TESTIMONY OF MR. SMYTHE
Nowhere else has the common prosperity been reared upon firmer foundations. Nowhere else are institutions more firmly buttressed or better capable of resisting violent economic revolutions. The thunder cloud that passed over the land in 1893, leaving a path of commercial ruin from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was powerless to close the door of a single Mormon store, factory or bank. Strong in prosperity, the co-operative industrial and commercial system stood immovable in the hour of widespread disaster. The solvency of these industries is scarcely more striking than the solvency of the farmers from whom they draw their strength. No other governor, either in the West or in the East, is able to say what the Honorable Heber M. Wells said in assuming the chief magistracy of the new state in January, 1896, "We have in Utah," said the young governor. "19,816 farms, and 17,584 of them are absolutely free from incumbrance." A higher percentage in school attendance and lower percentage of illiterates than even in the State of Massachusetts, is another of Utah's proud records. P. 71.
THE GUIDANCE OF JEHOVAH
Without the divine guidance and the constant watchcare of Jehovah over the destinies of the "Mormon" pioneers, with Brigham Young at their head, the West today would be but a barren wilderness. Under the leadership of Brigham Young the "Mormon" people prospered, and he left them in a better condition temporally and physically, and spiritually more united and more firmly established in the faith than they ever were before. Where among the so-called "factions" can you point to one that has accomplished the hundredth part of what the followers of Brigham Young have accomplished? They have all practically disappeared but one—gone to their destruction. And the one that remains will dissolve and disappear as surely as the sun shines. You cannot fight the work of God and prosper.
WILLIAM MARKS
The testimony of William Marks—a man who was out of harmony with the Prophet before the latter's death! This testimony of William Marks sounds too suspicious, given as it was, when it was, and describing an alleged conversation which never could have taken place. "The reader will please notice," said David Whitmer in his Address (p. 41), "this fact in regard to William Marks' statement; and that is, the time when Brother Joseph told him that polygamy must be put down in the Church." That time was a "few days" before the Prophet's death.
True, the Prophet was no "fool" (Herald 51:74), and such a "conversation" as this related by William Marks would have stamped him "foolish, irrational and a moral suicide," because he could not bring a charge against others for that for which he was himself responsible. The Prophet had plural wives, and had officiated in the ceremony of the sealing of plural wives to others. I have conversed with the principals in these cases, and know that they told the truth. Furthermore, Mr. Marks' testimony condemns itself. He proves—if he proves anything at all—that the Prophet was responsible for this doctrine. This thought is in harmony with the early teachings of the original elders of the Reorganization, for the time was when even your elders acknowledged that the Prophet received the revelation on celestial (including plural) marriage. On this point David Whitmer says:
As time rolled on, many of the Reorganization saw that to continue to acknowledge that Brother Joseph received the revelation would bring bitter persecution upon themselves, as the public feeling at that time was very bitter. * * * The leaders of the Reorganized church, after a time, began to suppress their opinions concerning this matter. They would answer the question when asked about it "I do not know whether Joseph Smith received the revelation or not."
THE "SAINTS' HERALD" A WITNESS OF "POLYGAMY"
Now, if it is true—and I claim it is—that the leaders of the Reorganized church acknowledged that the Prophet received the revelation and practiced that principle, there must be some proof. Turn to the first volume of the True L.D.S. Herald and read the editorial on pages 6 to 11. It is on polygamy. After trying to explain the reason why the Prophet taught and practiced this doctrine, the editor said: