The End of the PEF

As members of the Church we have sat in seminary or in Sunday school and heard the Church’s program to gather the poor during the pioneer years. This program was known as the Perpetual Emigration Fund. I imagine all in the Church understand the purpose of this fund; however, what might be less known is who put a stop to the fund. So, who ended the fund and for what purpose?

a.      The Church, because the Church wasn’t being paid back to keep the fund evolving

b.      The government as a penalty during the anti-polygamy campaign

c.       The Church, because there was no longer a need to gather to Zion

d.      The Church, because the money was needed to fund Relief Society projects

Yesterday’s answers

1.      B.   On the last page

Readers of the Book of Mormon are introduced to this sacred scripture through the title page, a brief statement translated by Joseph Smith and published at the beginning of the book. Joseph Smith described the location of the title page among the plates of Mormon: “The title-page of the Book of Mormon is a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf, on the left hand side of the collection or book of plates . . . [it] is not by any means a modern composition, either of mine or of any other man who has lived or does live in this generation.”

Largey, Dennis L., Book of Mormon Reference Companion (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co. 2003), 155.

2.      C.   The title page of the Book of Mormon

The title page was officially recorded and published twice before the Book of Mormon itself was printed, bound, and made available to the public. When Joseph Smith applied for a copyright of the Book of Mormon on 11 June 1829, R. R. Lansing, the clerk of the Northern District of New York, recorded the title page with the notation, “Joseph Smith Junior of the said District, hath deposited in this Office the title of a Book . . . to wit.” The title page was also printed on 26 June 1829 in the Wayne Sentinel, a newspaper published at the same press (Grandin’s ) that was also responsible for setting the type and publishing the first edition of the Book of Mormon. In both of these instances, the title page was written as one paragraph. In the first edition of the Book of Mormon, the title page was published as two paragraphs, a style followed in subsequent English editions but with a change where the paragraphs divide.

Largey, Dennis L., Book of Mormon Reference Companion (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co. 2003), 155-157.