SMITH  IS  COMING  TO  DEDICATE.
________

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct, 1. -- Joseph Smith of the Latter Day Saints left here today for Honolulu, where he will dedicate a church.

Notes: (forthcoming)

PRESIDENT  JOSEPH  SMITH
OF  REORGANIZED  L. D. S.
CHURCH  COMING  HERE.
________

(Associated Press Cablegram.)

KANSAS CITY, October 1. -- Joseph Smith has left here en route to Honolulu to dedicate a church there.

Joseph Smith, first president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and its prophet, seer and revelator, was born in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1832. He is the oldest son of Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, and the hereditary and legal successor to the office formerly held by his martyred forbearer. This office he came forward to claim in 1860 at a church conference held at Amboy, Illinois, on April 6 of that year, and was duly chosen and ordained on that occasion to the office made vacant on the death of his father, June 27, 1844. In the address he made to the church conference at that time, his attitude was clearly defined, especially relative to the Utah church and its polygamous doctrines and practices; and from that uncompromising attitude he has never receded. He said:

"There is but one principle taught by the leaders of any faction of this people that I hold in utter abhorrence; that is a principle taught by Brigham Young and those believing in him. I have been told that my father taught such doctrines. I have never believed it and never can believe it. If such things were done, then I believe they never were done by divine authority. I believe my father was a good man, and a good man never could have promulgated such doctrines.

"I believe in the doctrines of honesty and truth. The Bible contains such doctrines, and so do the Book of Mormon and the Book of Covenants, which are auxiliaries to the Bible.

"I believe that we owe duties to our country and to society, and are amenable to the laws of the land, and have always considered it my duty to act upon this principle; and I do say that among the people where I live I have as many good and true friends as I could desire among those of any society."

President Smith has, since May 1, 1865, aside from other duties, been connected with the church organ, "The Saints' Herald;" sometimes as sole editor and sometimes associated with others; in which capacity he has shown much ability. For many years he was a resident of the State of Iowa, but has recently taken up his residence at Independence, Missouri. He is a close personal friend and has always been a warm supporter of Col. Hepburn, who is well and favorably known in Hawaii.

Mr. Smith, despite his years, possesses a strong intellect and retains a vivid memory of the stirring scenes of his early years; and, being an able speaker, his addresses have commanded the interest and attention of large audiences throughout the United States and Canada, as well as England. During his stay in Honolulu the public will no doubt have several opportunities of listening to him.

Mr. Smith has frequently been confounded with the notorious Joseph F. Smith, president of the Utah church, the similarity of names alone being responsible for the mistake in identity, as there is a wide disparity between the two men in other respects. While here Mr. Smith will dedicate the church recently erected on King street near Thomas Square.


Notes: (forthcoming)

ELDER  SHEEHY  COMES  WITH  PRESIDENT  SMITH.
________

President Joseph Smith, of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints, will be accompanied on his visit here, to dedicate the new church on King street, by Elder F. M. Sheehy, one of the twelve governing elders of the denomination.

A cablegram was received by Elder G. J. Waller, pastor of the local church, yesterday, stating that Messrs. Smith and Sheehy would sail from San Francisco today, which means that they are coming in the Alameda. This is four days earlier than they were expected, as it was thought they could not catch an earlier steamer than the Siberia.

Elder Sheehy is a fine speaker and his coming is most agreeable news to Elder Waller, as it will be to the whole connection here.


Note: This same report was printed in the Honolulu Evening Bulletin of Oct. 8, 1907.

ELDER  JOSEPH  SMITH
COMES  TO  DEDICATE.
________

Reorganized Church To Be
Dedicated Tomorrow.
________

Elder Joseph Smith, presiding officer of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ, arrived from the Coast this morning in the Alameda.

In an interview this morning with a Bulletin man he stated that his trip down on the Alameda was most pleasant. The Elder is one of the fortunate ones of life on the ocean wave, for he does not get seasick. His principal object in coming to Hawaii is for the express purpose of dedicating the new church on King street, which is under his jurisdiction. The dedication ceremonies will take place tomorrow forenoon at 11 o'clock, and it is expected that there will be a large number present.

While here, Elder Smith will give a series of meetings at which general outlines of that religious belief will be expounded.

The lectures will all be held in the new church, the exact dates of which will be announced later.

The Elder could not state exactly how long he would remain in the Islands but thought that it would not be later than the 6th of November, as he is desirous of getting back to his home before cold weather sets in. His home is at Independence, Mo., ten miles from Kansas city.

Speaking of political affairs the Elder said: "You all know what my religion is, and I wish to add that I am also a Republican. My religion or politics never change, no matter where I am."

The Elder is "resting up" in his suite of rooms at the Hawaiian hotel today. He expects that tomorrow will be a strenuous day, but on Monday he will start sightseeing, and says he will take in as much of the beauties of the Islands as possible in the time limit of his stay.

There is a wrong impression abroad that Elder Smith is a Mormon. Such is not the fact. He is the world's champion against polygamy in any form or shape. No one has ever fought against that form of religion with so much vigor as has the elder. This gentleman, who is in the city now for the purpose of dedicating the new church, is a son of the noted Joseph Smith of Latter Day Saint fame. His father was also a non-believer in polygamy. There is still another noted Smith who is at times confounded with the Elder who is here now. This is Joseph Fielding Smith, president of the Utah Mormon church.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  CHAMPION  POLYGAMY  FIGHTER
President Smith Talks on Traducers of His Father
________

"This man is the world's champion against polygamy," said Elder F. M. Sheehy, of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, introducing a representative of the Advertiser to President Joseph Smith, the ecclestical leader of the church and the eldest son of Joseph Smith, the Prophet. "President Smith has written, preached and lectured more against that crime than any man living."

And in the lengthy interview which followed with the president the main topic was the question of polygamy as taught today and formerly practiced by the Mormon church of Utah, a church with which the Reorganized church is frequently confused by the public.

President Smith is seventy-five years old, but carries his years well, being a man of magnificent physique, straight, tall and broad shouldered. He has a strong but kindly face and is most affable and pleasant in his manner. In some respects he resembles his cousin, Joseph F. Smith, the Prophet, Seer and Revelator of the Utah Mormons, but his features are less stern than his cousin's.

"And why shouldn't they be less stern?" he asked, when the fact was mentioned. "He has six wives to look after and I have only one. And I find that looking after one is quite a task."

The president summarized his long life last night by saying that he had been born a Buckeye, raised a sucker and was now a Puke. He was birn in Ohio, at the time his father, Joseph Smith, was just beginning to be noticed by the world at large; he went from one state to another as the Mormons were driven from one locality to another, the members of the new sect finally building their city of Nauvoo in Illinois, where his father met his death at the hands of a masked mob. At that time the present president was a lad in his twelfth year and his remembrance of that tragedy is as vivid today as it was during those days when the death of their leader threw the Mormons into confusion, resulting in the split in the church, when the majority followed Brigham Young across the plains to found the city of Salt Lake and reclaim the arid lands of Utah. In Nauvoo, except for the year following the death of his father, the president lived with his mother and immediate family for many years, finally moving back to Missouri, where the first temple of the church had been built.

In 1860 he took his present position as head of the church, succeeding his father, having received the authority to do so from his father prior to his death. His life's work has been to combat the claims of the leaders of that section of the Mormons who located in Utah, founding their church upon the doctrine of ploygamy and claiming as authority a revelation supposed to have been received by Joseph Smith. That such a revelation was ever received by his father or that his father was ever a polygamist is denied emphatically by his son. The alleged revelation was not promulgated by Brigham Young until some years after the death of the Prophet and, according to the assertions made by President Smith last night, was never proven in any way nor properly submitted to the church membership as was done with any other of the numerous revelations which go to make up the bulk of the Mormon theology. The revelation was not included among the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants, the official Mormon publication, until 1876, and then on the arbitrary dictation of Young.

The legal status of the Reorganized church as the successors of the Nauvoo organization has been established in several lawsuits and is a constant source of dispute between the two branches. President Smith and his son Frederick M. Smith, who will be the next president, have issued numerous challenges to the leaders in Utah to meet them in debate on the many questions at issue between the church, but their challenges have passed unanswered.

"I was only twelve years old at the time that Brigham Young claimed the leadership of the church. I was only a lad but my memory of the circumstances is clear. It is altogether too good for those fellows and they know it. I have visited Utah many times, however, and I have many friends among the people there, but none of our challenges have ever been accepted. I make the same challenge now to President Woolley. I knew either his father or his grandfather when I was a boy, but I know that he won't accept the challenge. We are the successors of the church founded by my father and are ready to prove it either in a polemic discussion or in the courts. I have never diverged from the faith that my father announced and died for. When they say that I am an apostate I challenge proof and none is forthcoming. When they say that my father was a polygamist I challenge proof and can get none. My father was an active, athletic man, standing six feet in his socks, weighing two hundred and ten pounds and in the prime of his youth, being between twenty-eight and thirty years old at the time they claim he was practising polygamy, but not one child was ever born to him except by my mother, his legally wedded wife. If he were a polygamist would there not be some children born?"

President Smith is a charter member of the Republican party, casting his first vote for President Lincoln when the party emerged from the Anti-Slavery part[y] into the Republican party. In his state he has listened to the political speeches of Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, during the famous contest between the two. Of the present day politicians he is a close friend of Colonel Hepburn, of Iowa, and of Senator Allison and Dolliver. At the time of the assassination of Lincoln he was chosen by the people of Plano, Illinois, to preach the funeral sermon. The same people chose him to preach the funeral sermon following the assassination of Garfield, while at Lamoni, Iowa, he was the speaker at the joint service held after the death of McKinley.

The church over which he presides numbers sixty thousand members, only about a fifth of the claimed membership of the Utah church, but what is the main point with the eastern church is that not one member of the immediate family of the Prophet, his wife, children or brothers or sisters ever migrated with Brigham Young to Utah. His nephew, the present head of the Mormons, made the migration, however.

President Smith arrived in Honolulu yesterday to dedicate the new church of the Reorganized L. D. S., on King street. The dedicatory sermon will be preached by him this morning at 11 o'clock, and the dedicatory prayer will be offered up by Elder Sheehy, one of the quorum of apostles of the church, who accompanied the president to Honolulu. Tonight Elder Sheehy will conduct the services, while there will be services in the church every night during the week with the exception of Wednesday and Saturday.


Note: This same report was printed in the Honolulu Hawaiian Gazette of Oct. 15, 1907.

CHURCH  DEDICATED  BY
THE  SON  OF  THE  PROPHET.
________

With simple but effective ceremonies and services, the first church edifice of the body of Christians known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was dedicated yesterday morning.

The church is a frame structure on the mauka side of King steeet opposite the Catholic cemetary. It is of pleasing ecclesiastical architecture of which many examples may be seen scattered through rural regions of the Mississippi Valley and the Alleghany region. There is adaptation to this climate, however, by an abundance of windows to secure ventilation. The entrance is through a square vestibule formed by a tower terminating in a pleasing cupola. The pulpit platform, with small rooms on either side, occupies the mauka end of the church. The platform is raised higher than is usual in most churches and is reached by steps on the left. The interior of the church is finished in natural wood. The ceiling is vaulted and supported by framed trusses. The pews are in dark stained wood and exceedingly comfortable. The pulpit platform and the organ were pleasingly ornamented with ferns and great jardinieres of cut flowers, carnations and asters.

The dedicatory services were at 11 o'clock. There was an audience that practically filled the seating capacity of the church, about two hundred. The opening hymn was one by Lowell Mason, whose recent death recalls the high place he had in Christian hymnology. A quartet consisting of Mr. and Isaac Harbottle, Miss Pilkoi and Mr. Kahanamoku sang an anthem.

On the platform were President Joseph Smith, elder son of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Elder F. M. Sheehy, who with another has charge of the missions of which this is one, and Elder Gilbert J. Waller, who has been in large degree the pillar and support of the church in these Islands for many years.

The formal acceptance of the church was symbolized by the presentation by Elder Waller on behalf of the congregation of the key of the church ediface to President Smith, who accepted it on behalf of the Bishop, and returned it to Elder Waller for the use of the congregation.

The sermon by President Smith was a simple, straightforward presentation of the purpose of the church to be, to present the truth to all men as it was presented by Christ to his disciples and those whom he sent, to be by them presented to those who should follow after, until all should have the opportunity of hearing the gospel.

President Smith is a benignant figure, gentle, kindly, yet not lacking vigor nor strength. He is a tall, well built man, erect in spite of his seventy-five years, his gray beard softening a face which a slightly aquiline nose would otherwise make too severe.

The dedicatory invocation following the sermon was by Elder F. M. Sheehy, who has a voice of marvellous richness, and a diction that is almost eloquence in itself.

After the regular services there was the blessing of an infant, and the confirmation of a number who had been baptized at an earlier service. The babe presented by the mother was taken in the arms of Elder Sheehy, while the venerable president commended it to the care of a loving Father and of Him who blessed little children, in an invocation dignified and gracious.

The confirmation was accomplished with the laying on of hands, and in this service President Smith was assisted by Elder Sheehy, Elder Waller, and Elder J. W. White of Kauai who had come over for this service.

At the evening service the sermon was by Elder Sheehy. There will be special services throughout the week, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, at which President Smith and Elder Sheehy will preach. Following the opening hymn, prayer and anthem, Elder Waller began the service thus:

"My brothers and sisters and friends, I take much pleasure in introducing to you President Joseph Smith whose visit here at the present time to our hospitable shores was undertaken at the earnest anticipation of the local members who have long desired to see him.

"The recent completion of this church edifice was very largely made possible by the generosity of our many friends, whom we take this opportunity of thanking, afforded our local branch of the desired opportunity of extending to President Smith an invitation to come here and conduct the services connected with its dedication. There had been some misgivings on our part as to whether Elder Smith would undertake at this period of life so long a journey, but his presence here testifies to the willingness with which he responded.

"We are pleased to welome him in our midst, feeling assured that his prominent identification with the work which we have endeavored in the past to represent here will obtain for him an interested hearing, and knowing as we do by reason of long and pleasant association that his frank manner and kindly disposition will win for him a warm place in your hearts.

"We therefore bid him a hearty welcomr and trust that his visit may open up to him a vista of pleasant associations and agreeable experiences that shall add an interesting chapter to his long and eventful life.

"We feel sure you will accord him a patient and attentive hearing."

Then, turning to President Smith, Elder Waller continued:

"Now, dear brother, as president, of the branch of the church here, I will take pleasure in turning over to you, the president of the church -- representing the Bishop, the custodian of the church property, this key of the building, stating for your information and for the information of others, that there have been expended in the purchase of the lot, in its improvement of, and in the erection of the building about $7000, and that there is no debt upon the property."

Replying, President Smith said:

"I return this key to you, Elder Waller, to be used for the benefir of the local congregation and I also trust that from this pulpit and from out [of] these walls nothing but good shall come -- good thoughts and good words -- and that there shall be exemplified here what our church stands for, an open Bible and a free pulpit. Also, Brother President, I thank you, and you, my brothers and sisters, and your friends, in the erection of this building, for the kindly welcome extended to me.

"I have long had the desire to visit the Islands of the Sea and they have long been within the circuit of my labor. I am pleased that the opportunity has come to me. I thank you for the kindly interest you have taken in the work which I represent.

"There is a question which arises within the great diversity of religious thought. It is important, at the inception of every religious movement, especially anything considered new, or that has borbe the appellation of being new, that those who inaugurate such a movement should be prepared to give to the community in which it takes its stand, reasons why they assume the positions which they do in this religious controversy; for disguise it as you may, the question is not settled. It is still open for human inquiry, for human discussion, and so far as possible, for human determination. In teaching this, there arises the question of what should be the doctrine discussed from this pulpit by those in whose interest it has been erected. Possibly I may be answered as I many times have been, that the discussion of doctrine is not profitable -- that to discuss doctrine in the Christian church has a species of fatality to it, that it is introducing controversy, controversy resulting in excitement, contention and apparent separation. This, we know, has been the history of the churches from time immemorial. This is the only answer, that if it can be conceded that Jesus Christ has so carelessly wrought in the mission which His Father sent Him upon, and in the interests of which he called his disciples, so carelessly, that the preaching of the doctrine of Jesus Christ is calculated to destroy its own organization, it is time this event occurred and that the character of the doctrines of Jesus Christ, which He came to teach, and for which He died, should be well known everywhere."

Reading from the Gospel by St. John, President Smith continued:

"This from the 17th chapter of John's Gospel -- the prayer of the Master for His disciples, and also for those who should believe in His name.

"The question, as I have said, in this religious movement, is this: Is this mission of Jesus Christ, a world-wide one? Was that to be the intention of God? Were all portions of this world to be reached and to have declared to them the Word of God by those sent to continue His work until the end of time? Was it those other portions also that were to be sanctioned by the Word of God? Our inquiries, our desires, and our interests for all, declare these questions to be just as vital now as ever; and the question is just as far reaching as it was when uttered by the Master, and when He made this statement: 'As Thou hast sent me, I will also send them.' They should continue forever unto the children of men and be that which is to be found imperishable. They should be such that they will never pass away though everything else of the guman character should pass away; because of the wonderous love exhibited to men, mankind might come to know that the price of truth alone should stand and that everything else that could be shaken, should be shaken and fall.

"We come this morning with the idea to do that only which has been declared to be the word which shall be found upon our lips. We have no interest other than in our effort to preach to the children of men; and while it may be said that the price of life and salvation are open to the inquiry of every man who chooses to read the Sacred Word, there are evasions everywhere of the Master's meaning, and when men pray: 'Our Father who art in heaven; hallowed by Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done;' these very men will arise from their knees and absolutely and positively deny the strictest and straightest, deductions that anyone may draw from the meaning of the Word itself. We have a statement made by Him like this: 'My doctrine is not my own, but his that sent me.' Found in the 7th Chapter of John, and the 17th verse. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine. He makes this statement in answer to inquiries by those around Him: 'My doctrine is not my own, but his that sent me.' Christ has never called a man to misrepresent Him but endowed each to preach that which He had confided to him. Christ came to teach man and to discipline them in taking out from themselves those evil and wrong things with which man has always been afflicted, and to teach them to secure uprightness and justice among men, which is in men, because of God's love for them. And there has never been anything accomplished by instilling fear in men. It is not productive to good results to teach by trying to scare men. It is not fear, but love, that is constantly required in teaching. It was love that sent the Master. It was love that characterized every act of His life. On one occasion He was angry; it was only once that He was excited. Then, when in the courts, He saw that His Father's house was made a house of merchandise instead of a house of prayer."

Continuing, President Smith sought to show that enforced goodness had no moral excellence, that goodness must be from within; it was from the impelling power of religion in the heart that evil tendencies must be subdued. He and his people did not believe in total depravity; if total depravity in the individual exists, it must be at the end of life and not at the beginning, for men may resist all impulses for good and the strivings of the spirit until evil is unrestrained.

The teachings and doctrines of Jesus Christ are to make men better, to santify them to Godly lives. Not that men shall reach a state in this life in which they can not sin but that habits of righeousness may become fixed so that men shall not have the desire to sin.

The doctrines of Jesus, He declared were not His doctrines, but those of the Father who sent Him. They were taught by Him so clearly either directly or by necessary inference and implication, that the Apostle Paul preaching them for fourteen years, congratulated himself on his return to the brethren at Jerusalem, that he found that he was in harmony with them.

This is the continuance in His word which is promised. In conclusion President Smith spoke of his own seventy-five years of life and forty-seven of ministry during all of which he had tried to preach the way of life.


Note: This same report was printed in the Honolulu Hawaiian Gazette of Oct. 15, 1907.

ELDER  SMITH
DEDICATES  CHURCH.
________

Impressive Ceremonies
Witnessed by Many.
________

The dedication ceremonies of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ were held yesterday forenoon at 11 o'clock in the neat little church of that denomination on King street.

The architecture of the church follows the general plan of those throughout the States, but in this instance more openings are allowed on account of the climatic conditions here.

The seating capacity of the church is about two hundred, and it was filled to the doors yesterday.

The opening hymn was one by Lowell Mason, whose recent death recalls the high place he had in Christian hymnology. A quartet consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Harbottle, Miss Pilkoi and Mr. Kahanamoku sang an anthem.

On the platform were President Joseph Smith, eldest son of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Elder F. M. Sheehy, who with another has charge of the missions of which this is one, and Elder Gilbert J. Waller, who has been in large degree the pillar and support of the church in these Islands for many years.

The sermon by President Smith was a simple, straightforward presentation of the purpose of the church to be, to present the truth to all men as it was presented by Christ to His disciples and those whom He sent, to be by them presented to those who should follow after, until all should have the opportunity of hearing the Gospel.

The dedicatory invocation following the sermon was by Elder F. M. Sheehy, who has a voice of marvellous richness, and a diction that is almost eloquence in itself.

After the regular services there was the blessing of an infant, and the confirmation of a number who had been baptized at an earlier service.

The confirmation was accomplished with the laying on of hands, and in this service President Smith was assisted by Elder Sheehy, Elder Waller, and Elder J. W. White of Kauai who had come over for this service.

Elder Sheehy had charge of the evening service, which was well attended.


Notes: (forthcoming)

ONE  WIFE  AT  ONE  TIME  ENOUGH.
________

Son of Mormon Prophet
Refutes Polygamy Doctrine.
________

President Joseph Smith of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints gave an address last evening at the new King street church on "The Utah Apostacy." The church was well filled, there being quite a number of the members of the Utah branch of the church present, besides quite a number from other churches.

The purpose of President Smith's address was to determine that polygamy was never a doctrine taught or tolerated by the prophet, Joseph Smith, nor held in the church during his life-time, nor ever held or taught by any authority recognized by the church, and is, in fact, a heresy, the acceptance of which has amounted to apostacy by the Utah branch of the church.

The church, he said, was organized in 1830. In 1835, was published the Book of Doctrines and Covenants, which was a compilation by a committee appointed for that purpose of all the doctrines and revelations up to that time accepted by the church. The compilation was only published after it had been presented to the general assembly of the church and had received the unanimous approval of all the quorums. In this book under the title of marriage is clearly and unequivocally stated that one man should have but one wife and one woman but one husband, and that marriage is a relation dissolved only by death. In another section of this book it is stated that the church had been reproached with charges of fornication and polygamy, and in refutation of these the position of the church as believing in monogamy is reiterated.

The Book of Mormon, considered a revelation of the word and thought of God and embodying doctrines held by the church, was also quoted from copiously to show that there never was in the early church any thought or tendency toward polygamy. The same doctrine was drawn from the Bible. Revelations received as early as 1831 declared the will of God to be that no man should have more than one wife.

The statement regarding marriage as found in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants published in 1835 appeared in every edition of that book published by any branch of the church until 1876, when for the first time the Utah branch of the church published an edition from which it was stricken out.

President Smith then gave his own testimony if the character of his father as he had known him, and the testimony of his mother on this point, the whole of which went to clear him of the charge that had been made that he did practice polygamy or that he had received or pretended to receive a revelation authorizing it.

Elder F. M. Sheehy said he would remain here some time and would be willing to discuss these matters with anyone at any time.

President Smith and Elder Sheehy will go to Laie on Wednesday, hoping to have an opportunity to address the people there.


Note 1: RLDS President Joseph Smith III's 1907 testimony to the Hawaiian Saints in Honolulu is best understood in the context of the excitement then prevalent on the island of Oahu over the "George Kekauoha Case." In the highly publicized court trial, which commenced on Nov. 6, 1907, the Mormon Elder, George Kekauoha, was charged with adultery under the Edmunds Act. In other words, he was accused of engaging in secret Mormon polygamy. One especially problematic element in this case was that Mormon elders (especially the higher leaders) were regularly discovered to be engaging new "plural marriages" sanctioned by the Mormon Church as late as the first decade of the twentieth century (i.e. after the Second Manifesto," issued by LDS President Joseph F. Smith in 1904). This seems to have been an especially wide-spread practice on the pioneer fringes of the United States, in Canada and in Mexico. Such secret polygamy was finally ended in the Mormon Church at its April 1907 General Conference, when the Church adopted and sustained the LDS First Presidency's pledge abandoning forever the old practice of plural marriage." From that time forward, polygamous members brought to trial before the law were forced to "act on their own responsibility" in their guilt and punishment. BY the fall of 1907 the Mormon Church initiated the disfellowshippings and excommunications of members violating the 1904 "Second Manifesto." Elder George Kekauoha was so unlucky as to have his case brought to trial after the October 1907 LDS Conference had literally pulled the rug out from under the Church's practicing polygamists.

Note 2: The RLDS President's condemnation of secret polygamy in Hawaii was practically his last opportunity to do battle with the LDS leadership over the issue of spiritual wifery, the patriarchal order, or whatever other label might be placed upon LDS sanctioned polygamy. In offering his refutation of the old Mormon doctrine in the King Street RLDS chapel on Oct. 21, 1907, President Smith was implicitly addressing the continuation of secret LDS religious practices traceable back to the Nauvoo era in the Church's history. He was also explicitly defending the honor and veracity of his father and mother in the matter of Mormon polygamy. When Smith stood before the Hawaii Saints and "gave his own testimony" the majority of his audience no doubt accepted that testimony as the divinely authorized utterance of God's Prophet and as having a weight of importance and truth practically equal to the instruction of Jesus Christ himself.

SEER  AND  PROPHET
GUEST  AT  A  LUAU.
________

President Smith and Elder Sheehy
Are Entertained a la Hawaii.
________

A most admirably appointed luau was given yesterday afternoon at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Paoa, in honor of President Joseph Smith and Elder Sheehy of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was the first occasion of the kind either of these gentlemen had experienced, and was thoroughly enjoyed by them and by a number of other visitors in the Islands and by a company of at least three hundred kamaainas of longer or shorter residence here.

The guests were welcomed on entering the grounds at the Ena road, Waikiki. The grounds are ample and the lawn well kept. The luau was served in a large tent which pleasantly broke the rather strenuous trade wind. The floor of the tent was covered with mats about the tables and with cocoanut fronds elsewhere. There were six long, low tables. Two of them were covered with yellow crepe paper with yellow chrysanthemums in profusion for decoration. Two were in purple, asters being the decoration. Two were in scarlet, with carnations as decorations. The tables were low so that the true Hawaiian style of seating, on lauhala mats, was followed, a method provocative of many jokes and merriment among those to whom it is an unaccustomed position. President Smith, in spite of his seventy-five years, adapted himself to it with grace and cheerfulness.

The tables were loaded with the accustomed things of the luau, all excellently cooked or prepared, The poi was served in cocoanut bowls

Among those present besides the guests of honor were Mr. and Mrs. E. Ingham, G. J. Waller, Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Willard of Los Angeles, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell of New York, Mr and Mrs. Fishburn of San Diego, Dr. and Mrs. J. M. Whitney, R. H. Trent, Captain Piltz, Dr. W. T. Monsarrat, Ralph S. Hosmer, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. L. Rhodes, Mrs. George Lucas, Harry Winthrop Tappan of Los Angeles, Miss Plikol, Miss Pouhau, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Harbottle, Mrs. Emma Gulick, Senator Kalauokalani, Mr. and Mrs. Moses K. Nakuina, Mrs. Wright, Miss Kahele, the Misses Kinney, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Bittman, Mrs. Hearne, Miss Vandenburgh, Miss Marshall, Judge J. L. Kaulukou, Mr. and Mrs. J. Mahuka, John W. Francis, Supervisor Dwight, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Swinton, D. Kalauokalani Jr. and many others.

The Hawaiian band was in attendance and rendered a very pleasing program of largely Hawaiian music. Miss Pihi sang a number of songs to the accompaniment of the band. Her singing was very much enjoyed.

Among the interesting incidents of the occasion was the meeting of President Smith and Mrs. J. M. Whitney. It was Mrs. Whitney's father, Mr. L. L. Rice, who found the long-lost and diligently searched for Spalding manuscript, in Honolulu, among a quantity of neglected manuscript[s], the remnants of a mass of matter that had come to him in the purchase of a printing office in Painesville, Ohio, years before. Mrs. Whitney said to President Smith that she did not wonder that the Latter Day Saints considered the manner of the preservation of this manuscript providential when it was considered that it had been carried around by her father during many years and many removals without any knowledge that it was in his possession, or thought that it or any of the manuscripts among which it was, were of great value.

The Spalding manuscript, which was the manuscript of a romance written by one Solomon Spalding, was claimed by the opponents of Mormonism to have been the original or to have contained the ideas of the Book of Mormon. In other words, that Joseph Smith had transcribed or paraphrased this romance into the Book of Mormon. To disprove this the manuscript was sought everywhere by the Mormons, and when it was thus found after many years the mere reading showed that it had nothing in common with the Book of Mormon.

Following the luau there were short addresses by President Smith and Elder Sheehy. They were introduced by David Kalauokalani Jr. who was the Master of Ceremonies for the occasion. President Smith spoke of the pleasure it gave him to visit these islands, and of the warm welcome he had received. He had found through a long life that men were generally kindly everywhere, and he took it as a token of the universal brotherhood of man. It had been his happiness to live during the era of great material progress. He had seen the development of transportation from the ox cart to the locomotive and the great steamship, and of light from the tallow dip to electricity. He bore on his hands the evidence of injury by the first harvester, the sickle, and he had seen the development up to the self-binding machine.

He believed it the privilege of the Anglo0Saxon to lead, in these material developments and thereby to be a great blessing to the whole human race.

---

REORGANIZED  CHURCH.

President Joseph Smith will preach his farewell sermon at the Chapel of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints on King street at 7:30 this evening. The regular communion service will be held at 11 a. m. when President Smith and Elder Sheehy will be present.

---

Small  Talks.

PRESIDENT JOSEPH SMITH -- This a most wonderful country. I have long wanted to visit these islands, and it is [a] great satisfaction that my life has been lenfthened to this opportunity.


Note 1: Unfortunately the reporter writing the report goven above (concerning the Spalding manuscript discovered in Hawaii, etc.) apparently did not take the trouble to review relevant back issues of Honolulu newspapers. The Advertiser of Apr. 16, 1886 carried Lewis L. Rice's obituary; while the Bulletin of Mar. 11, 1886 published Rice's own opinion of Solomon Spalding's "Manuscript Found" -- "My belief is... that either Hurlburt or Howe sold it to the Mormons, who of course destroyed it, or put it out of the way."

Note 2: By the time this 1907 Advertiser article was written, the apologists and publicists of the Latter Day Saint Churches (both LDS and RLDS) had succeeded remarkably well in palming off to the public press the notion that Solomon Spalding had only ever written one fictional story about the ancient inhabitants of the Americas, and that this single work of fiction had been discovered and compared to the Book of Mormon, proving Spalding could never have written any portion of the Latter Day Saints' holy writ. Even the daughter and son-in-law of the late Lewis L. Rice appear to have eventually been won over to this untenable assumption.

Note 3: The visit of RLDS President Joseph Smith III to this Waikiki luau was arranged by a committee supervised by the chief RLDS elder then resident in Hawaii, Gilbert J. Waller. According to Waller's unpublished "Autobiography" (in the Community of Christ Archives), "On Monday October 28th" elders Waller, Smith and Sheehy "visited the home of Mrs. J[ohn] M[organ] Whitney, who was a daughter of Mr. L. L. Rice..." President Smith had corresponded with the lady years before, in connection with the events arising out of the discovery of a Solomon Spalding manuscript in her home in 1884. It appears that Smith was seated next to Mrs. Whitney during the Nov. 2nd luau at Waikiki, because the two of them were already well acquainted.

Note 4: President Smith was nearly blind and deaf at the time, so his 1907 conversations with Lewis L. Rice's daughter were perhaps not particularly detailed ones. Smith's own account of his meetings with Mrs. Whitney (first printed in the RLDS Saints' Herald of June 5, 1937) is as follows: "Our immediate neighbor at table was the wife of Doctor J. M. Whitney, daughter of Mr. L. L. Rice, with whom the "Manuscript Found" story was found at Honolulu by Reverend Fairchilds [sic] of Oberlin College. The church has been permitted to publish this story and give it to the world. At their invitation I visited Doctor and Mrs. Whitney in their home and spent several pleasant hours in conversing with them." Gilbert J. Waller's unpublished "Autobiography" provides considerable more information, both about the Oct. 28th meeting between Smith and Whitney and about their second meeting during the Waikiki luau.

VISITING  ELDERS
ENJOY  GRAND  LUAU.
________

Music and Feasting
in Hawaiian Style.
________

Elders Smith and Sheehy, of the Reorganized Church, will have one experience to relate when they return to Missouri. It will be of a grand luau tendered in their honor by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Paoa at their residence at Waikiki.

This is the first experience either of the Elders have had with the delights of a luau and they both seemed to enjoy it to the full. There were fully three hundred present.

A large tent was used to serve the luau in, and as there was a somewhat stiff wind blowing the idea of the tent was much appreciated.

Six long tables were required to serve the large numbers attending. The tables, the Hawaiian style of sitting on lauhala mats, spread on the ground, was indulged in. President Smith enjoyed it with the rest.

The Hawaiian band was in attendance during the luau and there were also a number of songs by Miss Pihi.

After the feast both of the visiting elders made short but interesting speeches, David Kalauokalani, Jr., who was master of ceremonies, introducing the speakers. BR>
Among those present besides the guests of honor were Mr. and Mrs. E. Ingham, G. J. Waller, Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Willard of Los Angeles, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell of New York, Mr and Mrs. Fishburn of San Diego, Dr. and Mrs. J. M. Whitney, R. H. Trent, Captain Piltz, Dr. W. T. Monsarrat, Ralph S. Hosmer, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. L. Rhodes, Mrs. George Lucas, Harry Winthrop Tappan of Los Angeles, Miss Plikoi, Miss Pouhau, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Harbottle, Mrs. Emma Gulick, Senator Kalauokalani, Mr. and Mrs. Moses K. Nakuina, Mrs. Wright, Miss Kahele, the Misses Kinney, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Bittman, Mrs. Hearne, Miss Vandenburgh, Miss Marshall, Judge J. L. Kaulukou, Mr. and Mrs. J. Mahuka, John W. Francis, Supervisor Dwight, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Swinton, D. Kalauokalani Jr.


Notes: (forthcoming)

SEER  AND  PROPHET
GUEST  AT  A  LUAU.
________

A most admirably appointed luau was given yesterday afternoon at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Paoa, in honor of President Joseph Smith and Elder Sheehy of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was the first occasion of the kind either of these gentlemen had experienced, and was thoroughly enjoyed by them and by a number of other visitors in the Islands and by a company of at least three hundred kamaainas of longer or shorter residence here.

The guests were welcomed on entering the grounds at the Ena road, Waikiki. The grounds are ample and the lawn well kept. The luau was served in a large tent which pleasantly broke the rather strenuous trade wind. The floor of the tent was covered with mats about the tables and with cocoanut fronds elsewhere. There were six long low tables. Two of them were covered with yellow crepe paper with yellow chrysanthemums in profusion for decoration. Two were in purple, asters being the decoration. Two were in scarlet, with carnations as decorations. The tables were low so that the true Hawaiian style of seating, on lauhala mats, was followed, a method provocative of many jokes and merriment among those to whom it is an unaccustomed position. President Smith, in spite of his seventy-five years, adapted himself to it with grace and cheerfulness.

The tables were loaded with the accustomed things of the luau, all excellently cooked or prepared, The poi was served in cocoanut poi bowls

Among those present besides the guests of honor were Mr. and Mrs. E. Ingham, G. J. Waller, Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Willard of Los Angeles, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell of New York, Mr and Mrs. Fishburn of San Diego, Dr. and Mrs. J. M. Whitney, R. H. Trent, Captain Piltz, Dr. W. T. Monsarrat, Ralph S. Hosmer, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. L. Rhodes, Mrs. George Lucas, Harry Winthrop Tappan of Los Angeles, Miss Plikol, Miss Pouhau, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Harbottle, Mrs. Emma Gulick, Senator Kalauokalani, Mr. and Mrs. Moses K. Nakuina, Mrs. Wright, Miss Kahele, the Misses Kinney, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Bittman, Mrs. Hearne, Miss Vandenburgh, Miss Marshall, Judge J. L. Kaulukou, Mr. and Mrs. J. Mahuka, John W. Francis, Supervisor Dwight, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Swinton, D. Kalauokalani Jr. and many others.

The Hawaiian band was in attendance and rendered a very pleasing program of largely Hawaiian music. Miss Pihi sang a number of songs to the accompaniment of the band. Her singing was very much enjoyed.

Among the interesting incidents of the occasion was the meeting of President Smith and Mrs. J. M. Whitney. It was Mrs. Whitney's father, Mr. L. L. Rice, who found the long lost and diligently searched for Spalding manuscript, in Honolulu, among a quantity of neglected manuscript[s], the remnants of a mass of matter that had come to him in the purchase of a printing office in Painesville, Ohio, years before. Mrs. Whitney said to President Smith that she did not wonder that the Latter Day Saints considered the manner of the preservation of this manuscript providential when it was considered that it had been carried around by her father during many years and many removals without any knowledge that it was in his possession, or thought that it or any of the manuscripts among which it was, were of great value.

The Spalding manuscript, which was the manuscript of a romance written by one Solomon Spalding, was claimed by the opponents of Mormonism to have been the original or to have contained the ideas of the Book of Mormon. In other words, that Joseph Smith had transcribed or paraphrased this romance into the Book of Mormon. To disprove this the manuscript was sought everywhere by the Mormons, and when it was thus found after many years the mere reading showed that it had nothing in common with the Book of Mormon.

Following the luau there were short addresses by President Smith and Elder Sheehy. They were introduced by David Kalauokalani Jr. who was the Master of Ceremonies for the occasion. President Smith spoke of the pleasure it gave him to visit these islands, and of the warm welcome he had received. He had found through a long life that men were generally kindly everywhere, and he took it as a token of the universal brotherhood of man. It had been his happiness to live during the era of great material progress. He had seen the development of transportation from the ox cart to the locomotive and the great steamship, and of light from the tallow dip to electricity. He bore on his hands the evidence of injury by the first harvester, the sickle, and he had seen the development up to the self-binding machine.

He believed it the privilege of the Anglo-Saxon to lead, in these material developments and thereby to be a great blessing to the whole human race.


Note: The text of this report follows that of the Nov. 3, 1907 Honolulu Sunday Advertiser.

PROPHET  FOR  OPEN  DOOR
________

The Latter Day Saints Leader
Stands for Admission of Chinese.
________

Speaking out not only as a teacher and a preacher, but as a prophet, and as one propheseying of Hawaii, President Joseph Smith of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the anti-poltgamites, he who is the son of the Prophet Joseph Smith, last night told a representative of the Advertiser that Hawaii has a serious problem to face in the consideration of the assimulation of races. He referred to the exclusion of Chinese from the United States as an injustice not only against the race, but against the country as a whole and against these Hawaiian Islands in particular, inasmuch as here in this wonderful little arena of the Pacific is the working-out ground of the amalgamative forces which will have much to do with influencing the tendency of the nation in the handling of the cosmopilites who enter America through the Hawaiian portal.

"I believe," said President Smith, and there was that earnestness in his every word which carried assurance of the sincerity of his speech, "that a great mistake has been made in excluding the Chinese from the United States, and since I have had the opportunity of carefully studying conditions here, I have become more convinced that the Chinese are as a class docile, tractable, assimilative and amenable to Americanization, whereas the Japanese are less inclined to adopt American methods and are more likely to prove an element of dissatisfaction.

"There is work in the United States and when I say the United States I mean also the Hawaiian Islands, other than the Chinese can supply, cannot be secured, and it appears to me that it is a great injustice all around to exclude the Chinese from this country when we need them. We open our gates to everybody but the Chinese and yet we, America, are supposed to be the asylum of the world for all the oppressed and unappreciated elsewhere. So long as we exclude the Chinese we are not what we call ourselves, we are not that asylum.

"For what reason does America exclude the Chinese? For no other reason than that it is claimed the Chinese take work from the hands of the white men. This is not so. The white men will not do the work and cannot be secured to do the work which the Chinese are willing and able to do. If the white man will not do the work that must be done what is the matter with employing Chinese to do it??

When President Smith returns to the mainland, and he leaves Honolulu this morning in the S. S. Alemeda, starting on this ocean voyage on the seventy0fifth anniversary of his birth, he will from many a pulpit and from many a platform speak of his trip to the Hawaiian Islands and in his remarks he will embody the his ideas on the question of Chinese exclusion and on the Japanese situation as he has found it here.

In this connection it is interesting to note that President Smith and Representative Hepburn of Iowa, who was here with the Congressional party, are friends of long standing. The prophet has on more than one occasion helped to elect Hepburn from the Eighth Congressional District of Iowa.

"Right here I want to say," said President Smith, "that as a church we are temperance entirely, and no saloon was ever sustained by our votes."

Reverting to the subject of Chinese, President Smith said: "The present restrictions on Chinese should be removed. I have always considered that the Chinese have been unjustly treated in this respect by our nation. This matter presents a problem to the better element here that is difficult of solution, but must be solved. Hawaii must have cheap labor and it is not only a question of Hawaii but of the whole country, along certain important lines, obtaining reliable and at the same time cheap labor. I am sure that the Chinese constitute the solution of this problem."

Speaking of the Chinese and Japanese in Hawaii led President Smith to a brief remark [about] the school system in these Islands, since he has taken great interest in observing the cosmopolitanism of the schools. "I see," said he, "that in some cases you have about eighteen teachers to nearly a thousand pupils and pupils of all nationalities at that. This is not enough teachers; there should be more.

"It is significant to observe how the government takes hold of these foreigners and puts them though the operation of becoming American citizens. We, as a church, seek to take hold of citizens to make them Christians. We have a good number of Orientals in our church.

"The government is assisting wonderfully in the Americanization of the Islands by the common education of the young of all classes and races that constitute the community."

Referring to the incidents on the Pacific coast, both at San Francisco and Vancouver, wherein the Japanese and Hindoos and others from the Far East figured as unwelcome elements, the son of the prophet believed them to be mere labor agitations without a full appreciation of the real situation.

Speaking of his visit to Hawaii, beginning October 12 and ending today, the reverend gentleman declared that it had been one of the most pleasant experiences of his long career. "I have found the people here progressive and possessed of the true American spirit," he said, "and I am happy to state that among the Hawaiians I found that spirit which makes for advancement and undertaken to encourage right living and noble aspiration. As far as our church here is concerned, this is becoming one of our most hopeful centers; the people are ripe for the harvest and ready to receive the truth. The work here is in good hands. President Walker of the local church has accomplished much of great good and, as I leave for a time there will be stationed here Elder Sheehy who will study conditions and become thoroughly acquainted with the needs of the church.

"As far as we know there is no organized polygamy here. Of course, that is one of our main fights, against polygamy. In the States we have to take up arms against it every now and again.

"The future of the church in Hawaii depends on the labor that is done in the missionary field. We must keep up our missionary effort. For some time the work here was desultory and it was not until recently that we managed to obtain a firm footing in Hawaii, but I believe that now the cause has an impetus that will not slack and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints here will some day be one of the greatest instruments for the advancement of the people.

"There have been sixteen baptized during my stay.

:This last year throughout the entire West has been rather an excellent year for our ministry, and we have accomplished much that will tell.

"We have now about sixty thousand members, between four and five hundred congregations and about four hundred churches. Our mission is the dissemination of the Gospel. We make no interference with politics; our work is entirely educational and religious.

"I consider Hawaii," continued President Smith, "as possessing considerable influence on the mainland. I think that to a very great extent problems have been solved on the mainland, but it is one thing to settle a propisition in a community as small as this and to apply the solution to so great a country as the United States.

"The Japanese situation is one of great and vital interest just at this time and I believe, to a large extent, it is a matter that will take care of itself, but what appears to be calling for correction is the mistake the United States makes in keeping out the Chinese. If the white laborer is sincere in the claim that the Chinese takes from the labor that he needs, why does he not complain of other cheap labor which is depriving him and has for years been depriving him of the work he declares the Chinese is taking from him?

"Personally I do not believe in the exclusion of any of the races. I believe that America is big enough, and the demand for labor, common labor, is great enough, to give everybody a chance.

"While I do not believe that all races will assimilate or that it is desireable that all races should assimilate, I do not see that the requisition of labor carries with it the necessity for assimilation.

"Here, then, is the problem which confronts the United States today and which to so large an extent has already been worked out and is still further being worked out in the Hawaiian Islands, that we need labor, but that we are restricting labor when we need labor and restricting that kind of labor which only can supply the demand we are making."


There will be many people on the Oceanic warf this morning to bid an enthusiastic farewell to President Smith and he will not soon forget Hawaii, where he has found a spirit as great as there may be found anywhere for the uplifting of humanity.

In Lamoni, Iowa, is the headquarters of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and in Honolulu is the real Pacific nucleus of that religious activity which has in so short a space of time throughout America gathered 60,000 followers, an activity here which President Smith has increased by his presence, and a field of labor which he leaves with the best impressions, impressions which he will broadcast on the mainland to the benefit of Hawaii.

Seventy-five years ago today in Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio, twenty-five miles east of Cleveland, the son of the prophet Joseph Smith was born. Never before has he taken a voyage so far from his birthplace and never before has he enjoyed a trip more or felt that it has borne greater fruit.

---

APPRECIATES THE ADVERTISER.

Zion's Ensign, Independence, Mo., copies in full the Advertiser's announcement of the coming of President Joseph Smith to Honolulu, mentioning the double column portrait of that personage accompanying the article, and among other things adds:

"The Advertiser seems to be the representative paper of that thriving city, having ten pages, six columns to the page, and is just such a paper as is seen in any of the large cities of the United States, full of general and local news, and is edited in a way that bespeaks its prosperity and popularity."


Notes: (forthcoming)

A Golden Wedding Anniversary.

Tuesday, August 5th, was a gala lay out on Punahou street. From four to six in the afternoon autos were parked in the street and the Rapid Transit brought callers by the score to the home of Dr. and Mrs. J. M. Whitney. It was surely a brilliant affair for even the trade-winfs had done their part by carpeting the lawn with scarlet petals from the Poinciana Regia, while within, the parlors were flooded with the golden sunshine of blooming flowers. There was the golden shower for a background and peeping from under a table was a bunch of great calendra, like golden eagles lighting up the dark; California poppies pouring from their cups the sunset colors of the "Golden West," and wee Hawaiian wild flowers carrying golden wishes and fragrant memories, the friendships of other days.

But gold was not the only color, for there were stately pink gladioli in profusion, clusters of small pink roses wreathed about the pictures, pansies for thoughts, and little forget-me-nots and grand American Beauty roses -- whole baskets of them, with their message of wealth and prosperity. There were others, and among them, everywhere, were lily-bells -- littles pure white as the wedding bells that ranf for the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Whitney fifty years ago, and these shaded off into the golden bells of this golden anniversary.

Those who had an ear to listen to the call of these fairy bells and time to peer into their depths, saw wonderful panoramic pictures of passing years, each golden chalice holding its own memory scene. There was the wedding party in Oberlin; the honeymoon trip across the continent; the first sea voyage; the arrival; first friends and a trip to Hawaii on the "Kilauea." including a landing at Kailua, where in a royal boat-house were hand looms and spinning wheels, relics of an imported industry of earlier days.

In one great basket of golden cups with a misty sunshine tied into true lovers knots were found rare memories -- the welcoming of a little son, their heart's delight; then a wee daughter; a private kindergarten, the first in Honolulu. Here is the arrival of old friends, Dr. and Mrs. Hyde; here the organizing of the W. C. T. U. and the meting at the waterfront and wharves.

And hark to the chimes of these other lily-bells! Do you not detect the ringing of old Fort Street Church and Central Union? And do you not see stretching out through the years a whole series of Sabbath services and weekly meetings for prayer and praise, where faces are happy and devout and Dr. Whitney is in every one of them! And surely Mrs. Whitney is the teacher in that Bible Class of young ladies and in this cultured, intellectual, enthusiastic company of mission workers it is Mrs. Whitney reading the paper that holds her audience so well.

And in this other picture of the Cousins' Society, although not born Cousins, Dr. and Mrs. Whitney are integral parts of the band. Here are later pictures of Dr. and Mrs. Whitney entertaining guests at their country residence at Pearl Harbor Peninsula and at Kahala. And in another cluster we find children again surely they must be the grandchildren -- the crowning glory of the golden years.

And amid the chiming of the bells and the fairy scenes guests come and go, and mingled with the flowers are pretty dresses and smiles, happy greetings and kind words and another anniversary has passed and one more picture photographed on memory's tablet.

Dr. and Mrs. Whitney have passed the eightieth milestones, but appear hale and hearty and ready for many more years of wedded life, and we hope when evening comes the sunset may be bright; and that a joyous welcome may await them in the "city that is pure gold."


Notes: (forthcoming)

The Passing of Mrs. Whitney.

Mary S. Rice Whitney was born in Cleveland, Ohio, November 29, 1837. February 2, 1925, she laid aside the body, the house in which she had been living, and was clothed upon with her new body, the "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

This was a long life -- all the years lived in the smiles of her friends. She had the art of living happily and begetting happiness in all her companionships. and yet throughout that long life she was absolutely frank and unwavering in her expression of principles and duties in the community as well as in her home.

Mrs. Whitney graduated from Oberlin College in 1859. In Oberlin she continued to live, caring for her father and mother and teaching in the college until she was made principal of the ladies department. In 1869 she married Dr. J. M. Whitney and the same day started west with her consecrated husband to take up their life work in the Hawaiian Islands. The last rails of a transcontinental railroad had just been laid. They crossed the plains and mountains on the first regular scheduled train journeying from the east to the west. Placards in the cars warned the passengers of dangers from disreputable characters and some of their companions dropped out at way stations, fleeced by gamblers of all they possessed. The great prairies recalled the wild life of buffalo and antelope. The breezes brought into the weary journey the fragrance of sage brush and prairie flowers. The majesty of mountains sculptured and decorated by the Divine Artist was never forgotten by the young travelers and they brought to the islands the stedfast purpose to resist the evils they had seen and bring in the beaty and comfort of the Divine presence they had felt.

When they arrived in San Francisco they were urged to make their home in that important and rapidly growing city. Splendid opportunities were opened to them, but they had chosen the land of remarkable missionary activities and were not turned aside,

It was given to Mrs. Whitney to see the beginning and also the successful growth of many enterprises which are still passing on to greater perfection. She was a charter member of a little church which worshipped in a small frame building on Fort street. She lived to worship in the "Church in a Garden." She aided a small Portuguese Sunday School held in a shed near the center of Honolulu. She saw the result in later years when a strong, healthy, self-supporting Portuguese church occupied a substantial building. She grieved over the drunken people and gave loving prayer and labor in organizing many temperance efforts like the Blue Ribbon leagues and Murphy clubs. When the first Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Hawaii was organized she became the president and was continued president even to the society's culmination in the prohibition of the present day. In 1901 she was in the ranks of the first officers of the Anti-Saloon league as one of the vice presidents, and when her work on earth was done she was still a vice president, She saw the beginning of organized temperance crusades against the awful evils of intoxicating liquors and she saw the wonderful success of national prohibition.

She was one of those who planted the Woman's Board of Missions in these islands of the sapphire seas and cared for the missionaries of the Morning Star as well as those who opened the doors of China and Japan.

The beginnings of many enterprises extending hekpful influences to all parts of the world were substantially aided by Mrs. Whitney's practical suggestions and yet those of us who knew her well never felt she was giving advice which was to be authoritative, She was simply suggestive and helpful. Something different might sometimes be adopted and she was as ready to push the plan decided upon as if it were her own. In 1907 -- on November 29 -- she sent to her friends a heart-greeting as when one opens the door to their most sincere and sacred of feelings and she carried that sincere purpose of living usefully until she laid aside all earthly toil...


Notes: (forthcoming)

FIRST  AND  ONLY  W.C.T.U.
HEAD  TAKEN  BY  DEATH
________

Mrs. John M. Whitney, One of Well Known
Kamaaina Residents, Passes Away
______

Mrs. John M. Whitney, one of the well-known kamaaina residents of Honolulu, passed away at her home this morning at 9:30 o'clock. Mrs. Whitney came to Honolulu from Ohio after her marriage in 1869 and had lived in Honolulu almost continuously since then.

Private funeral services will be held at the residence this afternoon, with burial in Nuuanu cemetery.

Mrs. Whitney was the first and only president of the local branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, serving as the head of the organization from the time it was organized here until its work was transferred ro the Anti-Saloon League at the time of the passing of the eighteenth amendment. She was also active in church work, being affiliated with Central Union church activities for many years.

Born in 1837, Mrs. Whitney was 88 years of age. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Whitney, a daughter, Mrs. Ada Whitney Weinrich, and a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Saida Sutton Whitney.


Note 1: The Honolulu Advertiser of Feb. 3, 1825, printed this short notice: "DIED... In Honolulu, February 2, 1925, Mrs. Mary Sophronia Rice Whitney, widow of Dr. John Morgan Whitney, of 1325 Punahou Street, Native of Columbus, Ohio, 87 years old. Cremated yesterday." Actually, Dr. Whitney was still living at the time of her death, so she was not a "widow."

Note 2: Mary S. Whitney's will of May 19, 1924 went through probate in Oaho co., Territory of Hawaii, on Mar. 9, 1925. In her will she left all of her property, real and personal, to her husband, Dr. John M. Whitney. In the case of her husband dying before she did, Mary made provisions for a distribution of her property between her adopted daughter, Ada R. Whitney Weinrich and her daughter-in-law, Saida Mae Sutton Whitney and her three children. It is likely that Dr. Whitney, who apparently died in 1927 or 1928 distributed his possessions between those four heirs.

Dr. Whitney is Ninety:
His Poinciana is Forty

One day, not long ago, a stranger and a long-time resident of Honolulu were walking in Punahou, one of the older home sections of Hawaii's capital -- whence, alas, some of the historic landmarks, both house and tree, are disapperaring, as is the fortune of growing cities, to make way for modern buildings.

Stranger and old-timer gloried in the wealth of foliage, the former doing the exclaiming, however, as was to be expected.

They approached a magnificent poinciana, in flaming bloom. It greatly impressed the stranger. The old-timer always had been impressed. In their walk they had observed many poincianas, and many other flowering trees, but here the stranger voiced especial enthusiasm, and, incidentally, he inquired of his friend the age of the tree, should he happen to know.

"Suppose we step in here and ask Dr. Whitney, if he is at home. He planted it," said the old-timer.

Dr. John Morgan Whitney was at home, nor was it the first time, by a great deal, that folks had asked him concerning the splendid tree in front of his Punahou residence. He said that he had planted this particular poinciana somewhat over forty years ago, when he was just about turning the half century mark in his career.

On October 1 Dr. Whitney will be celebrating his ninety-first anniversary. On his ninetieth birthday he gave a happy party to a number of his many friends, some of whom he had known for fifty years. A newspaper respresentative called and, perhaps inspired by the flaming poinciana, asked the aged doctor what he thought of "flaming youth."

"With the kindly tolerance that comes with many years," wrote the reporter, "Dr. Whitney is amused at the hue and cry against the 'younger set' of today. 'Youth must dance and times will change,' he said, as he told of his own strict bringup up, with no word of criticism against the 'flaming youth' of this generation. 'Dancing was a sin in my boyhood home,' he said 'and lots of things that are done now would have horrified us then, but times will change and I can't think there's anything so very wrong with our young people.'"

And. to be sure, the nonagenarian was asked as to what he considered most essential to attaining a fine old age, whereup he said it was "Just happy living."

Flowering trees, and all things beautiful, in which Punahou, and Honolulu, and all Hawaii, are so rich, contribute much to happy living, of course. Though they can do but little unless one possesses the will to be happy, -- and this Dr. Whitney does possess.

Dr. Whitney is spending much time at his beach house on the windward side of Honolulu's island, Oahi. Swimming is his favorite exercise. For variety, he splits wood for the kitchen. Up to a little over two years ago he was on daily duty at his dental office, in the city. He located in Honolulu in September, 1869, practicing dentistry uninterruptedly except during 1874 to 1876, which period he spent in Cleveland, Ohio.

Born in Marlboro, Vermont, 1835, Dr. Whitney is the son of Moses Ellis and Ananda (Morgan) Whitney. On August 5, 1869, he married Mary Sophronia Rice, at Oberlin, Ohio, who died less than two years ago. They had three children: Mary L., William L. (deceased), and Ada R.

Dr. Whitney was educated at Oberlin College, Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery (1868), and Starling Medical College, Columbus (1874). He has prepared many valuable papers on dentistry, including his paper read before the International Dental Congress at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893. He is a charter member of the Honolulu Social Science Association and a member of the Hawaii Historical Society. He was the first graduate dentist to operate in Honolulu.

"In the old days," says Dr. Whitney, "I knew every foreigner in the Islands, and a great many of the Hawaiians."


Note 1: Dr. Whitney no doubt took possession of any remaining effects of his father-in-law, Lewis L. Rice, upon the death of Mary S. Whitney (Dr. Whitney's wife and Rice's daughter) in Honolulu on Feb. 2, 1925. The date of Dr. Whitney's death remains unknown, but it apparently occurred in 1927 or 1928. In her 1924 will, Mary S. Whitney made provisions for a provisional distribution of her property between her adopted daughter, Ada R. Whitney Weinrich and her daughter-in-law, Saida Mae Sutton Whitney and Saida's three children. It is likely that Dr. Whitney distributed his possessions between those four heirs.

Note 2: It appears possible that Dr. Whitney's personal papers may have been preserved and donated to an archival library in Honolulu. If so it is possible that some Lewis L. Rice papers remained and were included in Whitney's own supposed donation. Thus, if anything remained of the materials Lewis L. Rice received from Eber D. Howe in 1839 (such as unpublished 1833 Conneaut witnesses' statements), such documents are most likely filed away today in some uncataloged set of John M. Whitney papers, somewhere in Honolulu.

Mormon Elder Gives Lecture.

At the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1680 Mott-Smith Drive, Elder Harold I. Velt, missionary in charge of Hawaii, last night continued his lectures on the civilization of the pre-Columbian Americans, and discussed the causes of their decline.

He showed colored slides depicting the evidences of achievements in architecture, astronomy, surgery, engineering, and agriculture.

The speaker referred to the many Indian traditions of a book once in their presence which gave their history, and presented what he believes to be that book -- the Book of Mormon. Elder Velt quoted from that book the warning that the land of America, being a choice land above all other lands, is designed of God to be a land of liberty to all people and that all who dwell there must serve him or in due time be swept off the earth.

Polygamy, according to the book (Jacob 2:30-56), was the chief cause of God's displeasure with and rapid decline of [the] mighty Nephite (Toltec) civilization which was finally destroyed by the Lamanites.

Quotations from the Bible were collaborated with quotations from the Book of Mormon and from evidence of recent scientific researches.

These lectures continue every evening except Saturday.


Note 1: In 1938 the Reorganized LDS Church created an administrative district in the Hawaiian Islands, placing Apostle George Mesley in control of the church's activities there. Elder Virgil Etzenhouser was made District President and was soon followed in that office by Elder Harold I. Velt.

Note 2: RLDS Hawaii District President Harold I. Velt was a vocal advocate of the notion that the native Hawaiians were American "Nephites" of Israelite ancestry -- see his "Ancient America and the Islands of the Sea," and other articles of a similar nature, in the RLDS publications of the 1940s. Although he began his publicized lectures before being advanced to the church's top position in Hawaii, Elder Velt soon returned, and continued promulgating his dubious tenets, as the RLDS District President. Since he was the top Reorganized LDS leader in the northern Pacific, Velt's pronouncements on Israelite Hawaiians, Nephite Toltecs, and alleged proof of the historicity of the Book of Mormon by "recent scientific researches," were taken by the local RLDS members as something close to holy writ. Polygamy still existed as a native practice in Hawaii at the beginning of the 20th century and LDS polygamous families lingered on in some places, even after the ending of that church's officially sanctioned plural marriage in the islands three decades before. Thus, Elder Velt's sermonizing on the evils of that marriage system retained some relevance among the older members, most of whom had seen some evidence of polygamy during their youth.

Note 3: For more on the so-called "many Indian traditions" concerning a sacred book "once in their presence," see the on-line article, "Sacred Book of the Indians?" Happily, Mormon emmisaries like Elder Velt did not attempt to press any claims for the Hawaiians having once possessed such "Hagothian" ancient Israelite religious writings as the Book of Mormon.

Reorganized LDS Sect Not Mormon.

The Advertiser yesterday inadvertently referred, incorrectly, to members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as "Mormons." The difference is this: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, founded April 6, 1830, was reorganized after the death of the leader, Joseph Smith. The reorganized church established headquarters at Independence, Mo., and called itself the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Those who, in the reorganization, chose to continue under the leadership of Brigham Young, eventually established headquarters at Salt Lake City, Utah, and they are called "Mormons." Members of the Reorganized Church, for which Elder Harold I. Velt is now conducting a series of lectures here, are not called Mormons.


Note: Elder Velt might easily have given a more historically correct account of the split between the LDS and RLDS factions of the "Mormon Church." The Reorganized LDS began to feel uncomfortable with the designation "Mormon," in the years prior to the death of their first president, Joseph Smith III. He and his mother (Emma Hale Smith) had no difficulty in acknowledging their faith as "Mormon," but later generations refused to be called by that name. Beginning about the time of World War I, RLDS missionaries began to make effective use of their being called "Mormons" in popular publications. By writing letters of protest to those periodicals' editors, the RLDS elders could almost always count upon getting a few more paragraphs of their message published and set before the reading public.