John Smith Quotes
You must obey this now for a law, that he that will not work shall not eat (except by sickness he be disabled). For the labors of thirty or forty honest and industrious men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred and fifty idle loiterers.
Smith, John. The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles. Michael Sparkes, 1624, p. 90.
Mormons in later years found this principle difficult to enforce where there was unemployment and workers were idle through no fault of their own. The local Mormon churches were very active in encouraging wealthier Mormons to hire those who were unemployed.
John Smith was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America in the early 17th century. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony between September 1608 and August 1609, and he led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, during which he became the first English explorer to map the Chesapeake Bay area. Later, he explored and mapped the coast of New England. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely.
