Functions Where Law Is Broken

For many years I have sent a personal questionnaire to those for whom I have had opportunity to vote asking candidates for public office to advise me confidentially or otherwise whether or not they live in accordance with the law, whether they favor the enforcement of the law, and in addition I have urged them if elected to join me in a resolution not to participate in any function, social or otherwise, where the law is broken.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Law, Respect For

The condition of our country with respect to lawlessness and anarchy is such that John J. Pershing says, “We are at war!” that the conditions confronting the United States today are more serious than those we faced in France. (American Magazine, June, 1932, p. 15.)

Vote Only For Those Who Respect The Law

I appeal to you in this serious hour, when “we are at war,” when the conditions confronting us are more serious than those we faced in France, to cast your ballots for those candidates only who are law abiding, who have real respect for the law and who want it enforced. If the people of the country generally will vote for law breakers, if they will elect such men to public office, then with certainty will government of the people, by the people and for the people vanish from the earth.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Law, Respect For; Voting

God Have Mercy On Us

What strength, what value will there be in any law, even in that law which protects us in our property rights, if we degenerate to such a degree that the law breaker has to be arrested by a man who is equally guilty of breaking the law; that when he who is guilty is brought before the bar, that bar which is supposed to be a bar of justice, he has as his prosecutor a district, a city or a county attorney who is himself as guilty as the one he is to prosecute? What an unfortunate condition will prevail if we reach such a situation that the individuals who constitute the jury are as guilty of law breaking as is the man whose guilt they are expected to discover. And then finally, if in addition to all of this, the judge or the justice who occupies the exalted place upon the bench does not himself have respect enough for the law to live in accordance with its provisions, God have mercy on us, for when this condition prevails government of the people, referred to by Abraham Lincoln, will surely be perishing from the earth.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Law, Respect For

Stand For America

I appeal to you now, during this heated political contest, regardless of party, partisanship or politics to stand for America; to stand for the Constitution of the United States; to cast your vote only for those who bare the character, the manhood, the stamina to live the law: vote only for those who when they take that sacred, that solemn oath of office which says that they will support, obey and defend the Constitution of the United States will have the honor, the integrity, and enough of the genuine spirit of America to live in accordance with that pledge. I appeal to you to vote only for those who really live in accordance with our laws and who, if elected, will do their best to have the law enforced.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Voting

I Stand With Leaders

I stand with Lincoln and Franklin with the Church and with the General Authorities for the enforcement of the law. I appeal to you and to all the people of the nation to come to the support of the Constitution of the United States, I appeal to you to stand with me when I say, “God helping me, I will not knowingly cast my vote for any candidate for any office unless I have reasonable assurance that he lives in accordance with the law, that if elected he will live in accordance with the sacred oath of office he will be required to take, and that he will do his best to see that all our laws are respected and that the people live in accordance with them.”

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Voting

My religion ought to teach me to regard my fellow as entitled to his views, as well as I am to mine, in matters political as in all else. I believe in men taking part in politics. We have to do so in order to function in government, even as has been said. But I say to you Latter-day Saints if you, my brother, claim to be a Republican, be a straight, honest one. And if you, my other brother claim to be a Democrat, be a genuine Democrat. I know too many honorable Democrats to believe that all the good is in the Republican party, or the reverse. Some people even say: “Both can not be right.” “Oh, is that so? Then if the Republicans are right the Democrats must be wrong.” Would the proposition stand analysis? According to that, if the Democrats are good the Republicans are bad, out and out. Well now, I know good people and I know bad people, according to my mode of analysis, in both these parties, and I have been led to say sometimes that I think each is a little worse than—perhaps I should say better than—the other. Do not think because your neighbor does not vote your ticket that he is reprobate and bound for destruction. Do your duty as citizens, as I try to do mine, and do not feel that your neighbor is not entitled to his views. Do not let rancor and hatred find a place in your heart because of political differences.

Source: Elder James E. Talmage
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Politics; Voting

Value Of Opposition

Perhaps no greater truth was ever expressed than that revealed through the prophet Lehi: “It must needs be that there is an opposition in all things.” As it is we sometimes have trouble in getting any considerable part of our citizens to the polls, and how many do you think would go if we had only one party and one ticket in the field? There must needs be opposition. Let it be honorable opposition. Let differences of opinion be held in honesty. Oh, let us be men, remembering our divine origin, and conducting ourselves accordingly.

Source: Elder James E. Talmage
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Politics

The Power Of Prayer Recognized

Our government, in its beginning, recognized the power of prayer, for in the first gathering of Congress, the Senate and the House, prayer was offered before a thing was undertaken in the way of legislation. Among those wonderful men who met at Carpenter Hall on September 5th, 1774, were some of the greatest Americans, men who were perfectly willing to give their lives for their country. They bowed in prayer, and more than half of them knelt when the prayer was being offered.

Source: Elder Reed Smoot
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: America, Heritage

Extravagance Deplored

I despise waste, and I think that waste under present conditions is almost criminal—the waste of anything. Extravagance that amounts to waste is likewise indefensible in view of the great needs that present themselves. Sometimes I grow indignant when I see and contemplate the extravagances that are indulged by some of our institutions, both public and private when people are in such great distress and great want. There are extravagances in government that absorb all my own taxes and the taxes of my neighbors. These expenses are useless and unnecessary, some of them legalized it is true, but public service ought to be so alive to the situation that confronts us today that even if extravagance is legalized it should be stopped. A sense of the proprieties and a sense of fairness and justice would prompt such action.

Our taxes are unbearably high because our incomes are so reduced. It is a tragedy to see the farms and the homes that are being sacrificed because of the inability of their owners to pay the taxes levied on them. Of course we want good government, we want the protection of law, we want all the opportunities that good government affords to us, and I recognize that they have to be paid for, but this is a day when economy must be applied.

Source: Elder Stephen L. Richards
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Responsibility; Taxes

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