a most drastic measure and had it passed in pursuance of the wishes of the anti-Mormons, the Latter-day Saints would have been shorn practically of their political and material rights. Senator Edmunds, who had been skillful in the adroit measures which he succeeded in carrying against the Latter-day Saints and by which they had suffered so much, was unwilling to go the length of the measures provided for in the Bill.
The imprisonment of Latter-day Saints under the Edmunds act of 1882 was not bringing the results politically that the anti-Mormons hoped for. What they wanted was absolute political control of the Territory. They had used a popular prejudice against polygamy to further their political ends, but there was a great sentiment throughout the nation that as long as violators of the Edmunds Law were being punished, and the law was vigorously enforced further measures were hardly necessary.
March 1st of that year witnessed President Woodruff'seighty-third birthday. His mind was active, and he enjoyed all his faculties to a remarkable extent. As the birthday of his wife Emma also came on March 1st, that day became in his family life an important one and was celebrated in a becoming manner.
However, his advanced age told on his vital powers. The excessive heat of the summer was very debilitating to him and it frequently became necessary throughout the subsequent years of his administration to seek a change of climate or go into retirement where he could find relief from the heavy responsibilities which were difficult to bear at his age of life.
In August, in company with his counselors and Charles H. Wilcken, he made a tour of Arizona, first going by way of the Colorado Stakes of Zion.
On his return he visited Joseppa, a settlement in the western part of Tooele County, which had been organized for the accommodation of the Sandwich Islands Saints who had gathered to a considerable extent in and about Salt Lake City. For the purpose of aiding them a large tract of land had been selected, so that they might enjoy the opportunities of agricultural pursuits. On that occasion Joseph F. Smith, his counselor, acted as interpreter and offered the dedicatory prayer.
In early September President Woodruff went to California where he attended on the 9th of the month a celebration of the pioneers of that state. It was conducted in San Francisco where about twenty thousand men in uniform took part in the procession. The purpose of this visit to California was to transact some business matters relating to the interests of the Church. During the stay of President Woodruff and party they were treated with great courtesy by Colonel Trumbo, Judge Estee, Mr. Livingstone, and other friends of the Mormon people.
On the 19th of the month the Southern Pacific tendered President Woodruff and party a private car by which they were taken to Sacramento for the purpose of visiting the state fair which was in session there at that time. President Woodruff's devotion to agriculture and fruit growing made the wonderful exhibit at his fair a matter of uncommon interest to him. He had also found on the coast a generous sentiment which he greatly appreciated, a sentiment indeed favorable considering the conditions in Utah for the past five years.
During the agitation in Washington for more drastic measures against the Latter-day Saints, Utah's representative at the Capitol had not unfrequently declared that polygamy was a dead issue. There were strong political sentiments in favor of some sort of a compromise, and President Woodruff had been importuned to recede from his former attitude on that important principle.
On the 24th of September he met in council with his counselors and with several of the Twelve and under existing conditions he issued with their consent the manifesto, which reads as follows:
OFFICIAL DECLARATION.
To Whom It May Concern:
Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year; also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged, and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy;
I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have, during that period, been solemnized in our temples or in any other place in the Territory.
One case has been reported, in which the parties alleged that the marriage was performed in the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, in the spring of 1889, but I have not been able to learn who performed the ceremony. Whatever was done in this matter was done without my knowledge. In consequence of this alleged occurrence the Endowment House was, by my instructions, taken down without delay.
Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutionalby the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise.
There is nothing in my teachings to the Church or in those of my associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy, and when any elder of the Church has used language which appeared to convey any such teaching, he has been promptly reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.
WILFORD WOODRUFF,
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In his private journal he made no particular mention of the circumstances leading up to the Manifesto, neither did he make any comment upon it further than to say: "I have been called upon this day to act for the Church."
It was a solemn day to all Israel. The thought of suspending the practice of a principle for which they had already suffered so much, was indeed painful to thousands of the people. The responsibility, however, the Prophet of God placed upon the nation for rejecting a principle which had within it the power to redeem the world from the greatest of social evils and according to Isaiah, to take away the reproach of women who have been unjustly dealt with by ungodly men.
On the 6th of October, 1890, the Manifesto was presented to the Saints assembled at the semi-annual conference, and unanimously adopted. Following its presentation, President Woodruff made these remarks respecting the action he had taken:
"I want to say to all Israel that the step which I have taken in issuing this Manifesto has not been done without earnest prayer before the Lord. I am about to go into the spirit world, like other men of my age. I expect to meet the face of my Heavenly Father—the Father of my spirit; I expect to meet the face of Joseph Smith, of Brigham Young, of John Taylor, and of the Apostles, and for me to have taken a stand in anything which is not pleasing in the sight of God, or before the heavens, I wouldrather have gone out and been shot. My life is no better than other men's. I am not ignorant of the feelings that have been engendered through the course I have pursued. But I have done my duty, and the nation of which we form a part must be responsible for that which has been done in relation to this principle.
"The Lord has required at our hands many things that we have not done, many things that we were prevented from doing. The Lord required us to build a temple in Jackson County. We were prevented by violence from doing it. He required us to build a temple in Far West, which we have not been able to do. A great many things have been required of us, and we have not been able to do them because of those that surround us in the world.
"It is not wisdom for us to make war upon sixty-five millions of people. It is not wisdom for us to go forth and carry out this principle against the laws of the nation and receive the consequences. That is in the hands of God, and He will govern and control it.
"I want the prayers of the Latter-day Saints. I thank God that I have seen with my eyes this day, that this people have been ready to vote to sustain me in an action that I know, in one sense, has pained their hearts. Brother George Q. Cannon has laid before you our position. The Lord has given us commandments concerning many things, and we have carried them out as far as we could; but when we cannot do it, we are justified. The Lord does not require at our hands things that we cannot do. Our nation is in the hands of God. He holds its destiny. He holds the destinies of all men. I will say to the Latter-day Saints, as an Elder in Israel and as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are approaching some of the most tremendous judgments God ever poured out upon the world. You watch the signs of the times, the signs of the coming of the Son of Man. They are beginning to be made manifest both in heaven and on earth.
"I pray God that He will bless these apostles, prophets, and patriarchs, these seventies, high priests, and elders of Israel, and these Latter-day Saints, who have entered into covenant with our God. You have a great future before you. I ask my Heavenly Father to pour out His spirit upon me, as His servant, that in my advanced age, and during the few days I have to spend here inthe flesh, I may be led by the inspiration of the Almighty. I say to Israel, the Lord will never permit me nor any other man who stands as the President of this Church, to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty. God bless you. Amen."
Upon the subject of the Manifesto he also spoke at a conference in Brigham on the 25th of October.
The effect of the Manifesto upon the more radical anti-Mormon element was one of chagrin and disappointment. It removed their chief pretext for continued agitation.
While the Manifesto was a concession but few ever expected to witness, there were, nevertheless, many who had but little confidence in any continued good effect it would have upon the bitter anti-Mormon element.
For years the sugar industry had been a subject of some investigation, and Arthur Stayner, of Farmington, had made a number of experiments sufficiently satisfactory to justify the venture of its manufacture in Utah on a large scale.
In January, 1891, President Woodruff in his journal wrote: "The President and Twelve met and were in harmony in their conversation upon the manufacture of sugar. The President and Twelve, as the leaders of the people, have to shoulder the responsibility of this question." Men of wealth in the community were afraid of such an enterprise and were especially fearful should it be started it would be crushed at the outset by the great sugar trust.
Upon the question, however, President Woodruff was so pronounced that he felt inspired to say that it was the will of the Lord that the sugar industry should be established among the Saints. The matter of raising money for this great enterprise was, of course, an important question. Elder Heber J. Grant was sent to New York to borrow of wealthy men money for this new enterprise. When he was asked by them what security could be given, he replied that the factory itself and certain bank stocks would be given to secure the loans. "No," replied they, "we don't want that, if Wilford Woodruff, the President and Trustee-in-Trustof your Church will give his name as security it is all we ask." He accordingly signed his name. It was about the first debt he had ever contracted, but he did that for what he considered the good of the people. $300,000 was obtained and the Lehi sugar factory became a living, paying, industry. Since then among the Saints there have been one established in Ogden, two in Cache Valley, one in Garland, one in Oregon, one in Canada, and four in Idaho. The establishment of the sugar factory in Canada was a venture perhaps greater than even the one first built at Lehi. Conditions in that new country did not appear at all favorable, even in the light of all that had been done in Utah. Apostle John W. Taylor, however, gave to this new Canadian industry his enthusiastic and detailed attention. Jesse Knight, who built the factory at Raymond, was wont to say that the enterprise was outside all his interests and the fields of his operation. In building his factory in Canada he had acted solely upon his impressions and against the business advice of many of his friends.
Nothing has done more in this inter-mountain region to promote the financial well being of the people than the sugar industry. It has been the means of distributing very generally its wealth among the people.
The Church at that time felt the severe losses which the confiscation of its property had brought to it and it was not in a condition to lose any money in an unsuccessful enterprise. In his journal President Woodruff said: "We are passing through a great financial difficulty, the Lord alone can help us out."
His birthday that year found him somewhat indisposed, but on the 9th he was able to enjoy the pleasant interview with the great African explorer, Henry M. Stanley. He attended Mr. Stanley's lecture and pronounced it the most interesting one he had ever attended.
The latter part of 1890 and the first part of 1891 marked the death of a number of President Woodruff's old-time friends. Among these were Bishop Millen Atwood, George W. Hill, the Indian interpreter, and on March 25th, 1891, President Daniel H. Wells. The funeral of Daniel H. Wells was held on the 29th. President Woodruff was one of the speakers on that occasion.
The April conference of 1891 was noted for the large numberof Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency that could be in attendance. The Manifesto had helped to bring about this new condition and to give a greater liberty to the leading men of the Church than they had for some years enjoyed.
On the 20th of that month Elder Woodruff recorded in his journal the visitation of a slight earthquake to southern Utah. It was sufficiently strong to shake the houses and overthrow some of the chimneys. The general damage, however, was slight. The volcanic evidences in the region of St. George indicate that that section of country in the past had been subject to violent eruptions.
On the 23rd he also recorded a visit of the Reverend Doctor Shehadri, an Indian from Bombay. The gentleman had been a Brahmin, but was now a convert to Christianity. President Woodruff attended the Reverend Gentleman's address in the Assembly Hall.
On the 8th of the following month Salt Lake enjoyed for the third time a visit from a President of the United States.
In his journal President Woodruff said: "President Harrison visited Salt Lake City. There was a great demonstration and a large procession marched to the Park where speeches were made. President Cannon and myself headed the pioneers. We were introduced to President Harrison and shook hands with him."
A few days later he also recorded in his journal the interview with former Governor George W. Emery. "He was governor of this territory when President Grant visited this city. Governor Emery told me that while riding up from the depot with President Grant and while the two were beholding the multitude of Sunday school children who lined the streets, President Grant said to him: 'I have been deceived with regard to these people, the children are as nice and clean as any children I ever saw.' 'Before he left Utah,' said Governor Emery, 'the President said to me: 'See that the Mormon people are fairly treated.' Governor Emery has always treated the Mormon people well."
On the 21st of May, that year, President Woodruff laid the foundation for a new house on his farm, not far from the old homestead he had occupied for years, and on the 5th of Junehe was made president of Zion's Savings Bank and Trust Company.
That summer Presidents Woodruff and Cannon again visited California for a short time. On this occasion they met Judge Estee and other prominent men.
Matters of political interest were at that time pressing upon the people. After the Manifesto the People's Party dissolved and the members of that party cast their lot with the one or the other of the great national parties.
Judge Estee and Roswell G. Horr, of Michigan, as well as other prominent men, paid a visit to Utah and discussed before the people the issues of the great political parties.
In September the Irrigation Congress met in Utah. On that occasion Presidents Woodruff and Cannon addressed the Congress. Their words made a good impression upon the delegates in attendance. President Woodruff was a New England miller and farmer, and a pioneer in irrigation; he was the man who, in 1847, planted the first potatoes in Salt Lake Valley. His advanced years, his rugged honesty, and freedom from affectation made splendid impression upon those whom he addressed on that occasion as well as upon other strangers who were visiting the City of the Saints. The work of a pioneer came now to be more and more appreciated. Governor Rickards, of Montana, declared in speaking of President Woodruff: "To the pioneer and the soldier who fought for the flag I always take off my hat."
President Wilford Woodruff addressed the Irrigation Congress, September 16th, 1891, as follows:
"Gentlemen of the Irrigation Congress: I feel myself very thankful that I have lived in the flesh long enough in this Territory to behold the faces of such a congregation of gentlemen as I see here today. It is not my purpose to occupy your time or attention in arguing, or talking, or conversing particularly upon the subjects, or at least those principles for which you have assembled; but what I will say will be a few words concerning our arrival here, and upon the experience in irrigation. Fifty-one years ago, the 24th of last July, I entered this Valley with one hundred and forty-three emigrants, or in other words, pioneers. We were led by President Young. This country, upon our arrival, was called the Great American Desert, and certainly, as faras we could see, it did not discredit its name in the least. There was no mark of the Anglo-Saxon race, no mark of the white man—everything was barren, dry, and desolate.
"We pitched our camp a little distance to the southeast from here about 11 o'clock in the day. We had a desire to try the soil, to know what it would produce. Of course all this company—nearly the whole of us—were born and raised in the New England States, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut—had no experience in irrigation. We pitched our camp, put some teams on to our ploughs (we brought our ploughs with us), and undertook to plough the earth, but we found neither wood nor iron was strong enough to make furrows here in this soil. It was like stone. We had to turn water on it. When we came to put our teams upon the ground again they sank down to their bellies in mud. We had to wait until the land dried enough to hold up our teams. We put in our crops and we stayed here one month. During that time President Young laid out this city, as you see it today, in the midst of sagebrush, with not a house within a hundred miles of us. We built a fort around ten acres, three sides of adobe, walls eighteen feet high, and one side with logs out of the canyon. We then returned to the Missouri and some two thousand men came later. President Cannon here was one of the company that came in after us.
"Now what I wish to say is this: You gentlemen come here today; you see the city, you go through the country. Here are a thousand miles, I might say, through these mountains, filled with cities, towns, villages, gardens, and orchards, and the produce of the earth that sustains the people. Without this water, this irrigation for which you have met here today, this country would be as barren as it was in 1847, as we found it. Irrigation is what you have met to discuss. Whatever you decide upon in this matter, and unite upon, will, I am sure, prove a great blessing, not only to Utah, but to every state and Territory where these arid lands are found. We have had to learn by experience, and all that we have obtained in these mountains has been by irrigation. There are portions yet which have not been irrigated, and as one gentleman said here, if you can make two drops of water where there was one, or two spears of grass where there was one, you are abenefactor to mankind. I say, God bless you in your deliberations." (Applause.)
On the 19th of October, 1891, President Woodruff was cited before the Master and Chancery to testify to the scope of the Manifesto in the Escheat cases. The question there involved was the subject of unlawful cohabitation. He had issued the Manifesto and was therefore best qualified to interpret the meaning which it had to his mind, or which was conveyed by his language.
In November he recorded a visit to Utah of Mr. Norton, a member of the British Parliament. He speaks of Mr. Norton's interview with him as a pleasant conversation. On the last day of that month he moved the Church office from the Gardo House to the old President's Office, across the road north. This was done to save the rent which the Church was obliged to pay the government for the use of its own property.
During that year he said he traveled 3,570 miles, attended 22 conferences, signed 3,875 recommends, wrote 303 letters, and received 2,045.