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Subject:	LDS Prophets on "Survivalism" Pt 1   
From:		Oiled Lamp    
Date:		Sun, 19 Oct 1997 19:37:52 -0500   
   
The following is a sampling of quotes from leaders and prophets of The   
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) given on the   
subject of preparedness, a year's supply of food and essentials, and   
self-reliance. I am posting these here because I feel they give good   
instruction, are pertinent to this newsgroup's interests, and would be   
for the benefit of the m.s. readership. This post is rather long (I've   
had to divide it into parts!), but I hope nonetheless that you might   
read as much of it as you can. Feel free to look these speeches up and   
study them in their entirety to ensure proper contextual meaning and to   
derive a better understanding of the principles of self-reliance. They   
truly are a goldmine of thought on "survivalism." I have put Ezra Taft   
Benson's October 1973 General Conference address first because I feel it   
is a good synopsis of LDS thought on this subject and thus a good   
jumping-off point. The ones afterward are in order starting from the   
oldest to the most recent. They are only a sampling, however, I'm sure   
there are many talks which I have overlooked in my research. I only hope   
to share with you the ones I have found so far. If you wish to have some   
that are more recent, please e-mail me and I'll see what I can do. I   
hope you enjoy them!   
   
Ezra Taft Benson   
(President Benson served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under Dwight   
D. Eisenhower from 1953-1961. He was called to serve as an Apostle in   
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1943, which was the position he   
held when he gave this talk. He later became President (i.e., Prophet,   
Seer, and Revelator) of the Church and served in that position from   
1985-1993.)   
October Conference, 1973   
   
What are some of the calamities for which we are to prepare? In section   
29 [of the Doctrine and Covenants, a volume of LDS scripture - A.S.] the   
Lord warns us of "a great hailstorm sent forth to destroy the crops of   
the earth." (D&C 29:16.) In section 45 we read of "an overflowing   
scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land." (D&C 45:31.)   
In section 63 the Lord declares he has "decreed wars upon the face of   
the earth..." (D&C 63:33.)    
    In Matthew, chapter 24, we learn of "famines, and pertilences, and   
earthquakes...." (Matt. 24:7.) The Lord declared that these and other   
calamities shall occur. These particular prophecies seem not to be   
conditional. The Lord, with his foreknowledge, knows that they will   
happen. Some will come about through man's manipulations; others through   
the forces of nature and nature's God, but that they will come seems   
certain. Prophecy is but history in reverse-a divine disclosure of   
future events.   
    Yet, through all of this, the Lord Jesus Christ has said "...if ye   
are prepared ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30.)   
 ...Here then is the key-look to the prophets for the words of God, that   
will show us how to prepare for the calamities which are to come.   
 ...For the righteous the gospel provides a warning before a calamity, a   
program for the crisis, a refuge for each disaster.   
 ...The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have   
listened to prophets and stored at least a year's supply of suvival   
food.   
 ...The Lord desires his Saints to be free and independent in the   
critical days ahead. But no man is truly free who is in financial   
bondage. "Think what you do when you run in debt," said Benjamin   
Franklin, "you give to another power over your liberty. "...pay thy debt   
and live..." said Elisha. (2 Kings 4:7.) And in the Doctrine and   
Covenants the Lord says, "...it is my will that you shall pay all your   
debts." (D&C 104:78.)   
    For over 100 years we have been admonished to store up grain.   
"Remember the counsel that is given," said Elder Orson Hyde, "...Store   
up all your grain,' and take care of it!...And I tell you it is almost   
as necessary to have bread to sustain the body as it is to have food for   
the spirit; for the one is as necessary as the other to enable us to   
carry on the work of God upon the earth." (Journal of Discourses, vol.   
5, p. 17) And he also said: "There is more salvation and security in   
wheat, than in all the political schemes of the world...." (JD, vol. 2,   
p. 207.)   
 ...As to the foodstuffs which should be stored, the Church has left   
that decision primarily to the individual members. Some excellent   
suggestions are available from the Church Welfare Committee. "All grain   
is good for the food of man..." (D&C 89:16) the Lord states, but he   
particularly singles out wheat. Dry, whole, hard grains, when stored   
properly, can last indefinitely, and their nutritional value can be   
enhanced through sprouting, if desired.   
    It would be well if every family have on hand grain for at least a   
year.   
    From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the   
Lord's counsel, wheat should have a high priority. Water, of course, is   
essential. Other basics could include honey or sugar, legumes, milk   
products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent. The revelation to   
store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as   
boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.   
    President Harold B. Lee has wisely counseled that "perhaps if we   
think not in terms of a year's supply of what we ordinarily would use,   
and think more in terms of what it would take to keep us alive in case   
we didn't have anything else to eat, that last would be very easy to put   
in storage for a year...just enough to keep us alive if we didn't have   
anything else to eat. We wouldn't get fat on it, but we would live; and   
if you think in terms of that kind of annual storage rather than a whole   
year's supply of everything that you are accustomed to eat which, in   
most cases, is utterly impossible for the average family, I think we   
will come nearer to what President Clark advised us way back in 1937."   
(Welfare conference address, October 1, 1966.)    
 ...There are blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own   
food, even if it is only a garden in your yard and/or a fruit tree or   
two.   
 ...Those families will be fortunate who, in the last days, have an   
adequate supply of each of these particulars.   
 ...Concerning clothing, we should anticipate future needs, such as   
extra work clothes and clothes that would supply warmth during winter   
months when there may be shortages or lack of heating fuel. Leather and   
bolts of cloth could be stored, particularly for families with younger   
children who will outgrow and perhaps outwear their present clothes.   
   "The day will come," said President Wilford Woodruff, "when, as we   
have been told, we shall all see the necessity of making our own shoes   
and clothing and raising our own food...." (Discourses of Wilford   
Woodruff, p.166.)   
 ...In a message to the Saints in July of 1970, President Joseph   
Fielding Smith stated that the pioneers "were taught by their leaders to   
produce, as far as possible, all that they consumed...This is still   
excellent counsel." (Improvement Era, vol. 73 [1970], p. 3.)    
    Wood, coal, gas, oil, kerosene, and even candles are among those   
items which could be reserved as fuel for warmth, cooking, and light or   
 Some may be used for all of these purposes and certain ones would   
have to be stored and handled cautiously. It would also be well to have   
on hand some basic medical supples to last for at least a year.   
 ...The Saints have been advised to pay their own way and maintain a   
cash reserve. Recent history has demonstrated that in difficult days it   
is reserves with intrinsic value that are of most worth, rather than   
reserves, the value of which may be destroyed through inflation. It is   
well to remember that continued government deficits cause inflation;   
inflation is used as an excuse for ineffective price controls; price   
controls lead to shortages; artificial shortages inevitably are used as   
an excuse to implement rationing.    
    When will we learn these basic economic priciples? However, "...when   
we really get into hard times," said President Clark, "where food is   
scarce or there is none at all, and so with clothing and shelter, money   
may be no good for there may be nothing to buy, and you cannot eat   
money, you cannot get enough of it together to burn to keep you warm,   
and you cannot wear it." (Church News, November 21, 1953, p.4.)   
 ..."How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion," said   
Elder George A. Smith many years ago, "when he had been told by the Lord   
how to prepare for a day of famine, when, instead of doing so, he had   
fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family." (JD,   
vol. 12, p. 142.)   
    And President Brigham Young said, "If you are without bread, how   
much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if   
you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity   
those substances designed to sustain your natural lives?...If you cannot   
provide for your natural lives, how can you expect to have wisdom to   
obtain eternal lives?" (JD, vol. 8, p. 68.)   
l, and so wit ...When will all these calamities strike? We do not know the exact   
time, but it appears it may be in the not-too-distant future. Those who   
are prepared now have the continuing blessings of early obedience, and   
they are ready. Noah built his ark before the flood came, and he and his   
family survived. Those who waited to act until after the flood began   
were too late.   
    Let us not be dissuaded from preparing because of a seeming   
prosperity today, or a so-called peace.   
    I have seen the ravages of inflation. I shall never forget Germany   
in the 1920's. In December 1923 in Cologne, Germany, I paid six billion   
marks for breakfast. That was just 15 cents in American money. Today,   
the real inflation concern is in America and several other nations.   
 ...I have witnessed with my own eyes the ravages of hunger and   
destitution as, under the direction of the president of the Church, I   
 p. 68.)   
spent a year in war-torn Europe at the close of World War II, without my   
family, distributing food, clothing, and bedding to our needy members. I   
have looked into the sunken eyes of Saints, in almost the last stages of   
starvation. I have seen faithful mothers carrying their children, three   
and four years of age, who were unable to walk because of malnutrition.   
I have seen a hungry woman turn down food for a spool of thread. I have   
seen grown men weep as they ran their hands through the wheat and beans   
sent to them from Zion - America.   
    Thanks be to God for a prophet, for this inspired program, and for   
Saints who so managed their stewardship that they could provide for   
their own and still share with others. What a marvelous way to become a   
savior on Mount Zion!   
 ...May we ever remember the Lord's promise: "...if ye are prepared ye   
shall not fear." (D&C 38:30.)   
 ...The days ahead are sobering and challenging. Oh, may we be prepared   
spiritually and temporally....   
   
Joseph Smith (first President of the Church, served from 1830-1844)   
"Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith"   
   
    The time is soon coming, when no man will have any peace but in Zion   
and her stakes.   
    I saw armies arrayed against armies. I saw blood, desolation,   
fires....These things are at our doors.   
...I do not know how soon these things will take place; but with a view   
of them, shall I cry peace? No; I will lift up my voice and testify of   
them. How long you will have good crops and the famine be kept off, I do   
not know; when the fig tree leaves, know then that the summer is nigh at   
hand.   
   
Orson Hyde (Apostle from 1835-1878)   
Quoted by Ezra Taft Benson   
October Conference, 1980   
   
    There is more salvation and security in wheat than in all the   
political schemes of the world.   
   
Brigham Young (President of the Church from 1847-1877)   
"Journal of Discourses"   
epared   
   
    If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what   
real utility are your talents, if you cannot produce for yourselves and   
save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your   
natural lives?   
    I have proven this many a time...I have plenty on hand, and shall   
have plenty, if I keep giving it away. More than two hundred persons eat   
from my provisions every day, besides my family and those who work for   
me. I intend to keep doing so, that my bread may hold out, for if I do   
not I shall come short. Do you believe that principle? I know it is   
true, because I have proven it so many times." (Journal of Discourses,   
vol. 3, pp. 332-33)   
    Brethren, learn. You have learned a good deal, it is true; but learn   
more; learn to sustain yourselves; lay up grain and flour, and save it   
against a day of scarcity. Sisters...aid your husbands in storing it up   
7-1877)   
"Jagainst a day of want, and always have a year's or two, provision on   
hand. (Brigham Young, Discourses, 1943 ed., p. 293)   
    The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a   
bushel of wheat. (Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, p.   
250, 1943 ed., p. 298.)   
   
Brigham Young   
"Journal of Discourses"   
Quoted by Victor L. Brown   
October Conference, 1980   
   
I fear we today are somewhat like those referred to by President Brigham   
Young in this quotation:   
   "We have seen one grasshopper war before this. Then we had two years   
of it. We are having two years now. Suppose we have good crops next   
year, the people will think less of this visitation than they do now;   
and still less the next year; until in four or five years it will be   
almost gone from their minds. We are capable of being perfectly   
independent of these insects. If we had thousands on thousands of   
)   
"Journal of bushels of wheat, rye, and barley, and corn we might have said to them   
[that is, the insects] 'you may go, we are not going to plant for you.'   
Then we could have plowed up the ground, put in the manure, and let the   
land rest, and the grasshoppers would not have destroyed the fruits of   
our labors which could have been directed to the beautifying of Zion and   
making our habitations places of loveliness." (In Journal of Discourses,   
12:242.)   
..."I believe the Latter-day Sants are the best people on the earth of   
whom we have any knowledge. Still, I believe that we are, in many   
things, very negligent, slothful, and slow to obey the words of the   
Lord. Many seem to act upon the faith that God will sustain us instead   
of our trying to sustain ourselves. We are frightened at seeing the   
grasshopper coming and destroying our crops....I remember saying in the   
School of the Prophets, that I would rather the people would exercise a   
ses"   
epalittle more sense and save means to provide for themselves, instead of   
squandering it away and asking the Lord to feed them. In my reflections   
I have carried this matter a considerable length. I have paid attention   
to the counsel that has been given me. For years past it has been   
sounded in my ears, year after year, to lay up grain, so that we might   
have an abundance in the day of want. Perhaps the Lord would bring a   
partial famine on us; perhaps a famine would come upon our neighbors. I   
have been told that He might bring just such a time as we are now   
having. But suppose I had not taken no heed to this counsel, and have   
not regarded the coming time, what would have been my condition to-day.   
..."View the actions of the Latter-day Saints on this matter, and their   
neglect of the counsel given; and suppose the Lord would allow these   
insects to destroy our crops this season and the next, what would be the   
d exercise aresult? I can see death, misery, and want on the faces of this people.   
But some may say, 'I have faith the Lord will turn them away.' What   
ground have we to hope this? Have I my good reason to say to my Father   
in heaven, 'Fight my battles,' when He has given me the sword to wield,   
the arm and the brain that I can fight for myself? Can I ask Him to   
fight my battle and sit quietly down waiting for Him to do so? I cannot.   
I can pray the people to hearken to wisdom, to listen to counsel; but to   
ask God to do for me that which I can do for myself is preposterous to   
my mind. Look at the Latter-day Saints. We have had our fields laden   
with grain for years; and if we have been so disposed, our bins might   
have been filled to overflowing, and with seven years' provisions on   
hand we might have disregarded the ravages of these insects, and have   
gone to the canyon and got our lumber, procured the materials, and built   
xercise a   up and beautified our places, instead of devoting our time to fighting   
and endeavoring to replace that which has been lost through their   
destructiveness. We might have made our fences, improved our buildings,   
beautifed Zion, let our ground rest, and prepared for the time when   
these insects would have gone. But now the people are running distracted   
here and there....They are in want and in trouble, and they are   
perplexed. They do not know what to do. They have been told what to do,   
but they did not hearken to this counsel." (In Journal of Discourses,   
12:240-41.)   
     President Young goes on to say: "We must learn to listen to the   
whispering of the Holy Spirit, and the counsels of the servants of God,   
until we come to the unity of the faith. If we had obeyed counsel we   
would have had granaries today, and they would have been full of grain;   
and we would have had wheat and oats and barley for ourselves and for   
e a   
ses"our animals, to last us for years." (In Journal of Discourses, 12:241.)   
    Quoting further from President Young: "When Moses was on the mount   
they [the Israelites] went to Aaron and inquired where Moses was, and   
demanded gods to go before them. And Aaron told then to bring him their   
ear rings and their jewelry, and they did so, and he made of them a   
golden calf; and the people ran around it, and said these be he gods   
which brought us out of the land of Egypt. Home much credit was due to   
them? Just as much as to us, for not saving our grain when we had an   
abundance, and when grasshoppers come, crying, 'Lord turn them away and   
save us.' It is just as consistent as for a man on board a steamboat on   
the wide ocean to say, I will show you what faith I have, and then to   
jump overboard, crying, 'Lord save me.' It may not seem so daring; but   
is it any more inconsistent to throw away and waste the substance the   
r   
e a  Lord has given us, and when we come to want, crying to Him for what we   
have wasted and squandered? The Lord has been blessing us all the time,   
and He asks us why we have not been blessing ourselves." (In Journal of   
Discourses, 12:243.)   
   
Brigham Young   
(Discourses of Brigham Young, p.469)   
   
   Will the Constitution be destroyed? No; it will be held inviolate by   
this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, "The time will come when the   
destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At this critical   
juncture, this people will step forth and save it from the threatened   
destruction." It will be so. 7:15.   
   
Wilford Woodruff  (President of the Church from 1889-1898)   
"Journal of Discourses"   
   
    The day will come when if this people do not lay up their bread they   
will be sorry for it. (President Wilford Woodruff in "Journal of   
Discourses," vol. 18, p. 127.)   
waste the substance    So far as our temporal matters are concerned, we have got to go to   
work and provide for ourselves. The day will come when, as we have been   
told, we shall all see the necessity of making our own shoes and   
clothing and raising our own food, and uniting together to carry out the   
purposes of the Lord....I therefore say to you, my brethren and sisters,   
prepare for that which is to come....(President Wilford Woodruff,   
"Discourses" [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1946], pp. 16-77.)   
   
Charles W. Nibley   
 Conference Report, October 1922, p.40   
   
   My brethren and sisters, I hope that we will go home from this   
conference determined as a great body of people, to stand for law,   
order, righteousness, justice and peace on earth and good will among all   
men. I believe as the Prophet Joseph has written, that the day would   
come when there would be so much of disorder, of secret combinations   
he substance thtaking the law into their own hands, tramping upon Constitutional rights   
and the liberties of the people, that the Constitution would hang as by   
a thread. Yes, but it will still hang, and there will be enough of good   
people, many who may not belong to our Church at all, people who have   
respect for law and for order, and for Constitutional rights, who will   
rally around with us and save the Constitution. I have never read that   
that thread would be cut. It will hang; the Constitution will abide and   
this civilization, that the Lord has caused to be built up, will stand   
fortified through the power of God, by putting from our hearts all that   
is evil, or that is wrong in the sight of God, by our living as we   
should live, acceptable to him.   
   
Charles W. Nibley   
Conference Report, October 1923, p.62   
   
   Brethren and sisters, let me say in closing that we have it of   
record, that the prophet Joseph Smith said the time would come when,   

through secret organizations taking the law into their own hands, not   
being governed by law or by due process of law, but becoming a law unto   
themselves, when, by those disintegrating activities, the Constitution   
of the United States would be so torn and rent asunder, and life and   
property and peace and security would he held of so little value, that   
the Constitution would, as it were, hang by a thread. But he never said,   
so far as I have heard, that that thread would be cut. I believe, with   
Elder Richards, that this Constitution will be preserved, but it will be   
preserved very largely in consequence of what the Lord has revealed and   
what this people, through listening to the Lord and being obedient, will   
help to bring about, to stabilize and give permanency and effect to the   
Constitution itself. That also is our mission. That also is what we are   
here for. I glory in it. I praise God with all my heart and soul that I   
am a member of it.   
   
Melvin J. Ballard   
Conference Report, April 1933, p.127   
   
   I believe that it is the destiny of the Latter-day Saints to support   
the Constitution of the United States. The Prophet Joseph Smith is   
alleged to have said--and I believe he did say it--that the day would   
come when the Constitution would hang as by a thread. But he saw that   
the thread did not break, thank the Lord, and that the Latter-day Saints   
would become a balance of power, with others, to preserve that   
Constitution. If there is--and there is one part of the Constitution   
hanging as by a thread today--where do the Latter-day Saints belong?   
Their place is to rally to the support of that Constitution, and   
maintain it and defend it and support it by their lives and by their   
vote. Let us not disappoint God nor his prophet. Our place is fixed.   
   
J. Reuben Clark, Jr.   
(Apostle from 1933-1961; Second counselor to President Grant, 1933;   
 I   
am a membeFirst counselor to President Grant, 1934; First counselor to President   
George Albert Smith, 1945; Second counselor to President David O. McKay,   
1951; First counselor to President McKay, 1959-1961)   
April Conference, 1937   
   
    At the April 1937 general conference of the Church, President J.   
Reuben Clark, Jr., of the First Presidency, asked: "what may we as a   
people and as individuals do for ourselves to prepare to meet this   
oncoming disaster, which God in his wisdom may not turn aside from us?"   
President Clark then set forth thoses inspired basic principles of the   
Church welfare program:   
   "First, and above and beyond everything else, let us live   
righteously....   
   "Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in   
debt, let us get out of debt; if not today, then tomorrow.   
   "Let us straitly and strictly live within our incomes, and save a   
little.   
to resident Gra   "Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand   
enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a   
year ahead. You of small means put your money in foodstuffs and wearing   
apparel, not in stocks and bonds; you of large means will think you know   
how to care for yourselves, but I may venture to suggest that you do not   
speculate. Let every head of every household aim to own his own home,   
free from mortgage. Let every man who has a garden spot, garden it;   
every man who owns a farm, farm it." (Conference Report, April 1937, p.   
26)   
   
J. Reuben Clark, Jr.   
"The Deseret News," February 8, 1941   
   
    We are approaching troublesome times. I have been talking about them   
for years. They seem to be upon us. We shall have a period-how long I   
know not-of what we shall call prosperity; and then there will be   
something else. I have felt from the time this plan was put into   
operation that what we were really doing here was not alone caring for   
our people at this time, where there were so many other avenues open for   
them to get their help, but we were building for future times when we   
might need all of our experience, all of our training and skill, all of   
our intelligence to preserve ourselves and those who might be less   
fortunate among us than we ourselves may personally be.   
    I for one can visualize a condition, it may or may not come, when   
the best of us today will be not much better off than the poorest of us   
are now, I do not want to seem too pessimistic, but the world faces one   
of the greatest crisis in its history, and no mortal man, without the   
inspiration of the Lord, can tell where it will lead.   
   
J. Reuben Clark, Jr.,   
Conference Report, October 1942, p.58   
   
   You and I have heard all our lives that the time may come when the   
Constitution may hang by a thread. I do not know whether it is a thread,   
or a small rope by which it now hangs, but I do know that whether it   
shall live or die is now in the balance.   
   
Spencer W. Kimball    
(an Apostle from 1943-1973, President of the Church from 1973-1985)   
Funeral Sermon, Arizona, 1943   
   
Though food be scarce, and starvation stalks abroad, men will still   
share their portion, give succor to the afflicted, sympathy to the   
bereaved, and help to the unfortunate. Though cities be bombed, families   
separated, the meaning of sympathy and understanding and brotherhood   
will not change. Courage is not dead, ambition is not slain, love is not   
replaced. The bombed cities shall rise again, the grain that was burned   
shall be replanted, the fountain that evil has polluted shall flow pure   
again, the battered forests will shoot forth new foliage and the grass   
will spring forth anew to obiterate traces of war, Even though a   
  
thousand times they shall afflict the earth, a thousand times will it   
come forth again and men will survive to plant the ground and build upon   
it. The conditions of life in this chaotic situation are changed, but   
the meaning of the fundamentals of life have not changed.   
   
J. Reuben Clark, Jr.   
Address delivered to welfare workers at the   
Grant Ward Chapel, Cottonwood Stake, May 9, 1944   
   
    Man is so constituted that he must be either provident or   
improvident. Sometimes the Latter-day Saints have been criticized, for   
being provident. Man is what I would call a seasonable animal, by which   
I mean that his living comes from things that are produced only a part   
of the year. We produce in the summer, and we consume in the winter. We   
are like bees and the squirrels. The improvident hive perishes. The   
improvident squirrel dies, and the improvident man, except for the help   
which he gets, perishes.   
Now, there is no excuse for calling a man a hoarder because he is   
provident enough to put away in the summer what he must needs have in   
the winter; and remember, that has been the thesis that we have talked   
about during all the time that we have had the welfare plan.    
    Recently the report came to us that some man had said to his wife,   
"Well, we have put away food now for several years, something in the   
summer to keep us in the winter. Nothing happened. We will try it once   
more; and then if famine does not come this is the last time. That will   
prove that the General Authorities [leaders of the Church - A.S.] did   
not have any inspiration."   
   
J. Reuben Clark, Jr.   
"Church News," March 2, 1946   
   
    Now there are several classes of unfortunates and I think if I were   
a bishop at the present moment, facing the problems that seem to lie   
ahead, there are certain things which I would do. Before developing   
that, may I say this: If in 1936 we had told the Saints, "You would   
better prepare, because the time is coming when"-remember, in 1936 the   
problem was money,-there was always enough to buy, but the problem today   
is something to buy, not money-if we had told you then that the time   
would come when you could not buy all the meat you wanted, and perhaps   
not any at times; that you could not get butter, and that you could not   
get sugar, and that you could not get clothing, and that the farmers   
could get no machinery, and so on down the whole list of things that you   
can not get now and that therefore you should prepare for a stormy day,   
we would have been laughed to scorn. But I say to you again, the advice   
then given is good today, and you would better prepare for the times   
ahead, that you may not be like the five foolish virgins with no oil in   
your lamps. [Ever wonder where I got my screenname? ;D - A.S.]   
   
J. Reuben Clark, Jr.   
  
  
"Church News," April 20, 1946   
   
    Now I want to say another word. I have said this often. Cash is not   
food, it is not clothing, it is not coal, it is not shelter, and we have   
got to the place where no matter how much cash we have, we cannot secure   
those things in the quantities which we may need. So notwithstanding,   
you men of affairs, how much money you have in the bank, you cannot buy   
all the butter you want if you are very much of a butter eater; you   
cannot get all the meat you want, and so on through the whole list of   
things. All that you can be certain you will have is that which you   
produce; and I say again, as I have said before, it will not surprise   
me, if times get harder and tighter, if somewhere along the line you   
will be required to give up what you yourselves have or part of it in   
your cellars. It will be fortunate if you have put away enough so that   
you can spare some and still be able to live.   
   
r.   
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