Latter-day
Saint General Conference roughly a century ago, was held on Sunday, April 3, to
Wednesday, April 6, 1927 (This was the 97th annual conference). So, there was
no conference on a Saturday that time around …And, the date of April 6
(Church’s anniversary), was the focal point for when April conference was held,
and not the weekend itself, as it is today.
Here’s my
analysis of interesting things then:
-General Conference was 4 days long, not just 2 days.
-Talks were
delivered in both the Salt Lake Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall – and some
were given at the same time. (The Assembly Hall was considered the place for
the overflow crowd, that could not fit into the Tabernacle.)
-It wasn’t
just General Authorities who talked in Conference, some were stake presidents
and others were mission presidents. In fact, some talks were delivered by
former mission and stake presidents.
-Talks were
published in a 180-page booklet, since there was no Improvement Era or Ensign
magazine yet. (All of this blog’s source material is that official published
Church report.) There was also an ad, of sorts, for 3 church books, on sale at
Deseret Book, printed on the back cover of the Conference booklet (And, also on
the inside back cover.)
-As reported at Conference, for the year 1926, $1.5
million was spent on wards and stakes; $188,00 was given to various charities;
$322,000 was used for temple construction and maintenance; $739,000 was spent
on missions and related expenses.
-Various
church statistics were announced: There were 96 stakes, 915 wards and 77
independent branches; plus, 27 missions and 734 branches in those
missions. Also, 72 percent of members
own their own homes; There were 2,188 full-time missionaries serving.
-President
Charles W. Nibley (second counselor in the First Presidency) noted that thanks
to the recent advent of radio broadcasts of General Conference, all shouting,
or pounding of the pulpit is now strongly discouraged and inappropriate – just
talk in a “conversational tone” now. (Salt Lake’s KSL radio, known at first as
“KZN,” had started broadcasts just 7 years earlier, in 1922.)
-Few of the
talks given had subject titles, like they do now. Talk subject ranged from
examples of the healing power of the priesthood, to testimonies of Jesus Christ
and Joseph Smith and of life in various mission fields. There were also calls
to keep the Sabbath Day Holy, live the Word of Wisdom and repent of one’s sins.
-Talks were
not strictly set to a time table and some speakers, like Elder B.H. Roberts,
had to apologize at the end of his discourse, for going over time.
-Elder Charles
A. Callis, president of the Southern States Mission, said he recently released
a missionary whose farming family had spent $8,000 keeping him and another
brother on their missions. (Based on inflation, that’s more than $140,000 in
2026 year dollars.)
-Church
President Heber J. Grant promoted the Tabernacle Choir and said that they would
be singing at a Tabernacle program the next week – and that admission was 25
cents to 50 cents – so in those days, the Choir was NOT fully funded by the
Church. Also, the Dutch Choir of Salt Lake provided the music in the Assembly
Hall. And, few of the songs sung at the Conference were ones that are familiar
today. (“See, the Mighty Angel” and
“Inflammatus” are examples of these obscure hymns sung.)
-Elder Eugene
J. Neff, former President of the Hawaiian Mission, told how when the Church
recalled all missionaries from there, during the Johnston Army crisis in Utah
Territory (1857-1858), that a former missionary returned there and was charging
members money for a priesthood confirmation and other things. He was becoming
rich at their expense and would not stop doing so and eventually had to be cut
off from the Church. Elder Neff that former missionary moved the San Francisco
and began disparaging the Church. He died there in obscurity, as some church
leaders had prophesied years earlier.,
-Elder J.
Golden Kimball did not swear in his talk or seem to say anything out of line (So, he was capable of giving "standard" church discourses!) In his talk, he said: “God never created a man that could please all the Mormon
people – and if anyone ever tried to please all of them, he will fail. You
cannot please all the people. The Savior did not please all.” Elder Kimball
also referred to Salt Lake City as “the most beautiful of cities” and claimed
that the population in town would now be about 500,000, if so many people had
not moved to California. Elder Kimball also stressed that his father, Heber C.
Kimball, was not made rich at the expense of others – and neither did Brigham
Young or other leaders do so. He said his father used to own all the land where
the State Capitol is now and beyond. He sold lots there for just $2.50 each.
-Elder Andrew Jenson, assistant Church Historian, said that by his count the Church had sent out 35,275 full-time missionaries, from 1830 and through 1926. He said that an estimate of local missionaries serving was at least another 70,000 during that period.
-Elder George
Albert Smith said that his family’s records showed there to have been 2 feet of
snow on the ground, 57 years earlier, on April 4, 1870, as compared to the warm
and sunny day in 1927.
-Elder David
O. McKay said that its full-time missionaries over the decades have likely
spent a combined total of some $17.5 million on their two-year missions. He
also said that it used to grieve him that the Church was not listed among the
ranks of the Protestant Churches in existence. But, now he realized that the
Church is more than a protest to the Catholic Faith, it is the only true
Christianity on the face of the Earth.
-President
Heber J. Grant also introduced three new stake presidents during the close of
the second day of conference.
-Elder Marvin
J. Ballard, Apostle, spoke on how the Word of Wisdom was given to fortify the
Saints. He said living the Word of Wisdom will fortify members to avoid
temptations of all kinds, “giving us the power to resist.” He said this power
includes not giving in to greater temptations of immorality.
-All in all,
45 brethren spoke during the conference.
