"Joseph F. Smith was a counselor to Lorenzo Snow. He seems to have supported President Snow's "no polygamy" posture, until the turn of the century. President Snow proposed the cessation of cohabitation with plural wives, and President Smith objected to this plan.

Thereafter, President Smith approved some plural marriages without President Snow's knowledge. By November 1900, President Smith had arranged for another member (Alexander F. Macdonald) to marry members in the Juarez, Mexico stake.274 In September 1901, he sent word to Patriarch Macdonald not to worry about public warnings of excommunication from President Snow, and instructed him to continue performing marriages.

President Smith was to continue this posture of toleration toward polygamy upon becoming Church President at Lorenzo Snow's death. He again gave permission to Anthony W. Ivins in Mexico to solemnize such marriages, and these began in 1903. The lack of unanimity among the general authorities persisted: President Smith's counselors and "half" of the Twelve were unaware of the support he and the rest of the quorum were giving to polygamy."