This lost LDS Classic is a sermon originally given by Prophet and President Brigham Young on April 6, 1877, the anniversary of the founding of the church and about four months before his death. The sermon was a General Conference address given during the dedicatory service of the St. George Temple that, among other things, dwelt upon the sole purpose of the church and the single cause which all its members should pursue. In this address he also makes a devastating argument against public education while simultaneously arguing powerfully for the ability of people to educate even the poorest people through private, free market means. This same argument is just as applicable to all State sponsored programs as it is to education. It is therefore highly recommended to all the Saints as wisdom we should all follow.
NOTE: Before I go farther, those of you who have been readers long enough here will undoubtedly remember that in the Brigham Young, Racism, and Slavery article I wrote about how untrustworthy the Journal of Discourses are as sources due to the intentional mass altering of the texts within it by George Watt. I am not backing down from that stance here. The reason I find this address more trustworthy is because Watt had no hand in its recording or publishing. By 1877, the old liar had already been excommunicated from the church for apostasy. This address was recorded by George F. Gibbs, who was then the official General Conference Reporter and would later on become the Secretary to the First Presidency. As far as I can tell, Gibbs has never been shown to have engaged in such deception as passing off his own words as those of the General Authorities. Now, to President Young’s remarks.
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Now, if we could take this people, in their present condition, and teach them how to sustain and maintain themselves and a little more, we would add to that which we already have; but to take what we have and divide amongst or give to people, without teaching them how to earn and produce, would be no more nor less than to introduce the means of reducing them to a state of poverty. I do not wish for one moment to recognize the idea that in order to establish the United Order our property has to be divided equally among the people, to let them do what they please with it. But the idea is to get the people into the same state of unity in all things temporal, that we find ourselves in with regard to things spiritual. Then let those who possess the ability and wisdom direct the labors of those not so endowed, until they too develop the talents within them and in time acquire the same degree of ability.
…We have no business here other than to build up and establish the Zion of God. It must be done according to the will and law of God after that pattern and order by which Enoch built up and perfected the former-day Zion, which was taken away to heaven, hence the saying went abroad that Zion had fled. By and by it will come back again, and as Enoch prepared his people to be worthy of translation, so we through our faithfulness must prepare ourselves to meet Zion from above when it shall return to earth, and to abide the brightness and glory of its coming.
My brethren and sisters, I do really delight in hearing our brethren speak on this holy order of heaven. Unity of purpose and action, in carrying out the will of our Father, has been my theme all the day long; but I have continually plead with the Saints not to waste their substance upon the lust of the eye and the flesh, for that is contrary to the will and commandments of God. I wish to say that whoever have faith enough to inherit the celestial kingdom will find that their inheritances will be upon this earth. This earth is our home; by and by it will be sanctified and glorified, and become a fit dwelling place for the sanctified, and they will dwell upon it forever and ever. I will further say I labor for the earth, I never mean to be satisfied until the whole earth is yielded to Christ and his people.
When brother George Q. tells us we should not labor for the earth and the things of this world, he means we should not labor with sinful motives, and to gratify the lusts of the flesh. But if we possessed the treasure of the Gentile world, could we not send our Elders to the ends of the earth, bearing the precious Gospel to all living? Could we not sustain their families during their absence? Could we not build Temple after Temple and otherwise hasten on the work of redemption? Yes. But keep the people in poverty and how are we to accomplish this great work? I say, let us gather and accumulate the things of the earth in the manner indicated by the Lord, and then devote it to God and the building up of his kingdom. What do you say to this doctrine, is it right or wrong? [The congregation said, “It is right.”] What little property I have I wish it to be devoted to the building up of Zion, and I suppose I have as much as any other man in the Church. I am always ready to receive and take care of the blessings that God showers upon me, and am always ready and willing to devote the same to the building up of his kingdom.
Many of you may have heard what certain journalists have had to say about Brigham Young being opposed to free schools. I am opposed to free education as much as I am opposed to taking away property from one man and giving it to another who knows not how to take care of it. But when you come to the fact, I will venture to say that I school ten children to every one that those do who complain so much of me. I now pay the school fees of a number of children who are either orphans or sons and daughters of poor people. But in aiding and blessing the poor I do not believe in allowing my charities to go through the hands of a set of robbers who pocket nine-tenths themselves, and give one-tenth to the poor. Therein is the difference between us; I am for the real act of doing and not saying. Would I encourage free schools by taxation? No! That is not in keeping with the nature of our work; we should be as one family, our hearts and hands united in the bonds of the everlasting covenant; our interests alike, our children receiving equal opportunities in the schoolroom and the college.
We have today, more children between the ages of 5 and 20 years, who can read and write, than any State or Territory of the Union of a corresponding number of inhabitants. This is not exactly sustained by the statistics published of a few of the States, but from what we know of them we believe it to be the fact.
On the whole we have as good schoolhouses as can be found, and it is our right to have better ones, and to excel in everything that is good.
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Afterword
I wish to make some points based on President Young’s teachings here. Our only labor and purpose -our sole business as President young puts it- is to establish and build the literal Zion and spread her society to all the world. If this is true then any time we are giving our time, money, or efforts to any other cause, such as the government, we are failing to fulfill our only purpose and duty as Latter-day Saints. Just as you cannot serve God and Mammon you cannot serve both Zion and Babylon. Further, as President Young teaches, wealth itself is not evil. The purposes of the United Order were not socialistic- that is they were not to take all the property of the people and divvy them out equally among all the people in the name of equality. President Young in fact endorses the idea that it is good for some to have more than others- that those who are better able to manage money and develop wealth better than others should be allowed to have it and use it. The goal is to eliminate poverty not to create a great leveling of wealth because the latter on creates more poverty than there was before. President Young understood that Socialism creates poverty.
His example explaining how private industry is better is public education. He gives himself as an example of how those with more can and should care for those who cannot as he helps pay for the education of children that aren’t his own. Further, he absolutely dismisses the idea of taxation being comparable to charity and destroys the idea of taxation as a social good by pointing out how the politicians that demand it are thieves who take 90% of everything for themselves and their own causes- to public projects that benefit their reelection chances, towards warfare, towards political party support, towards corporate welfare, etc. On the other hand, privately funded education and private charity can be tailored to individual needs and you can ensure that all your donations are going directly to where and who you want them to go and it is better than anything the government could deliver.
Finally, President Young’s arguments about how private enterprise can and does better provide quality education for people than the government is equally true of everything the government proposes to manage – defense, law, justice, property rights, education, land management, road building, everything. Not only can private enterprise provide those things, but private enterprise can provide them better for more people at every social and economic level than the government can.