Daniel H. Wells

“ Those who will cling to the faith and work on faithfully, diligently and humbly, will be the best off in the end. I do not care what inducement is offered to them, there is no enterprize so remunerative as the great enterprize in which we are engaged, or half so profitable, though we may not realize all things we desire or need at the present moment as fully as we would like. Look at the faithful laborer who is putting forth his hand in building up the kingdom of God, even if it is connected with the bringing of rocks from the quarry, lumber and timber from the mountains, &c. ”

“ What does the Tithing-office pay to the hands on the public works? it pays money, it pays clothing, it pays good flour and plenty of it, all that the hands need; it pays vegetables of every kind that is raised in these mountains, it pays molasses, chickens, eggs, butter, beef and pork, some hay and wood. ”

“ Great abuses are springing up among us for want of proper attention to the business of tithing labor upon the public works.
Sometimes men are found fault with because they spoil the work; they do not, for instance, cut the stone to line and do not improve in their work as much as they should. If anything is said to those persons they feel gouty and as though they did not care whether they continued to work or not on the public works ”

“ If there is an objection raised to paying the material on labor tithing, it can be credited on their property tithing. We would not wish our tradesmen to leave their shops to work out their labor tithing in common labor with the shovel, the pick, &c., for they would not earn as much as a common laborer would who daily follows this kind of labor. We want them to pay their tithing in the kind of labor they are constantly employed at, and the products of this we can place to an excellent use. Common labor is more plentiful than mechanical labor. ”

“ There is a great labor before this people, it is a life-time work, and then it will be taken up by those who will follow after us, who will continue to develop the things which the Almighty is trying to establish upon the earth—the work of the salvation of our dead and the great millennium. ”

“ It looks a small thing to quarry rock and to pick up the pebbles and cobble rock or to take the spade and go and labor a single day's work, but those small matters form together a grand whole in bringing to pass the great purposes we are anticipating will come to pass in the Lord's due time. Then let us listen to and respond to the calls made upon us by our Bishops, by our Presidents, by those who are appointed to direct and govern and control and shape our labor. It is the business of this people to build up this kingdom in any channel and direction in which they are called to labor. ”

“ But in this country no person need suffer for the common necessaries of life. It is not so in distant nations where many of us came from. Remember the appeals that are made to us for assistance, for starvation has entered their dwellings; it is not, so here. Do we realize the blessings we enjoy in contrast with those of our brethren in distant countries? While we are doing all we can to aid them, let us remember not to slacken our hands in endeavoring to build up the kingdom of God, in answering to the calls made upon us here. ”

“ There is no place in the Territory that pays better pay and better wages than is paid to the hands that work on the public works, upon an average. If they can better themselves, why do they not do it? ”

“ We expect you to do as you shall be directed and abide the law you have enlisted to obey; this is your privilege. We expect you will guide your labors according to the rule laid down for you to follow. We wish to proceed with this labor immediately upon the close of this Conference. Let the men who seek labor, seek it not so particularly for individual aggrandizement as for the interest of the kingdom of God. This work will be an equal benefit to all, if we will be diligent and contented. There is no job men can be engaged in that will pay half as well. ”

“ Some would quickly leave the public works in the best season of the year for a few dollars in money, and in the winter, when employment is scarce elsewhere, return to the public works; this is not righteous before God; men who do this do not do their duty as Saints If any person can do better than to be a Latter-day Saint and abide the counsels given to them, why do they not do it? ”

“ The labor tithing of mechanics cannot be settled by sending a person to work at a dollar and a-half a day if the Bishop understands his business. All our tradesmen make more than a dollar and a-half a day; they should pay what their tenth day's labor is worth. ”

“ No person can release us from the duties that devolve upon us as individuals. We each of us should shoulder our responsibilities and rejoice to embrace the privilege of performing the duties devolving upon us to do good in the Church and kingdom of God in the last days. This is an inestimable privilege which, once neglected, may never again return. No person should lose the opportunity of doing good, if they do they will be sorry afterwards. ”

“ There is nothing so small but what is necessary, when we are told to do it by those who preside over us. Small things reach to great things. We cannot baptize for the dead without a font, and we cannot get a stone to build it of without going to the stone quarries to get it. ”

“ We will build a new Tabernacle of sufficient dimensions to accommodate the people much better than they can be at present, and the time probably is not far distant when we may commence to administer for our dead. But the duties of to-day and all the work and labor we are called upon to perform is preparatory to something else ”

“ They get all they earn and more, unless they are more diligent than some generally are, because we pay high wages. These are facts that cannot be truthfully denied. Men who work on the public works should be satisfied and contented, and give their best services, and try to improve and do the best they can ”

“ Some of the Bishops sent word if I would find the men from the Wards tobacco they would pay for it, which they have not done, and you may expect that in the future we shall not find them in this article. We expect these things to be found them and men sent who will take care of their teams and wagons. It is a heavy tax upon us to repair unavoidable breakages; this we expect to do. We have a pretty good road to the rock, and if men will be careful in the management of their teams they need not break wagons as much as they have. ”

“ Let the teamsters be fitted out with at least one spare shirt, that they may not be placed under the necessity of wearing one shirt five or six weeks, and then leave the work to go home if they are not supplied with more ”