times as explicit and zealous in this matter as his predecessor. At the annual April Conference in 1878, he spoke in these words:

If we manufacture cloths and boots and shoes, or anything else, we want the institutions to dispose of our goods. If we need encouragement in regard to the introduction of any manufactures of any kind, we want them to help us, and we have a right to expect this of them so far as is wise, prudent and legitimate. I will state that the directors of Z. C. M. I. feel interested in the very things that I am talking about, and I say it to their credit and for your satisfaction. I do not think there is an institution in the United States in a better condition than that is to-day; and it is improving all the time, not after any fictitious manner, but on a solid, firm, reliable basis. Now then, I have proposed to these brethren, which they quite coincide with, that when they shall be able to pay a certain amount as dividends on the means invested, after reserving a sufficient amount to preserve the institution intact against any sudden emergency which may arise, which is proper among all wise and intelligent men, that then the profits of the institution outside of this should be appropriated for the development of home manufactures, the making of machinery, the introduction of self-sustaining principles, and the building up of the Territory generally; and they acquiesced in this feeling; and I say it to their honor and credit. And I will tell you again that the Church has got a large interest in that institution, consequently we wish to see everything go right, not on any wild, erratic principle, but on a solid, firm, reliable basis, that which when carried out will elicit the admiration and confidence of all good and honorable men.

Later, in the fiftieth annual Conference, April, 1880, "the Year of Jubilee," we find the same subject strongly insisted upon, I make the following extracts:

Elder Franklin D. Richards said:

What better can we do, in this our year of jubilee, in token of our gratitude to God for the abundance of his favors bestowed upon us, than to do good to each other, and to make glad the hearts of the poor in Israel? The authorities of the Church are thinking of doing something by way of aiding such as are needy. The officers. of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company calculate to relieve in part the worthy poor, who are owing for their emigration; and as President Taylor suggested in public on Sunday, let us all do something to aid the poor and make the hearts of the Saints rejoice, and see that no one is allowed to suffer. This same charitable feeling should extend through all our Co-operative Institutions; our rich brethren merchants who have got debts owing to them by the worthy poor, who are struggling with adversity in the world for subsistence, let them get out their accounts and send them receipted, either in full or in part to their debtors, as the case may be, with a note of forgiveness, telling them to lift up their heads and rejoice, and the

Lord will bless them for it.

Let the rich men in our Territory, who have been blessed to accumulate means, and who hold notes drawing interest against their poor brethren, look over their papers, and when they find a note given by their poor but worthy brother, who has perhaps mortgaged his home and is in danger of being sold out, let them forgive the debt, and thus our rich brethren may help fulfil the prophecy that the poor shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. There are those who have borrowed money, and whose homes stand pledged for payment thereof, who have incurred debt through misfortune, or hard times, or perhaps through sickness, and who deserve relief-I would say to all the brethren who may be creditors of such persons, go to and make yourselves their benefactors, and establish the principle in the hearts of God's people-"Make to yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations."

Reader, are you accustomed to such sermons? Would you not rather your mortgage rested in the hands of a Mormon Elder, than in that of an Eastern Christian? Let us be honest! On the same occasion Elder Erastus Snow announced that the books of the Company showed that the indebtedness from those who have been brought to Utah during the past thirty years, amounted to $1,600,000. And he added:

Now, it is contemplated that this year of jubilee shall be made a year of release and comfort to those who are indebted to the Fund, who have striven to do their duty and discharged it as far as able to do so, but whose circumstances have been adverse, preventing them from doing as their hearts listed.

President Taylor again spoke, announcing the decision to remit the indebtedness of "the worthy poor." And further, to remit one half due on tithing. He said:

The amount that is behind (on tithing) according to the bishop's records-which many of the people owing it signify their willingness to pay but are not able to-is $151,798. We propose releasing half of the amount to the deserving poor, and that will be $75,899.

* *

Another thing. We have had a great scarcity of water the last year, and consequently short crops. It is proposed that, inasmuch. as there may be suffering more or less in some places, we hope, however, that our brethren will not allow our poor unfortunate brethren to suffer. I have not heard of anything of the kind; but still a little help will not do any harm. And where people have been in straitened circumstances through the loss of crops and of stockand some people have lost perhaps their last cow, and some have lost many of their stock, and yet have a good many left; but there has been quite a general loss. Now, we propose to raise 1000 head of cows-not old cows that do not give any milk; nor any one-teated

cows, but good milk cows, and have them distributed among those that may be destitute in the different stakes, under the direction of the authorities thereof. And the Church will put in 300 of this 1000. I spoke to Brother Sheets and told him that we did not want any one-teated cows. The balance of this number, namely, 700, we would like the stakes to make up. We have been informed by the presidents that this can be easily done. It would have been quite hard awhile ago, because we lost so many of our animals; but now it seems we can do it quite easy. [Laughter]. It is much better to give them to the poor than to have them die, and they have not all died yet, so we may as well begin to dispose of them.

* * *

And I would like to see Z. C. M. I., and our bankers, merchants, and other creditors scratch off a few names of their debtors; and I think they feel disposed to do it; I have spoken to some of the directors of Z. C. M. I., and I find that they feel about as we do.

Surely a strange discourse to our ears! We have seen that cooperation is not only a fundamental principle in business, but permeates their religious and social relations. The extracts I have given were from speeches before the Edmunds law went into effect. They indicate the constant policy pursued in Mormon society. Even the Perpetual Emigration Fund, of which we hear so much from discordant shriekers, is a purely co-operative institution. The Company has an office in Liverpool. When a Mormon convert on the continent begins to save money to enable him and his family to emigrate to a land where independence awaits him, he sends whatever small sums he can save to the office at Liverpool where it is placed to his credit. When the sum amounts to the larger portion of the necessary expense to reach Utah, the Company advances the remainder. By sending all their passengers for forty years past by one line they secure reduced rates, as well as on the railroads.

In the same spirit the "Zion's Central Board of Trade," with branches in every county, was organized. In the Preamble to their Articles of Association this aim is clearly laid down. As, like every thing else Mormon, it differs so radically from Boards of Trade in other Christian communities, I invite attention to the

PREAMBLE.

The objects of this association are: To maintain a Commercial Exchange; to promote uniformity in the customs and usages of producers, manufacturers and merchants; to inculcate principles of justice and equity in trade; to facilitate the speedy adjustment of business pursuits; to arrange for transportation; to seek remunerative markets for home products; to foster capital and protect labor, uniting them as friends rather than dividing them as enemies; to

encourage manufacturing; to aid in placing imported articles in the hands of consumers as cheaply as possible; to acquire and disseminate valuable agricultural, manufacturing, commercial and economic information; and generally to secure to its members the benefits of co-operation in the furtherance of their legitimate pursuits, and to unite and harmonize the business relations of the Stake Board of Trade, now and hereafter to be organized throughout the Territory, with those of the Central Association.

The subject is by no means exhausted, but space forbids further citations. Enough evidence has been given to show that the Mormon community is essentially a co-operative one. The bitter feeling now being excited against them by the jealousies of land-claim jumpers, saloon and faro-table keepers, mining speculators, avaricious merchants, and religious bigots, who cordially clasp hands in a brotherhood of Crusaders, cannot but result in uniting this people more firmly in co-operative unity. While this Unholy Alliance may delay the further extension of co-operative enterprise, they cannot unsettle established results. Though united in the bonds of a common enmity, their motives are widely different. One class wishing to expropriate the fertile farms wrested from the desert by honest industry; another angered by the want of patronage at their bars or counters, and who view with selfish alarm the temperance of the people or the lessening of prices by co-operation; still another who in the spirit of greed would convert peaceful agricultural communities into lawless mining camps; while with these are joined the asinine bray of the gospel exhorter, amazed to find his appeal to flee from the wrath to come and to subscribe towards giving him a comfortable salary falling on deaf ears. As the Z. C. M. I. Advocate truly

says:

Co-operation, unity of action, of effort and of means, will surely be the one-the only method of securing freedom from arbitrary and tyrannical rule, and from dependence on those who understand nothing, and care less, for the aspirations of the people of Utah Territory.

Τ

CHAPTER III.

ARBITRATION vs. LITIGATION.

HANKS to the publicity given to Mr. T. V. Powderly's recent letters, we have learned that a large body of working men and women are enthusiastic admirers of the principle of arbitration in matters of dispute in lieu of resorting to litigation, or the often still more expensive custom of "strikes." How far this principle is a fundamental feature in Mormon society cannot but be a matter of interest to all those who hold that arbitration is an index of higher civilization and progress. Though the word "arbitration" may not be in familiar use in Utah, we shall see that what we denote by that term has been their long-established custom.

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In the first place, to more readily understand the subject, we must consider in what relation the 'priesthood" stands to the people in Utah. And as it may be well to let the Mormon state the case for himself, I clip the following from the columns of the Deseret News, of Salt Lake City, of March 3, 1885:

Another pertinent question is often asked. Does not the practice of the tenets of your faith supersede and supplant the government in the exercise of some of its powers and functions? By no means. We have courts of arbitration which sit in civil cases to adjust difficulties and that too without compensation. The tendency is also to the reconciliation of the parties litigant, instead of the bitter hate that often follows a vexatious and expensive law suit. Let me here ask, is there any less likelihood of correct judgment being rendered by these disinterested parties, who sit as neighbors without compensation, than in courts of law? I think not. Are not important questions involving issues of the gravest consequences arbitrated, and that, too, satisfactorily to all concerned? No sound lawyer will object to this course, while a hungry pettifogger who desires to fleece his fellow-man might complain and declare there ought to be a law prohibiting the exercise of such powers. We are forbidden, however, by revelation to interfere in criminal matters. Persons guilty of such offences we are expressly enjoined to deliver up to the law of the land, for a person thus guilty is unworthy a place amongst us and has no claim upon any of the privileges of the Church. Further, to screen a man or woman guilty of criminality would place us under the ban of the Almighty. Let me here ask,