The one hundred and fourteenth quarterly conference of the Wasatch stake of Zion was held at Heber City, Oct. 28 and 29 [1905]. The weather was quite favorable, and the attendance was good at all of the sessions. Visiting the conference were Elders Reed Smoot and Hyrum M. Smith of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Alfred Osmond of the Brigham Young University. President William H. Smart presided at the meetings.
President Smart occupied the time of the Saturday morning’s session, and reported the stake in fine condition.
The afternoon session was devoted to the hearing of reports of the Priesthood and auxiliary organizations of the stake which were shown to be in good working order. Interesting instructions were given along ethical and educational lines by President James C. Jensen and Prof. Osmond.
A very interesting and inspiring feature of the Sunday morning’s meeting was the entrance of the Sunday schools in marching order, and the time was occupied in discussion of matters pertaining to Sunday school work.
Elders Smoot and Smith occupied most of the time of the afternoon and evening sessions of the conference, dwelling upon the simplicity of “Mormonism” in comparison with the religions of the world, touching upon education and self-sacrifice.
The evening session was under the auspices of the Young Men’s and Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement associations. Elder Smoot stated that there is one way for the people to become popular with the world, and that is to fight the truth, and no matter how foul or base a person may be, he can gain the support and plaudits of the world by taking this stand. He cited as evidence of this an incident which occurred in Washington where two very eminent and popular ministers were seen linked arm in arm with the ex-publisher of the very odoriferous sheet called “Lucifer’s Lantern,” an avowed atheist, thus showing how every otherwise inharmonious force can come together in perfect harmony to oppose the work of the Lord, fulfilling the prediction of the Savior: “If ye were of the world, the world would love you,” etc.
A reorganization of the Second Quorum of Elders and of the stake superintendency of the Religion Class work was effected, each organization being given a strong corps of officers, whose energies, it is felt, will do much to revive the work in their departments. The conference was highly interesting and beneficial to the work of the ministry in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.
JOS. W. MUSSER
Stake Clerk
F.Y.I the Joesph Musser who took the minutes later became a leader in the fundamentalist movement who wanted to continue plural marriage. He was excommunicated and help found the Short Creek Community and spent time in federal prison for practicing plural marriage.
Check out the wikipedia article on him.
“Elder Smoot stated that there is one way for the people to become popular with the world, and that is to fight the truth, and no matter how foul or base a person may be, he can gain the support and plaudits of the world by taking this stand.”
Timely.
I’m waiting for a stake conference when the visiting general authorities bring along a few stray professors from BYU to speak. Alfred Osmond was the first chairman of the English Department at BYU, serving from 1903 until he retired in 1935.
Almost completely unrelated, but Osmond’s daughter Irene Spears also taught at BYU until her retirement in 1973. For a few years just before then, my dad and I were her home teachers–our visits were regular, punctual, and short. I wish we had spent more time letting her tell stories of the “olden” days in Provo and at BYU.
I had the occasion to hear a little more about Pres. William H. Smart from his grandson, on account of this post.