Coun. explained some matters in relation to the difficulty. He was followed by & others on the same subject.
Coun. made some remarks respecting those brethren who have come here, and have covenanted not to go out to work for the gentiles. Many of them have no means of sustaining themselves, they have no food, and the question is often asked him what shall they do? There is no labor in the by which they can earn their bread and he wants to know what answer he shall make to such when they come to him.
Coun. made some remarks on the subject.
The recommended that the Bishops be called together and instructed to go round and examine the situation of those who say they need help, and if [p. [8]]
This is likely a reference to a vote taken at the April 1845 conference of the church. While discussing the need for self-sufficiency among the Latter-day Saints, Heber C. Kimball proposed “that every man and every woman” remain in Nauvoo and not leave the county “to work for the Gentiles at all.” Kimball described the needs for labor in Nauvoo as well as the moral and physical dangers surrounding sending women to Warsaw or Carthage to work and concluded by asking the congregation, “Now, shall we go and reap their wheat and plough their ground, and dig their potatoes? Shall we let our girls go and wash their clothes, and boil their potatoes, and make their Johnny cake?” He then motioned that the Saints “withdraw fellowship from the Gentiles’ eniquity, which was done by a unanimous vote.” (“Speech Delivered by Heber C. Kimball,” Times and Seasons, 15 July 1845, 6:970–973.)
Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.