Brigham Young

“ Let the first thing you attend to be to pay the debt you owe the Fund. Do you say, "Well, shall we not get us a house?" No; live in your tents, or go into the woods, and bring down bushes and make bough houses as the Indians do, and say you will be satisfied with that until you have paid the debt you owe the poor. You do not owe it to me, nor to these my brethren; we have plenty. We have houses; we have enough to sustain ourselves. You do not owe it to any individual here, but you owe it to the poor who wish to come here; the debt is due to them alone. ”

“ You owe it to people that cannot help themselves; to those who may travel hundreds of miles, and apply to every mechanic's shop or factory for employment, to get a penny to buy a loaf of bread, and to no avail.
The Americans do not understand this; they have seen hard times it is true, but they never saw people as poor as they are in Europe. In the eastern countries of America, there are thousands who have hard fare, but they can get food in a way the poor of the old countries cannot. ”

“ Many brought here in former years by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund have wanted the highest wages for their labor, when they could not do half the amount of work that a man can do who has been here a few years. They have wanted to make themselves rich, or at least very comfortable, before they could think of paying their passage here. They must have a good house, and a fine garden; and by the time they have got that, they think they really need a farm. ”

“ We provided sixteen houses on one farm which we purchased, and had men selected to take care of those who could not sustain themselves; but there has not been a man or woman, a widowed lady or an orphan child who was old enough to speak for himself, that has been willing to occupy one of these houses, go to a farm, or live in a house that we purchased for them. They say, "We do not want to live there, for it was purchased for the poor." We have never found a family that would acknowledge themselves so destitute as to live in a house we bought for the accommodation of the poor. ”

“ Be careful, brethren, that your eyes follow not after the riches of this world, to lust after them; I say be careful, that you do not want a cow, and then another, and another, and another; that you do not want a carriage, and then another, and so on, before paying your debt to the Fund. And if you are not careful, you will never be satisfied with earthly possessions, worlds without end. ”

“ For the last four years, we have fed, on an average, six hundred people, who come to the Tithing Office, and who never give us a dime for it: and yet they will not acknowledge themselves poor. There are also hundreds of persons in this city, and in other cities in the territory, who require the Bishops to help them, when at the same time they are able to drive a pretty good team, and occupy as good a house as I live in, and are able to have a good garden, and quite a farm. ”

“ I now request the Presidents of every Branch, and the Bishops and their Counsellors throughout Utah, to hunt up those who are indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, and as fast as possible, collect their dues in available means, and forward the same to my office, even should you have to plan for them, or set them to work, that the Fund may increase, and the poor be delivered from oppression. ”

“ But let me tell you, poor men, or poor women, who have nothing, and covet that which is not their own, are just as wicked in their hearts, as the miserly man who hoards up his gold and silver, and will not put it out to use. I wish the poor to understand, and act as they would wish others to act towards them in like circumstances.
Let the brethren and sisters who have come in this season, as quick as the Lord puts anything in their possession, first pay the debts they owe the poor in foreign countries. ”

“ Yes; there are hundreds of them to-day who have not a morsel of food to put into their stomachs to sustain nature. Are any of them dying with want there? Yes; scores of them will die there before next March, for want of something to eat. Suppose they were here, they would only need to glean in your fields to obtain bread enough, and dig over your gardens again to get the potatoes you have left in the ground, which they would be glad to eat. You may as well abuse your own flesh, as to refuse to put forth your hands to assist the brethren who are thus situated in the old countries. ”

“ Woe to those who profess to be Saints and are not honest. Only be honest with yourselves, and you will be honest to the brethren. I want the brethren preached to upon this subject, and if they do not remember the instructions given; the sin will lie at their doors, and not at ours.
It is not for men to rise in this stand and tell what will be in the Millennium, and what will be after the Millennium. That which pertains to every day life and action, is what pertains to us ”

“ He means simply this, "Those who have the good things of this world, and will put them to use in building up the kingdom of God on earth; will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and do good with them; they are my people, saith the Lord." ”

“ Every person acquainted with the circumstances and disposition of the people here will say "No, there is not a family that would not impart to their brethren and sisters, to the passing stranger, and even to an enemy, to feed them." ”

“ There is much said in the Bible with regard to the rich. In one place it is said, "It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven;" but "blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit," &c. ”

“ Unless we continue our Conference after the first day of the week, we shall not have time to instruct the people as fully as we should like to; but we will endeavor to do what we feel to be our duty in this matter. ”

“ They will say to themselves, "I must raise grain, for it is becoming dear, and there will be a high-priced market opened here for it by and bye; grain is going to be in good demand, and I must have a farm ”

“ In these circumstances thousands of them die yearly. It is against the law in that country for them to be found begging, and in some places, if they are found begging a third time; they are put in the stocks. ”

“ The upper block is raised, he is made to put his neck between, it is then slid down, and made fast; and there they leave him, where he is obliged to stay as long as the officer is disposed to keep him. ”