356 QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
said that was a man of excellent busi-
ness qualities.
CHAPTER III.
OBTAINS AN HISTORICAL IMPOR-
TANCE THROUGH HER COMMERCIAL
MEN.
IT was the merchants of Utah who first
brought the Mormon community
fairly into socialistic importance. And
this affirmation is true of them, both in
their results at home and in the influence
which they exercised abroad for the good
of the people and the glory of Utah.
Moreover, in the general sense of the pub-
lic weal, this affirmation is as true of the
Walker Brothers and and , as it is of and or
and . The very con-
struction of society and the necessities
and aims of commerce convert the enter-
prises and life work of this class of men
into the public good. Over a quarter of
a century, for instance, the Walker Broth-
ers and Godbe and Lawrence have been
identified with the material prosperity and
destiny of this Territory. The welfare
of the country is their own good as a
class;—the glory of the commonwealth
glorifies their houses and augments their
own fortunes. Of all men, the life-work
and enterprise of the class who establish
commerce, build railroads, develop the
native mineral resources of the country,
and construct the financial power of the
State, must per force tend to the public
prosperity as well as conserving and pre-
serving society. And if this is the case
with those influential men of commerce
and great enterprises who have gone out-
side the pale of the Church, yet are still
identified with the community in all their
essential interests, how much more,
specially speaking, is it the case with those
men who have remained inside the pale
of the Church and built up her commer-
cial and financial power? The Church
owes to her apostles of commerce and fin-
ance more than many would like to con-
fess; and yet in this point of their extra-
ordinary service to the Church is at once
the significance and potency of "."
This will be strikingly illustrated in the
circumstantial history of "Z. C. M. I.,"
towards which we are traveling in these
preparatory commercial views.
Often has it been told what the com-
munity has done for the merchants, and
as often have those same merchants—who
built up the commercial and financial
power of the Church—been ungraciously
twitted that they have made their money
out of "this people." Let us look at
the other side now, and ask something
of what the merchants have done for the
community, and what "this people"
have made out of the merchants? And
this line of review of our commercial
history is very necessary to be under-
stood, insomuch as it will be suggestive
of what the community already owe to
the existence of "Z. C. M. I." And,
furthermore, the remarkably successful
example of that unique Institution dur-
ing the last twelve years, under the
united incorporation of these apostles
temporal with the apostles spiritual, will
foreshadow the vast results which the
community will derive in the future in
the growth and augmentation of the pow-
er and resources of said Institution.
A cursory view has been given of the
destitute condition of the Mormon peo-
ple during the first period of the settle-
ment of these Valleys. As late as 1856,
there was famine in Utah, and the
community was barely preserved by the
leaders wisely rationing the whole and
dividing among the people their own
substance. But it was neither the econ-
omy and wisdom of the leaders, nor the
plentiful harvests that followed, that re-
deemed Utah from the depths of her
poverty, and the anomalous isolation of
a people reared in lands of civilization
and plenty. She was redeemed from her
social destitution by a train of Providen-
tial circumstances on the one hand, and
the extraordinary activities of her mer-
chants on the other. As we have seen,
the Providence came in a United States
Army; the temporary existence of ; the departure of the troops,
leaving their substance to the community;
the needs of the Overland Mail line; the
construction of the telegraph lines; and
then again the arrival of another U. S.
army under Colonel , and the es-
tablishment of with sev-
eral thousand soldiers to disburse their
money in after their pay
days, besides the constant supplies which
the camp needed from our country, and
often labor from our citizens. It was
then, under these changed and propi-
tious circumstances, that our Utah mer-
356 TULLIDGE'S QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
said that he was a man of excellent business qualities.
CHAPTER III.
UTAH OBTAINS AN HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE THROUGH HER COMMERCIAL
MEN.
IT was the merchants of Utah who first
brought the Mormon community
fairly into socialistic importance. And
this affirmation is true of them, both in
their results at home and in the influence
which they exercised abroad for the good
of the people and the glory of Utah.
Moreover, in the general sense of the public weal, this affirmation is as true of the
Walker Brothers and Godbe and Lawrence, as it is of Jennings and Hooper or
Eldredge and Clawson. The very construction of society and the necessities
and aims of commerce convert the enterprises and life work of this class of men
into the public good. Over a quarter of
a century, for instance, the Walker Brothers and Godbe and Lawrence have been
identified with the material prosperity and
destiny of this Territory. The welfare
of the country is their own good as a
class; --the glory of the commonwealth
glorifies their houses and augments their
own fortunes. Of all men, the life-work
and enterprise of the class who establish
commerce, build railroads, develop the
native mineral resources of the country,
and construct the financial power of the
State, must per force tend to the public
prosperity as well as conserving and preserving society. And if this is the case
with those influential men of commerce
and great enterprises who have gone outside the pale of the Church, yet are still
identified with the community in all their
essential interests, how much more,
specially speaking, is it the case with those
men who have remained inside the pale
of the Church and built up her commercial and financial power? The Church
owes to her apostles of commerce and finance more than many would like to confess; and yet in this point of their extraordinary service to the Church is at once
the significance and potency of "Zion's
Co-operative Mercantile Institution."
This will be strikingly illustrated in the
circumstantial history of "Z. C. M. I.,"
towards which we are traveling in these
preparatory commercial views.
Often has it been told what the community has done for the merchants, and
as often have those same merchants -- who
built up the commercial and financial
power of the Church--been ungraciously
twitted that they have made their money
out of "this people." Let us look at
the other side now, and ask something
of what the merchants have done for the
community, and what "this people"
have made out of the merchants? And
this line of review of our commercial
history is very necessary to be understood, insomuch as it will be suggestive
of what the community already owe to
the existence of "Z. C. M. I." And,
furthermore, the remarkably successful
example of that unique Institution during the last twelve years, under the
united incorporation of these apostles
temporal with the apostles spiritual, will
foreshadow the vast results which the
community will derive in the future in
the growth and augmentation of the power and resources of said Institution.
A cursory view has been given of the
destitute condition of the Mormon people during the first period of the settlement of these Valleys. As late as 1856,
there was famine in Utah, and the
community was barely preserved by the
leaders wisely rationing the whole and
dividing among the people their own
substance. But it was neither the economy and wisdom of the leaders, nor the
plentiful harvests that followed, that redeemed Utah from the depths of her
poverty, and the anomalous isolation of
a people reared in lands of civilization
and plenty. She was redeemed from her
social destitution by a train of Providential circumstances on the one hand, and
the extraordinary activities of her merchants on the other. As we have seen,
the Providence came in a United States
Army; the temporary existence of Camp
Floyd; the departure of the troops,
leaving their substance to the community;
the needs of the Overland Mail line; the
construction of the telegraph lines; and
then again the arrival of another U. S.
army under Colonel Connor, and the establishment of Camp Douglas with several thousand soldiers to disburse their
money in Salt Lake City after their pay
days, besides the constant supplies which
the camp needed from our country, and
often labor from our citizens. It was
then, under these changes and propitious circumstances, that our Utah mer-