Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1952 A Study of Joseph Smith's Teachings and Practices as they Influence elfarW e in the LDS Church Helen Mae Andrus Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Cultural History Commons, Economics Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Andrus, Helen Mae, "A Study of Joseph Smith's Teachings and Practices as they Influence elfarW e in the LDS Church" (1952). Theses and Dissertations. 4482. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4482 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. t 33 A STUDY OF JOSEPH SMITHISSMITHES TEACHINGS AND PRACTICES AS THEY INFLUENCE WELFARE IN THE LDS CHURCH A thesis presented to the faculty of the department of sociology brigham young university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of arts 17484171 17 by helen mae H andrus 119529 5 2 acknowledgments grateful acknowledgment is given by the writer to dr ariel S ballif who suggested this study for his guid- ance suggestions and constructive criticism to william E berrett for his assistance and suggestions to marion G romney who granted the writer permission to use some of the records in the general church welfare offices in salt lake city utah and to fennopenno B casto for his kind assistance in securing the data from the welfare office to alden adams who has carefully prepared the graphs for this study to grace croft typist to the university librarians and last of all to my husband hyrum L andrus for his encour- agement and moral support TABLE OF ONTENTSCONTENTSC page LIST OPOFTABLES v LIST OPOFillustrations vi chanterchachapterpter I1 introduction 1 II111I THE TEACHINGS OPOF JOSEPH SMITH IN REGARDS TO THE TREATMENT OPOF THE NEEDY 1 1 0 0 10 III111 THE application JOSEPH SMITH iliill IIADEMADE OF HIS TEACHINGS 26 IV CHURCH POLICY OF CARING FOR TBETHE NEEDYITEEDY FROMPROMBRIGBRIGHAMHAM YOUNG TO 1936 4919 V THE PRESENT CHURCH POLICY OF CARING FOR THE NEEDY 744 VI SUMMARY AND FINDINGS 12412 bibliography 130 lviv LIST OF TABLES table page 1 average fast offering per capita in wards 82 2 total amount of fast offerings from wards and missions 858 3 use of fast offerings compared with store- house commodities disbursed for the year 1911 86 4 total welfare contributions in wards 87 5 total membership of church and the total number who paid fast offerings and welfare contributions 88 6 number assisted through bishops storehouse program 96 7 number assisted through means other than the bishop s storehouse Prprogramogrean 98 8 percentage of stakes submitting reports 99 9 budget expenditures from general church funds 101 10 total cash expenditures of church for the care of the needy 102 11 portion of budget received at storehouse in kind and in cash loh104loliolloi101 12 field activities to produce the welfare budget 105 13 church welfare program financial report 106 14 comparative sales and payroll summary of the deseret clothing factory 112 115r summarized annual report of deseret industries liilil111111 16 deseret industries employees nillihhilhit114 17 persons relinquishing public assistance 116 18 number helped to find employment other than through welfare e 119 v LIST OF illustrations figure page 1 average fast offering per capita in wards 83 2 total amount of fast offerings from wards and missions 84 3183 total membership of church and total number who paid fastpast offerings and welfare contributions 0 0 89 4 number assisted through bishopbishops storehouse and other means 0 0 97 5 budget expenditures from general church funds 100 666 6 total cash expenditures of the church for care of the needy 0 0 0 0 0 0 103 707 church welfare program financial report 0 0 107 808 production storehouse distribution and inventory 0 0 0 0 0 109 9 persons relinquishing public assistance 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 117 10 number helped to find employment other than through welfare 1 1 1 1 1 118 vi CMPTEIRCHAPTER I1 introduction the noorpoor always ye have with you probably no truer words regarding the noor have ever been spoken than those recorpecorrecorcedrecordedced in the new testament as the words of jesus christ the savior of the world many solu- tions have been suggested for the care of the roorroonpoorpoon and needy and the elimination of poverty few if any have been su- ccessfullycess fully carried out the solutions suggested by josejoseohjosephoh smith the mormon pprophettopi7 opiI1 et have not been thoroughly tested but are worthy of consideration statement of prproblemeblemoblem the probieproblemiciITI of this study will be to determine the teachings and practices of joseph smith in regards to the treattreatmentnentment of the needy and to show the influence they have on the present policy of the church he established the church of jesus christ of latter day saints HhypothesisTP othesis to be tested the present policy of car- ingincID for the needy of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints has its basis in the teachingteachingss and practices of joseph smith ijohnjohn 128 2 definition of terms the fallowingollowingfollowingollowing terms will be used in thisthis study and are here defined 1 the church of jesus christ of latter day saints the church organized by joseph smith april 6 1830 corimonlycommonly called the mormon church will be the church referred to its members will be referred to as saints Morcormonsmormonsmons or members As mention will be made of its organization a brief summary of it is here given the church is presided over by a president and his two counselors assisted by the council of the twelve other authoritesauthorizesauthorites are the first council of sevseventy seven rrmenen and the presiding bisbishonbishop of the church with his two counselors for administrative purpunpurposesdosesnoses the church is divided into geographical units called wards stakes branches and missions the primary unit is the ward presided over by a bishop and his two counselors with a ward clerk there are 1137 wards in the church yagiyaglia91z1491 in 191719527 the normal population of a ward is fronfrom 50000 to 1000 souls all told the wards are grouped together into stakes presided over by a president and his two counselors with a stake clerk each stake presidency is assisted by a group of twelve men known as the stake high council there are 127 stakes 191l91 in 195121195121in197 in the church with an average of ten wards to a stake 1 there are 17517 independent branches in the church which are similar to wards in organization they are pre aj1j reuben clark jr church welfare plan A dis- cussion before the first citizenscitizens11 conference on government management at estes park colorado june 20 1939 P 11 3 sided over by a branch president and two counselors iheyahey usually are found in the missions away from the headquarters of the church there are forty three domestic and foreign missions in the church presided over by a mission president and two counselors every worthy male member of the church over twelve years of age holds the priesthood which according to the church is the authority to act for god 1 normally the boys from twelve to twenty one years of age make up the lesser or aaronic priesthood which is divided into three groups of deacons teachers and priests each is divided into subgroupssub groups called ququorumsorumsamsums the higher or melchizedek priesthood is divided into groups of elders seventies and high priests andsinc each group is organized into ququorumsorums the administrative officers of the church are usually chosen p from the high priests 2 within the church there are five auxiliary organiza- tions which assist the priesthood they are the primprimary for children under twelve years of age the sunday schoolhoolhooi for all ages the yoiyoayounayounp mens mutual improvementvementrorovementmovement association for young men twelve years of age and older the yoyoung womenisgomeniswomenys mutual improvement association for young women of correscornescorrespondingcondingbonding ages and Woruonwonworneniswomen1swomensnenIs relief sociesoclesociety for all women of mature ages ijohn A widtsoeWidtsoe priesthood and church government salt lake city utah deseret book co 193919397 P 1 p 2clarkbclarkclark 22op citc i t p 11 4 2 the welfwelfareareane plan is a program within the church to aid those who are in need it will be discussed in chapter V therefore only its relationship to the existing organization of the church will be given here welfare organizational chart I1 general authorities 1 first presidency 2 council of the twelve apostles 3 presiding bishopric II11 Ggeneralener 1 church welfwelfareare committee subcommitteessub conincommitteesitteesittzes 1 agriculture 2 church beautification 3 finance cooperative security corp 4 industries and new projects liiiliIII111 regional executive council 1 all presidents of stakes comprising the regionregionsregion11 IV stake welfare committee 1 chairman stake president 2 stake employment counselor counselor to stake president 3 stake work director counselor to stake president 4 president of stake high priests quorum 5 chairman of stake BishBishopsbishopstbishops1opst1 council 1 6 stake eliefrelief1 Leilef society president 7 takestake society employment counselor relief I1 counselor