The Prophet and the Reformer
Page 58
In addition, Young assured Kane that the Saints favored a protective tariff. In
general, Young and the Latter-day Saints, who sought to promote self-reliance
among their community and worked to develop their own resources, took a
pragmatic approach to tariff policy: supporting tariffs when they believed it to
be in their interests and opposing them when they did not.3
Finally, Young informed Kane that the Saints had prepared a memorial ask-
ing for statehood, which would be carried east by territorial delegate William
Hooper. The Saints held a mass meeting in mid-October to sign the memo-
rial supporting their admission.4 In December 1869, Hooper directed that
another petition for admission into the Union be submitted.5 By that time,
1. Edward McPherson, A Political Manual for 1866 and 1867, of Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Politico-Military, and General Facts (Washington, D.C., 1867), 184.
2. See Young to William Hooper, January 31, 1867, BYOF; “Equal Rights and Liberty to All,”
Deseret News, February 13, 1867, 4.
3. See “Local and Other Matters,” Deseret News, September 29, 1869, 1, and “Local and Other Matters,” Deseret News, November 10, 1869, 5; Young to C. G. Hammond, September 30, 1869, BYOF.
4. Springfield Republican, October 16, 1869, 2.
5. See Walter Thompson to Young, December 27, 1869, BYOF; Young to William Hooper, April 2, 1870, BYOF
Young to Kane, October 26, 1869
403
the Fifteenth Amendment’s passage was almost certain, as 27 of the required
28 states had either ratified or were certain to do so.6 The amendment passed
Congress in March 1870, thus ending any hope that Utah statehood might be
exchanged for support of the amendment.7
Source
Young to Kane, October 26, 1869, box 15, fd 4, Kane Collection, BYU.
Retained copy in Brigham Young Letterbooks, box 8, vol. 11, 844–845.
Letter
Salt Lake City, U. T.
October 26, 1869
Genl Thomas L. Kane,
Kane Co. Pa.
My dear friend:—
Your esteemed favor of the 13th inst has been received.8
It is none the less welcome from having been the first for many years.
I had much pleasure in conversing with my son regarding your-
self, your prospects & your assurances of affection towards your many
friends in the mountains.9
As you will learn from my son, Brigham, we hold you in unfading
remembrance & will always be deeply interested in everything that
concerns your well being & prosperity.10
With regard to the future prospects of our beloved Territory, we
hope for the best; feeling assured that whatever party leaders may be
disposed to do, for or against our admission, God will control the results
of their acts for his glory & the advancement of his kingdom.
6. S
ee “The Fifteenth Amendment—Can a State Annul Its Ratification,” New York Times, December 17, 1869; “The Fifteenth Amendment,” Washington Reporter, December 22, 1869.
7. See George Q. Cannon to Young, March 11, 1870, BYOF.
8. Kane to Young, October 13, 1869.
9. This may refer to a visit from Joseph A. Young to Kane. See Kane to Young, October 13, 1869.
10. On Brigham Young Jr.’s visit to the east, see Kane to Young, October 13, 1869.
404
the prophet and the reformer
Eastern Senators need fear no opposition from us to a Protective
Tariff, on the contrary, it is one of the very measures we would most
desire. The development of Home Industry is of the first importance
[p. 2] whether to the Commonwealth at large or to this Territory, &
every measure that will protect it from foreign competition demands
our hearty support.
As to our views on the Fifteenth Amendment, I will call your atten-
tion to Article 7, Amended Constitution, State of Deseret, passed
Feb. 4, 1867, which reads “All male citizens of the United States over
21 years of age, having a residence of 6 months in this State shall be
entitled to vote”; the words “free, white, male,” having been stricken
out. The number of votes polled on this amendment was 14000 for, &
30 against.11
A memorial to Congress has been prepared & extensively signed
by many of the citizens of our Territory, for admission into the Union &
energetic measures will be taken by our mutual friend Col. Hooper for
favorable action thereon. Whatever may be the issue, we feel assured
that we will have the good will of every true republican, who has at
heart the welfare of his country.
I start on a trip through some of the southern settlements in the
morning which must serve as an excuse for not writing you at greater
length.12
Peace & prosperity characterize our labours & it is generally a time
of health among the people.
Accept as ever our best wishes, & remember me with kindness to
your family & friends.
Brigham Young
11.
The Saints believed that this proposal would appeal to Radical Republicans, such as Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. See “Equal Rights and Liberty to All,” Deseret News, February 13, 1867, 4.
12. Young customarily took a tour of settlements in northern Utah during the spring and of southern Utah during the fall. In the following year (1870) he began spending the winter months in the mild climate of St. George. See Gordon Irving, “Encouraging the Saints: Brigham Young’s Annual Tours of the Mormon Settlements,” Utah Historical Quarterly 45 (Summer 1977): 233–251.
74
Young to Kane, February 14, 1870
In the folloWInG letter, Young invited Kane to invest in bonds from the
Utah Central Railroad Company.1 Nearly two years earlier, in May 1868, Young
had contracted with the Union Pacific Railroad to grade and excavate the area
between Echo Canyon and the Salt Lake Valley for $2,125,000.2 Church lead-
ers also signed a four million dollar contract with the Central Pacific Railroad
during fall 1868 for the construction of about 200 miles of railroad from
Humboldt Wells, Nevada, to Ogden, Utah.3 The Latter-day Saints completed
their work by the spring of 1869. By early 1870, Young and the church were
short on cash since he had committed tens of thousands of dollars to sub-
contractors in the work for the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific
Railroad, as well as in subsequently building the Utah Central Railroad, which
connected the Union Pacific line in Ogden with Salt Lake City.
Disputes over the payment of the Union Pacific contract—caused in part
by the company’s own financial difficulties—caused Young deep anxiety. In
May 1869, Young was due $750,000 from the Union Pacific, an amount
which increased over the following months.4 At this time, Union Pacific had
fallen behind in its payments to numerous contractors.5 In May 1869, Young
wrote several Union Pacific executives, requesting his “pay without further
1. The envelope, addressed to Kane in Kane, P
ennsylvania, was stamped on February 14,
1870, in Ogden, Utah.
2. See Memoranda of agreement, May 20, 1868, BYOF.
3. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, 263; Arrington, American Moses, 348–350.
4. Young to Oliver Ames, May 19, 1869, BYOF.
5.Robert D. Athearn,
“Contracting for the Union Pacific” Utah Historical Quarterly 37:1
(January 1969): 34; Julius Grodinsky, Transcontinental Railway Strategy, 1869–1893: A Study of Businessmen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962), 41–54.
406
the prophet and the reformer
delay,” as he needed the money to “facilitate the Emigration” and pay his sub-
contractors.6 According to Young’s attorney John Sharp, his efforts to collect
the funds were initially met with a “grand laugh.”7 Joseph A. Young warned
his father that if “the money is ever collected from them, it will be in the next
world.”8 By August 1869, the “prospects for funds [were] so dull,” Brigham
Young wrote, that impoverished immigrants would be forced to stay in the
east or midwest until the following emigration season, rather than receive
church aid that year.9 Mass meetings were held in Salt Lake to protest against
the Union Pacific.10
In late summer 1869, John Sharp and Joseph Young traveled to New York
City to negotiate with Union Pacific officials. According to Joseph Young’s
account of the meeting, Union Pacific officials initially offered only $100,000.
Joseph Young raged: “I wish to know whether it is the intention of this com-
pany to keep Prest Young out of three fourths of a million of dollars, which
you all acknowledge he has honestly earned.” He threatened, “one end of the
road is out in our country and I think we can pull hard enough so you can feel
it at the other end.”11 Notwithstanding the heated rhetoric, they came to an
agreement, with Union Pacific agreeing to pay Young nearly $600,000 worth
of railroad materials, $10,000 worth of emigrant transportation, $50,000
worth of freight transportation, $50,000 in cash, and $230,000 in promissory
notes.12 Though he complained that Union Pacific had failed to “comply with
the spirit of the contract,” Brigham Young accepted the agreement.13
Union Pacific’s offer to pay the debt principally through supplies left Young
with limited cash to cover expenses for the Utah Central Railroad. Union
Pacific’s actions, Young wrote, “cramped nearly every person concerned” and
caused the whole territory to suffer as merchants awaited the subcontractors’
repayment.14 Young was generally unable to convince his creditors to take
6. Y
oung to S. Dillon, May 19, 1869, BYOF; Young to Heber Young, May 15, 1869, BYOF.
7. John Sharp to Young, May 5, 1870, BYOF.
8. Joseph A. Young to Brigham Young, April 3, 1869, BYOF.
9. Brigham Young to William Staines, August 24, 1869, BYOF.
10. Brigham Young to Joseph A. Young, August 25, 1869, BYOF.
11. Joseph A. Young to Brigham Young, September 1, 1869, BYOF.
12. See Young to John Sharp, August 25, 1869, BYOF; Statement of Claims and ledger, September 6, 1869, BYOF.
13. Young to John Sharp, October 7, 1869, BYOF.
14. Young to William Godbe, February 23, 1870, BYOF.
Young to Kane, February 14, 1870
407
payment in railroad material.15 Partly as a result of this, he and the church
struggled to pay its laborers for the Utah Central Railroad construction. In
December, the Utah Central Railroad Board of Directors temporarily laid off
all workers while they awaited the arrival of the Union Pacific’s iron payment.16
As a result, Young decided to sell bonds of the Utah Central Railroad
Company to raise funds and to ensure that ownership of the railroad remained
in the hands of the Latter-day Saints.17 Church leaders thus set up a committee
of businessmen to sell the bonds.18 Young’s overtures to Kane in the following
letter were part of this effort to sell the bonds of the Utah Central Railroad.
Source
Young to Kane, February 14, 1870, box 15, fd 4, Kane Collection, BYU.
Letter
Salt Lake City, U. T.
February 14. 1870.
Gen. Thomas L. Kane,
Kane.
Pa.
Dear Sir:—
Permit me to call your attention, for a few moments, to a subject
I wish to bring before you.19
In a late transaction with the U. P. R. R. Co. I received a large quan-
tity of railroad material,20 with which a railroad called the “Utah Central”
15. S
ee “To the Brethren of the School of the Prophets,” BYOF.
16. See Young to Utah Central Railroad employees, December 10, 1869, BYOF.
17. See “To the Brethren of the School of the Prophets,” BYOF. See also Union Pacific Railroad Statement; and invoices from Warren Childs, Bernard Snow, and E. R. Young, BYOF.
18.“To the Brethren of the School of the Prophets,” October 22, 1870, BYOF.
19. The text of this request is virtually identical to that of another letter sent to B. P. Clancy of Boston, Massachusetts. See Young to Clancy, February 14, 1870, BYOF.
20. The material included 4,000 tons of railroad iron, 144 tons of spikes, 120 tons of splices, and 32 tons of bolts, with a total value of $599,460. See Oliver Ames to Young, September 2, 1869, BYOF. In December 1869, 125 cars filled with iron were shipped to Utah. Brigham Young to Joseph A. and Brigham Young Jr., December 22, 1869, BYOF.
408
the prophet and the reformer
has been (mainly) constructed & equipped; and for which I hold “Utah
Central” bonds to the entire amount.
At present, however, I am somewhat pressed, and I wish to hypoth-
ecate some of these bonds, say to the amount of one hundred thousand
dollars.
The U. C. R. R. connects with the U. P. R. R. and the C. P. R. R.21
at Ogden City, and runs to Salt Lake City, a distance of about 37
miles. Freight and Passenger trains run over its entire length & with
satisfactory success. The cost of the construction of the road is esti-
mated at $1.150.000. and the equipment at $225.000. The receipts,
even now, at this slack season, not only cover all expenses—including
construction—but actually come within a trifle of what would pay inter-
est on the entire amount of bonds, viz: one million dollars. [p. 2]
These bonds are for $1000 00/ each; they bear 6% pr annum, gold
100
interest payable semi-annually at S. L. City. They run for the term of
20 years, and they are secured by mortgage on the entire extent of the
road, including stations, rolling-stock, in short, all the Company prop-
erty without stint or encumbrance.
The Mortgage is duly drawn up & is stamped to the value of $1000
00/ . The trustees are Mess. H. S. Eldredge and A. O. Smoot of S. L.
100
City.22
We are not indebted on this road to any person outside of this
Territory.
As above stated, I wish to borrow $100.000 00/ giving these bonds
100
at 20% below par, (the present rate of issue) as collateral security, and
my personal security for payment of the interest, which I now respect-
fully offer you, in whole, or in part, either for yourself or your friends
who may feel disposed to make the investment, soliciting your interest
and kind offices in the negotiation.
21. R
eferences to the Utah Central Railroad, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Central Pacific Railroad Company.
22. Horace Eldredge had earlier served as Young’s business agent in the Ea
st, purchasing equipment and securing loans for the Saints. From 1864 to 1869, Eldredge helped to build the Church’s business holdings, particularly assisting in the establishment of ZCMI. In late spring 1870, Eldredge was called to preside over the European Mission. He was also serving as one of the presidents of the Seventies Quorums in the church. Smoot was a leading Mormon, serving as Salt Lake City’s mayor from its incorporation to 1866. In 1868, he moved to Provo, where he served as mayor until 1890 and became a guiding figure in the establishment of Brigham Young Academy. See Young to Eldredge, May 11, 1870, BYOF; Jenson, Latter-day Saints Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:196, 485.
Young to Kane, February 14, 1870
409
Awaiting your early reply, upon which, if favorable, I will send you an
agent who will more fully explain everything pertaining to this subject,
I trust, entirely to your satisfaction.
I remain,
Yours with respect,
Brigham Young
75
Kane to Young, March 20, 1870
When Kane received Young’s February 14, 1870 letter, he immediately wrote to
decline Young’s offer to invest in the bonds of the Utah Central Railroad. Kane’s
wife Elizabeth approvingly wrote,
He has resisted a temptation. Brigham Young wrote to offer him the
negotiating of a loan—on terms which would have relieved us of all our
pecuniary embarrassments. But Tom is even now writing to refuse. He
will not have money dealings with the Mormons though he will befriend
them when he can.1
In his response to Young, Kane also spoke of the Saints’ political problems.
Illinois Congressman Shelby M. Cullom, the Republican chairman of the House
Committee on Territories, submitted a bill in December 1869 that attacked plu-
ral marriage in Utah and sought to aid in the enforcement of the 1862 Morrill
Anti-Bigamy Act. Cullom’s bill proposed to strengthen the authority of federal
judicial officials in Utah; to shift polygamy cases from the locally controlled probate courts to federal courts; to compel plural wives to testify against their husbands; and to bar believers in polygamy from serving on juries in polygamy cases
as well as from voting and holding public office. In addition, the legislation sought to establish penalties for polygamy including hefty fines and lengthy jail terms