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Presented are transcripts of radio broadcasts by R.L.D.S. President Frederick M. Smith in 1938 on pertinent topics that continue to be of considerable interest in this 21st century.
XII. For the Common Good of All I have been presenting the need for the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation. This power works within the whole being of the Christian follower so that he is willing to say, “All that I am, or have, I will consecrate unto God and his people.” I have pointed out how this would bring about a real equality, not the dead level equality some foster or suggest. And I have suggested that this and the great objective of the Christian church will be brought about by the institution of the doctrine and law of stewardships. Not Communism Nor Socialism Here it becomes necessary for me to say some things about what the doctrine of stewardship is not, because otherwise I might be misunderstood. I have been under the necessity of using terms and even phrases if not sentences which may have been taken by some as ear marks of certain well-known social reform movements and even political ones. For instance, I have spoken of common weal, community welfare, and turning surplus into the common treasury, et cetera, and doubtless some of my hearers have thought, though they may not have said, “That sounds like communism.” But stewardships implies an order where the rule of all things common will not apply, for there will be, must be, private property and private responsibility for its use and management, all surplus will become common and all activity will be directed toward common maintenance and betterment. Some may have thought, “He is talking socialism.” Wrong again, for the doctrine of stewardship is not socialism, though the great tools of industry will be under such social control that they are promoting general welfare first, the advancement of their owners’ or managers’ interests being incidental, or contingent upon, proportional increase of wealth. This social control of the tools of industry will be promoted and protected by public sentiment, fostered and preserved by religion. No, the social order for which the church organized by Joseph Smith stands and for which we work, and which we desire to promote is neither communism nor socialism, though community interests are first. We must think in terms of community welfare, and our talents, abilities, and activities must be socialized. Such an order permits no idlers. All who are able to work must do so, and the group is vitally interested in finding something for everybody to do in the way of contribution to general weal or comfort. Everyone a contributor to common good is the ideal. The leisure class will disappear, for leisure itself becomes socialized, what there is being shared by all. Everybody is entitled to some leisure, to recreation, but even that with industrial efficiency in view. Drudgery will be abolished, for work being the natural expression of God-given or nature-endowed talents becomes pleasurable and wholesome. Universal Education The ideal society outlined above will demand a system of education more nearly universal than the present. Its universality must extend to the higher education, for in a society demanding the best of service from every member, it becomes of prime importance that every member shall be put through such process of development that will not only discover the special talent or talents, but when discovered, the highest possible development of the special endowment shall be made. Then society should guarantee that opportunity shall be had for its fullest expression in accomplishment and contribution. Such a system of education must be far more flexible than our present one, capable of fitting itself to the needs of each pupil. Not only must the special endowment of each child or person be discovered and developed, but that man must be vitalized, galvanized and electrified by an aroused interest which will lend itself not alone to expedite development but to its fullest and freest conversion into community welfare. There is great need to change the present attitude of the laboring man into one which will cause him to find pleasure in his work. We must change the social dynamic by inoculating society with the Christian principles. As I have previously said, selfishness and fear are our special dynamic today. Men toil for their pay envelopes or for their profits because their energies are loosened by the consuming desire to add to their accumulated wealth for the power it brings, or by the fear that old age, or disability from disease or accident will find them without a competency. You who are laboring men, answer me, Why do you work? Do you work because you love your work? Or is it because you look forward to the day when your pay envelope will be handed to you? And the pleasure of getting it—is it lasting or fugacious? And you who are businessmen, manufacturers, answer me, Why do you undergo the worry and vexations of the multitudinous details of your business? Why do you take the risks of failure, the hammering blows of competition? Why do you face the fears of strikes, walkouts and boycotts? Is it primarily from love of your business or because you see the profits if everything turns out all right, and because you know that a few years of successful business will put your bank account where the fear of dependency is for you gone forever? As I have previously said, the application of the doctrine of stewardships, the full (not partial) Christian doctrine of stewardships, is the open sesame to the change of attitude and the new much-to-be-desired social dynamic, which will put new heart into all who carry on industry—the laborer, entrepreneur, manufacturer, lawyer, and teacher. To indicate the change I expect this social motive to work, I revert to the picture I painted of the dejected laborer plodding his weary way to and from a hated machine of production, and a care-worn manufacturer driving home after an exasperating day. I now want to paint another word picture under the changed conditions I fain would see. A New Motive Let me in imagination now go back to the man we saw going into the factory, and let us imagine conditions changed, and see him again. This time as he approaches the factory his step is springy because there has been granted to him sufficient time to recuperate so that his industrial efficiency, his human machine, if you please, has been kept to the top-notch condition. He leaves his family joyfully because he knows it is comfortably located in a home they call their own, with enough food on the shelves so that there is no danger of them becoming hungry; and he knows that in case sickness comes into that family while he is gone there are resources at his command that relieve that despair, and he approaches the machine almost with a song in his heart because he says, “Here is the thing that is permitting me to bring my contribution to society, this machine is mine, I love it because I am master of it, and from its whirring wheels I can bring and lay on the altar of the community that is protecting me my contribution to society. Then when he leaves the factory at night he will not leave with his weary limbs dragging until he is in fear of being run down, but he will leave saying, “It is only to go and rest, to keep me in condition, that I leave you, dear machine, I will see you again and we will still further produce that we can contribute to the welfare of society.” Let us take the case of the employer, the same one we saw riding down the street in his automobile—luxurious, perhaps, to the casual observer. What about him? He has problems to meet. He is a man of capacity, he is a man of initiative, recognized to be able to accomplish much good, to direct great enterprises. He is still meeting problems, yes, problems, still considering the question of production the question of output, but this time considering the question of profits not because it is selfish, but because profits measure the service he can bring to the community, and he, too, like the laboring man we have seen going home joyfully, is happy because his stewardship is bringing in his contribution to the community that is standing by him and protecting him against fear as will. It Meets The Need The stewardship of which I am speaking is not a half-hearted devotion to the Christian principles, but is a complete consecration of heart, mind, and body to God and his service. It is the stewardship which Jesus the Christ himself brought to the world. Jesus lived, and worked, and died for the people, and the spirit and genius of his effort, working not for wages, not for the mere chance to exist, but for the service irrespective of the discomfort which it might bring to him—that is the spirit and genius with which this church must work, the one I am representing, or any other one that is attempting to introduce social reform today on a Christian basis. Come unto me all ye that labor, and I will give you rest” That this ideal is attainable is beyond question, for evidence of the willingness to individuals to go on the stewardship basis has been seen. That it is time for some reform to rectify the many maladjustments in our society cannot be gainsaid. I have attempted to outline in general the social ideal toward which the church founded by Joseph Smith is striving. I do not want to be supposed a simplicitarian, but in my study of society and the various reforms which have been proposed, I have seen nothing which holds such universal promise of solving all the social problems arising from present social maladjustments as does this doctrine of stewardships, a social order built on a deep-seated religious conviction and motivation. And it is not entirely ideal with us, for the ministry of this church has always been on the basis of giving their best in return for a living, while the business people, even the young people, are coming forward with their sincere offers to put their business upon the stewardship basis, and the details are being in some instances worked out by experience. |
