| 594 The Semiannual Conference was held at Council Bluffs, Iowa, September 15 to 19, 1870. Joseph Smith was president, and D. H. Bays and R. W. Briggs, clerks. The first two days were devoted to hearing reports. On the 17th, some missions were assigned and other business done as follows:-
"The following resolutions were adopted: That Elders A. McCord, Samuel Wood, J. W. Chatburn, and M. C. Nickerson, be assigned to the Utah mission. That Elders Thomas Nutt and William Powell be assigned to the English mission. That R. J. Anthony labor in southern Nebraska and northern Kansas. That Elder Charles Derry be reassigned
little unrest. a fear of failure, as did also George A. Smith, John Taylor, George Q. Cannon, Z. Snow, and others; but when Mr. Newman opened out fully upon the grand arguments of his position, cutting, conclusive, and sweeping, as they were, Brigham was excited, and while affecting to recline in his seat and takes things coolly, he shook his fan (and the day was cool) at an unusually rapid rate, and fastened his eyes, with a vacant stare, upward to the dome of the Tabernacle. George A., with eyes strained to watch the effect produced upon the people, would cast an occasional glance at the towering and animated form of the Doctor as he hurled some crushing argument against their tottering system, while his looks clearly betrayed discomfiture and the fear of its consequences with the people.
D. H. Wells sat with eyes downcast, his side to the audience, and his band covering his eyes and face most of the time, evidently confounded and displeased. George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, John Taylor, W. H. Hooper, Dr. Bernhisel, Judge Snow, and many other of the Utah celebrities exhibited in their looks unmistakable evidences of conscious defeat. The radical Brighamites try to put a good face on the matter, some calling the Doctor "the biggest fool that ever came to Utah," and others, using the vernacular of the valley, put in an occasional "dam," where there is no mill site; while another, a wiser, if not a more worthy class, keep "mum."
The Gentiles and Josephites are jubilant, as you may well suppose, and are hoping that the discussion may be published in pamphlet form and circulated throughout the realms of Brighamism. I suppose a synopsis of the discussion, if not the entire text, will be published in the leading journals east and west. If so, the Gentiles will have at hand a concise and complete refutation of this baleful heresy with which to meet Brigham's elders if he sends out any more on proselyting [proselytizing] tours.
Utah's skies are brightening; her people breathe freer, of late months, than ever before. Mining interests are on the increase, and there are good reasons to hope that Utah will, ere long, be found prominent, if not foremost among the mining districts of America.
As your readers will be anxious to know in regard to the "New Movement," [Godbe movement,] I can only say that they are still holding regular meetings in the city, though it is evident that many have lost their interest in it, as their meetings are not nearly so largely attended as last winter. Some of the prominent business men of the city are connected with it, and it represents a fair class, an average class of the
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