Many LDS Church leaders have expressed their views on the subject of meat. In 1868, church president Brigham Young counseled, "Flesh should be used sparingly, in famine and in cold." In 1868, apostle George Q. Cannon said, "We are told that flesh of any kind is not suitable to man in the summer time, and ought to be eaten sparingly in the winter." From 1897 to 1901, apostle and then church president Lorenzo Snow repeatedly emphasized the importance of eating meat sparingly, teaching that church members should refrain from eating meat except in case of dire necessity, and that this should be seen in light of Smith's teaching that animals have spirits. In 1895, Snow stated, "Unless famine or extreme cold is upon us we should refrain from the use of meat." Apostle George Teasdale taught the same thing, and held that eating pork was a more serious breach of the Word of Wisdom than drinking tea or coffee. When Joseph F. Smith succeeded Snow as president of the church in 1901, he preached regularly against the "unnecessary destruction of life", and emphasized kindness to animals and the important stewardship humans have toward them .