As you are all aware, since our last Conference it has fallen to my lot to visit nearly all of our missions in Europe. We have had a very enjoyable time. Statistics are never interesting, but I feel that it is only fair to give you some information pertaining to our trip.

We left Salt Lake City, Sunday, June 13th, 1937, and sailed from Quebec on the 16th. Our party consisting of Hugh B. Brown, Joseph Anderson, and myself, arrived in Cherbourg, France, June 23rd, where we were met by President Richard R. Lyman of the European Mission, and President O. F. Ursenbach of the French Mission. We went direct to Paris, where I delivered a talk before the American Club in that city. This talk was received very favorably and nearly all of it was published in the Paris edition of the New York Herald.

After our visit in Paris we went to Liege, Belgium, a part of the French Mission, at which place we visited three Sunday Schools, also held a meeting in Herstal, near Liege, where I dedicated a new building ; and in the evening we held a meeting in Liege. The attendance at each of these meetings was very good indeed; in fact at nearly every meeting we held the attendance was in excess of what we expected it to be, and upon more than one occasion over one-half of all the people in our audience were non-members of the Church.

PROFITABLE MEETINGS IN SWITZERLAND

We held a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 30th, one on July 1st in Neuchatel, Switzerland. The branches in all these places, that is, at Liege, Geneva, and Neuchatel, are a part of the French Mission. From Neuchatel President Ursenbach returned to headquarters in Liege, and President Philemon M. Kelly of the Swiss-German Mission met our party at Neuchatel, and accompanied us through the SwissGerman Mission.

We held a meeting in Bern, at which there was a large attendance, as I remember it, over 400 people. The following day a brief meeting was held at Interlaken, as we were passing through that city to take a trip on the cog railroad to see the wonderful Alps. Never before at any time have I been able to get such a magnificent view of the Alps as I did on this occasion. The clouds disappeared just before we reached the highest point on the railroad, and we could see five or six of those great towering mountains, covered with snow. When we made the return trip the clouds covered the tops of the mountains, so that we were unable to see them. We were very grateful for that wonderful, magnificent sight, second only of course to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.

On July 4th meetings were held in the morning and in the afternoon at Basel. Three or four hundred people attended each of these meetings. Tuesday, July 6th, we held a meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, and there were also over 400 people, as I recall it, at this service.

CORDIAL RECEPTION IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Services were held in Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany, and there were more than 900 people in attendance at this meeting. This was the last meeting that we held in the Swiss-German Mission. From Frank furt we went to Prague, Czechoslovakia, by way of Nuremburg, at which latter place we were met by President Wallace F. Toronto, and we held a meeting with the Saints and friends in Prague. The hall in which we held the meeting was crowded, and many people were standing up during the entire session. While in Prague we visited the buildings that have been erected in that city for the benefit of feeble-minded children, those who are under-nourished, and the old people, and it was the most wonderful exhibit of fine, modern buildings and efficient work along the line of taking care of the unfortunate that I have ever had the privilege of visiting. The lady in charge spent three or four hours with us in visiting all of the places of interest there. These homes are named after the first president of the Republic, Mr. Masaryk. We were received in a very cordial way by the officials of the Republic and they expressed regret that the President of the Republic was absent, also that President Masaryk, the founder of the Republic at the conclusion of the great World War, was away.

LIBERTY IN GERMANY

On the following day, July 10, in company with President Toronto and wife we left for Dresden, Germany, where we held a fine meeting, with over 600 people in attendance." Here we met Elder Roy A. Welker, the president of the German-Austrian Mission, who, by the way, has filled a most satisfactory mission, following the very successful presidency of Elder Oliver H. Budge, of Cache Valley.

On July 14th we held a meeting in Breslau, and from Breslau we went to Berlin, in which latter city we visited three Sunday Schools, and in the evening held a meeting in a large auditorium, where there were over 1,100 people present, and some of them stood up during the entire session. We were assured that over two-thirds of that audience were non-members of the Church.

One thing that was very pleasing to us was that we had perfect liberty in the holding of our meetings in Germany, notwithstanding the fact that more than thirty different denominations have been prohibited from preaching there.

I thought it was very remarkable that we should have the privilege of holding meetings with the people of Germany.

I learned that upon one occasion our Elders were prevented by the officials from preaching at a meeting. The officials said: "You have no right here, you must not preach."

The Elders said: "We have not been prohibited from holding meetings and preaching."

The officers said: "We know better. You will have to stop and we will bring you the evidence that you are not permitted to preach."

They came back and said: "We could not find the word Mormon nor the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the prohibited list."

From Berlin our party went to London. Brother Richard R. Lyman was with us until the time when we reached Dresden, but as he was advertised to deliver a speech in London on World Peace, he returned to London and was not with us at the meetings held in Dresden, Breslau and Berlin. The various Mission Presidents were with us at the meetings held in their particular missions, namely: Presidents Kelly, Welker, Ursenbach, and Toronto, all of whom have made very fine records in presiding over the various missions on the Continent and have made friends of many leading officials in all of those countries, and stand well with them.

. . .

We sailed for home on September 4, arriving here on Sunday, the 12th—just 13 weeks from the Sunday we left on our trip.

IMPRESSED BY CHANGE IN ATTITUDE

The thing that impressed me more profoundly on this mission than anything else was the marvelous change that has come about in the attitude of the people regarding the Latter-day Saints. When I was in Europe 30-odd years ago—it will be 31 years on Christmas day since I returned—during my entire three years in the British Isles I never succeeded in getting a single solitary article published in the newspapers. Some of the vilest, most wicked, obscene, terrible things were published regarding us, but those in charge of the press positively refused to listen to anything we had to say

I was assured while on this trip that we had favorable newspaper notices in Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, in Holland and in Belgium. No criticism of any kind or description, just fine notices regarding our meetings, and in some cases the notices in the papers in the British Isles were of such a character that if we had had the privilege of writing them ourselves we could not have written anything that would have pleased us better. As near as I could judge not a single article was written during our entire trip but what was intended to give a fair, honorable and splendid report of our people. I rejoice in these things. It is such a marvelous change from the spirit of animosity and almost hatred that I found among newspaper men that I came in contact with over thirty years ago

As one illustration, I received a letter from the managing man of Ramsden and Company, way back in the early days before the White Star steamships were built — I have forgotten the name of the steamship line but the Ramsden people had entire charge of it — and Mr. Ramsden was one of the most loyal friends of our mission presidents that I think we ever had in any part of the world.